Recent events have thrown the problem of alcohol abuse by young people into sharp focus. All media are being bombarded by what should have been or what needs to be done in light of the recent events regarding excessive alcohol consumption, open bar parties, law enforcement, etc.
For the past few years Sedqa, the national agency against drug and alcohol abuse, has been implementing prevention programmes in schools, at the workplace and in the community at large, embarking on marketing campaigns, conducting research and also exerting pressure for the introduction of legislation upping the legal minimum age for purchasing alcohol from the present 16 years to 18 years. In the meantime, it has been advising that the current legislation prohibiting the sale of alcohol to young people under 16 be changed to incorporate a ban on the consumption of alcohol by the same age group.
All this is not a reaction to recent events, but part of the agency’s mission statement. One of the latest campaigns specifically on binge drinking started in July 2005 and has been going on since then. This campaign, entitled Don’t Risk It, included ongoing radio public service announcements, posters with preventive messages at popular party venues and bars in entertainment areas, cinema advertising, new printed material about alcohol, emphasis on the dissemination of information, seminars and training opportunities to parents and educators. There is also a new website for Sedqa, with a sub-page focusing solely on binge drinking, ongoing features in local newspapers, continuous informative slots on all media aimed at both parents and young people and, ultimately, a national conference that will take place on Friday, 27 January entitled Binge Drinking: A Modern Lifestyle? This conference will bring all the players together under one roof, to discuss the different aspects of the subject, from education to cultural pressures and law enforcement.
Such multi-pronged initiatives by Sedqa are based on current trends and behaviour observed among young Maltese people, mainly extracted from the latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD), conducted in 2003. From this study we know about the liberal views when it comes to alcohol consumption habits, especially among young people.
Results show that among the 35 participating countries, Malta ranked fifth in the proportion of 16-year old students who reported binge drinking three times or more during the previous 30 days. Binge drinking, which the study defined as drinking five drinks or more in one session, has become a major problem among young people in Malta and needs to be continuously addressed, especially when considering that only 6.4 per cent of the 16-year old Maltese respondents in the ESPAD had not had alcohol at least once in their lives, while 51.1 per cent of this age group actually reported taking alcohol on 20 or more occasions in their lives.
The aim of Sedqa’s initiatives and efforts to curb excessive alcohol consumption is mainly to assist all sections of the community, in particular young people, to develop understanding, attitudes and ultimately behaviour, thus enabling them to minimise and, if possible avoid, alcohol-related harm.
The main challenge, however, remains that of making teenagers aware of the potential negative outcome prior to them embarking on excessive alcohol drinking and what they stand to lose by drinking.
Sedqa always says that something that might possibly work to influence this behavioural pattern is a concerted positive effort by parents, educators, treatment and prevention agencies and health authorities, coupled with and backed-up by an effective and adequate enforcement and legislative structure.
Ultimately, Sedqa emphasises the need to be more vigilant against those who sell alcohol to minors. This is about zero tolerance to the selling of alcohol to minors. It is also of the utmost importance that young people receive good examples of healthy life-styles in the family, and that parents assume their full responsibilities in this regard.
Sedqa’s conference entitled Binge Drinking: A Modern Lifestyle? on 27 January will be held at the Radisson SAS Bay Point Hotel in St Julian’s and the agency would like to invite all those who are truly concerned about this important issue – parents, educators, health authorities, treatment and prevention agencies, NGOs and legislators – to join it in making a concerted effort to combat under age drinking .
Further information about the conference is available from Albert Buttigieg on 2124-4226 or from Sedqa’s website www.sedqa.gov.mt
Jean-Claude Cardona Sedqa Operations Director