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For generations, parents have warned teenagers about the consequences of drinking - often glossing over the fact they themselves once attended underage keg parties. And for generations, parents have too often awakened horrified to a 3 a.m. phone call or wept over roadside shrines marking another teen alcohol death.

Sadly, warnings and the shock of booze-related tragedy seldom survives the next party or the next bottle passed around beneath the stadium bleachers.

And no starker example of teenage amnesia concerning alcohol dangers could be found last month following the death of 17-year-old King Philip Regional High School senior Taylor Meyer, who died following a teen drinking binge at the abandoned Norfolk airport.

Meyer apparently drowned in a swampy area after becoming separated from two dozen other youths who attended the party.

Within days, police said, there were reports of teens toasting Meyer's memory at other illicit gatherings. Then, scarcely two weeks after the Oct. 17 tragedy, police arrested 20 teenagers at an alcohol-soaked house party in Norfolk. And Nov. 7 Plainville police busted an outdoor mixer in that community, Taylor's hometown, and rounded up 13 more underage drinkers.

Not all of those arrested knew or were schoolmates of Meyer, or were residents of the tri-town Wrentham-Norfolk-Plainville area where she resided and King Philip draws students from.

But the unslaked thirst for alcohol among teens so soon after a tragic death proved shocking for many teens and adults.

Plainville Police Chief Edward Merrick, who says teen drinking has now escalated to "epidemic" status, said there's little indication the object lesson of Taylor's death has dulled teens' appetite for alcohol.

"We're trying to do everything we can to stay ahead of it," Merrick said of teens' propensity to drink. "We're certainly seeing a lot more of it, and nothing society has offered seems to curtail it."

And the trend isn't limited to bored high school kids in affluent, suburban communities.

"I've said it over and over again," said Norfolk Police Chief Charles Stone. "It's not Norfolk, it's not Plainville, it's not Attleboro. It's everywhere."

Rightly or wrongly, experts say, drinking has been revered for decades by many teens as a rite of passage - to say nothing of an accessible and cheap way to get high.

But modern youth culture, marked by instant gratification and a grapevine facilitated by cell phones, social networks and instant messaging, may be accelerating and expanding on that paradigm.

"When you were a kid you might have got hold of some beers, had a big party and the next day bragged to the guys how wasted you all got and what a good time you had," said one local law enforcement source. "Now kids have cell phones and put up pictures from the party on Facebook to show their friends what a good time they had." Indeed, says Norfolk's Stone, many teens' social networking sites have become virtual shrines to alcohol and partying. Such online cheerleading for tipples, coupled with teens' sense of youthful invulnerability, can be a powerful influence.

But a largely unspoken factor pushing teenagers to drink is often the people closest to them - their mothers and fathers. Although parents may say they tell their kids not to drink, surveys of teens show a large percentage don't just wink at drinking by their youngsters - they condone and support it.

A shocking 45 percent of teens surveyed said their parents allow them to drink at home, said Steve Wallace, chairman and CEO of Students Against Destructive Decisions, commonly known as SADD, a nationwide group that works with teens to fight drugs, drunk driving and teen violence.

Wallace said the figure is probably so high because many parents seem to subscribe to the theory that since teen drinking is inevitable, it's better that it occur at home.

"Parents are buying into a myth of inevitability that really doesn't correspond to the truth," Wallace said.

In reality, 57 percent of teens who admitted to drinking regularly said they were allowed to drink at home, while only 14 percent were from homes where alcohol is taboo.

In a nation where parental warnings to teens come with ample chasers of adult hypocrisy, the task of police and school officials in keeping kids separated from booze isn't an enviable one. But they keep trying.

In an attempt to hold the line, police chiefs in Norfolk, Plainville and Wrentham met recently to discuss efforts to curtail teen drinking and strategies for the future.

Schools and police in the area say they are normally proactive in their efforts to stop illegal alcohol consumption by teens.

In 2006, following school policy, King Philip suspended 32 students from participating in school activities as a result of a house party where alcohol was served to teens. A 70-year-old homeowner who was the father of one of the teens was prosecuted in connection with the incident.

And local police departments periodically check liquor establishments to make sure booze isn't being sold to minors.

In the wake of the Meyer tragedy, however, Plainville's Merrick says law enforcement has raised its vigilance even further.

"Before, we would act when a party was reported to us," he said. "Now, we're out there looking for them."

Acting on a tip, police staked out a suspected party spot off Walnut Street in Plainville that featured a sturdily constructed lean-to with shelves and other accoutrements and a pit for burning a fire. Then, they raided a Friday night party there Nov. 7, scooping up 13 youths and confiscating several cases of beer along with hard liquor and marijuana.

Youths arrested in the case hailed from Wrentham, North Attleboro, Millis, Franklin and Natick.

The shelter was later destroyed by authorities.

Less than a week earlier, a neighbor's complaint resulted in a police raid on a house party on Arnold Road in Norfolk. Twenty youths were arrested, including the 19-year-old host whose parents were not at home.

Several cases of beer were reported confiscated, and most of those nabbed were released upon payment of court costs.

Police departments continue to share information and are drawing a line in the sand against teen drinking, Merrick said.

Police are continuing to press their investigation into how and from whom the teens at the fatal airport party obtained their booze, and may be close to making an arrest.

They're also looking to crack down on any illegal drinking they can find, be it around a campfire in the woods or at a teen's home.

"We're not going to stop," Merrick said.

Police and anti-drinking advocacy groups are also thinking outside the box in search of ways to cut off the supply of booze to teens.

One major target is adults who enable teens by agreeing wittingly or unwittingly to buy them beer and hard liquor.

Many teens procure alcohol using phony IDs or get beer and other drinks from parents or older siblings. But cops say it's almost as easy to stand outside a liquor store and find an adult who'll agree to make the buy.

An extra $10 or $20 thrown in can be an adequate incentive.

"It's not hard to find some stoner who'll buy for you if it means he can get a dime bag out of it," said a spokesman for one investigative agency.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Massachusetts works with teens and adult volunteers to go after such violators and to raise public consciousness on the issue of illegal purchases of alcohol for youngsters by adults.

"Responsible retailers don't want to sell alcohol to a person who's under the age of 21," said MADD's David VeIuliis. "But that doesn't stop teens from getting their hands on it."

In an attempt to discourage adults from procuring, MADD sponsors a program called "Sticker Shock" in which volunteers work with retailers to place stickers on cases of liquor reminding adults of penalties for furnishing alcohol to people under 21.

In addition, MADD cooperates with teens and adult volunteers to stage noncriminal sting operations outside liquor sellers. In the stings, teens supervised by cooperating adults ask adults entering stores if they will buy them alcohol.

If the adult refuses, they are handed a card explaining the program and congratulating them for their uprightness. If an adult consents, they get a card warning them of the dangers and penalties for enabling teen drinking.

Under state law, anyone who furnishes alcoholic beverages to a minor can be jailed for up to a year or fined $2,000.

While some fear teen drinking is out of control, many experts agree on an unpleasant truth: It couldn't happen without adults.

"Behind every underage drinker," said MADD's VeIuliis, "you can say there's an adult involved somewhere."