ENID — With warmer weather, spring break and end-of-school parties approaching, local prevention specialists and law enforcement officers are reminding the public it’s now against state law to allow underage drinking on your property.

The state Legislature passed a state social host law last session. The law, which went into effect in November, makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly allow anyone underage to drink on your property.

The law applies to owned and rented property, and the social host does not have to be present to be in violation of the law; they just have to know the underage drinking is occurring on their property.

“Spring break is coming up, and people need to know there is a new law in effect that says if you allow underage people to drink on your property, you can be held accountable, and the fines are pretty stiff,” said Meri Spurlock, a prevention specialist at PreventionWorkz Regional Prevention Center of Enid.

Social host violations carry a fine of $500 on the first offense. A third conviction could be classified as a felony, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison and up to $2,500 in fines.

There may be no shortage of social host violations, if past trends hold true.

According to the 2010 Oklahoma Prevention Needs Assessment, a bi-annual state survey, more than 49 percent of county high school seniors reported using alcohol within the last 30 days. More than 90 percent of those students reported they had done at least some of that drinking at home or at a friend’s house.

Less than 5 percent of the students who reported drinking said they had bought the alcohol themselves; the vast majority had received the alcohol at a party or from an adult friend or family member. Nearly 10 percent reported receiving their alcohol from their parents, with their parents’ permission.

Spurlock said many people still do not recognize, or refuse to acknowledge, the enormity of the underage drinking problem in Garfield County.

“I want people to know before spring break, before prom and the end-of-school parties, that Garfield County has a huge underage drinking problem, and enforcement from family members can make a huge difference in the lives of their kids,” Spurlock said.

She said the new social host law will apply equally, whether people choose to recognize the problem or not.

“I’m sure people have all heard the statistics about how drinking at an early age has a direct impact that causes problems for kids later in life,” Spurlock said. “For some people, none of those statistics about underage drinking have made any difference in their perceptions and beliefs, but now my answer to those people is simply, ‘It’s illegal, and if you’re allowing underage kids to drink on your property, you will be held responsible.’”

Garfield County Sheriff Bill Winchester said his deputies will be out enforcing the social host law.

“It’s always been illegal to contribute to the delinquency of a minor, but this new law gives us more leeway and more guidance on filing charges against people who are contributing or who are hosting some of these parties,” Winchester said. “The statute is very clear ... all you have to do is know underage drinking is going on on your property, and if they’re permitting it they’re violating the law.”

Winchester said parents need to be aware of the risks that surround underage drinking parties.

“It’s getting to be about that time of year, and with the warmer weather we know there are going to be more parties,” he said. “The parents need to know how dangerous that is ... between the traffic accidents and the undesirable people who attend some of these parties, their kids are at some real risk out there.

“You’re always concerned about the traffic accidents,” he said, “but you also have date rapes, gang rapes and you have a lot of drugs going on at these parties, because of some of the older folks that just show up.

“You might have 15-year-old kids ride together to a party, and they’ll have 28-year-olds show up after them. When we break up these parties we get people that have been in jail three or four times for possession or distribution of a CDS (controlled dangerous substance), and they’re out there with these young kids who are drinking.”

Winchester isn’t offering parents or adults who host underage drinking parties any slack.

“We will be enforcing this law, and we enforce all alcohol laws very strictly,” he said.

District Attorney Mike Fields said his office already has filed one charge under the new social host law.

“If a law enforcement agency presents us with a case in which this law was violated, we would indeed prosecute it,” Fields said. “We are all aware of the dangers associated with underage drinking. It poses serious public safety concerns, and any efforts we can take to reduce underage drinking are certainly worthwhile.”