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THE problem of underage drinking has always been swept under the carpet. This tragedy suggests that the extent of implementation of the drinks industry’s programme of self-regulation through the ‘Prove It’ age advert is hardly adhered to. Drinking is a ticking bomb among the adolescent cohort, and the number of teenage drinking has tripled in recent times and has led to several unplanned pregnancies and all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases.
Some of the consequences of this problem drinking are brutally immediate and tragic, as exemplified by the Enyobeni tragedy. But other consequences are long-term: Not only chronic alcoholism and the disorders it spawns but drinking habits that intensify with later stress and erupt in later crisis, emotional and physical.
Psychologists tell us that at adolescent age, young people are just beginning to sort out their identity. The task facing them has never been more challenging and complex. In his address, ‘Important Role of Business in our Teenage Crisis’, Bruce A. Lipshy believes that today’s adolescent lives in a generation of stress with little time for bridging the period between childhood and adult responsibility.
Information
The information age has bombarded young people with conflicting values. For adolescents, argues lipshy, choices are difficult, and tensions are commonplace. “We hurry young people as children. Then as teenagers, they seem displaced. For adolescents today, there is no clear role or adequate recognition in our hurry-up world. The fabric of our society is a major factor in the adolescent crisis. For too many, it results in despair and substance abuse, and both are killing the young ones.” Compatriots, though these views are expressed from an American vantage point, few would disagree with me that they resonate perfectly with our African environment.
Underage drinking is a serious, even deadly, problem. Alcohol use is a contributing factor to the four leading causes of death for young people: Accidents, vehicle deaths, homicides, and suicides. In his address, ‘Standing Tall Against Underage Drinking’, Hill J. Edward believes that the trouble is that even the most well-meaning people of all - parents - do not have the facts about underage drinking. Nor do they understand how the environment kids live in could encourage such drinking.
“Most folks work hard to be good parents. But one dangerous chemical, alcohol, is harming and even killing our children. Still, parents do not recognise the scope of the problem or its roots.” Today’s parents are stunned to learn that, on average, kids today have their first drink by age 12. What parents once considered a high school rite of passage is now daily life at middle school, and it is incredibly dangerous, says Edward.
Facts
Edward is instructive when he points out that the problem is compounded by the facts that most kids do not get the kind of comprehensive health education they need to get the facts. Instead, they see ads where drinking is portrayed as adult, glamorous and sexy. They see this kind of advertising every day on billboards and buses. They watch beer ads on television and thumb through liquor ads in magazines.
However, the Nyobeni tragedy has raised a few ethical and moral issues, which could be attributed to a complete breakdown of family values. To put it bluntly, this tragedy poignantly epitomises lack of parenting. A sizeable number of parents have abdicated their responsibilities of parenting. Parents need to ask themselves some hard and soul-searching questions. It is the job of parents to tutor their children about the ills of society so that when they grow up, they can make good choices in life. Girl children, for example, in the full gaze of their parents, leave home shortly after the setting of the sun to nightclubs, wearing skimpy dresses and come back during the wee hours of the morning.
Why do parents allow this, knowing very well that we live in a depraved society? How does a parent sleep peacefully when his or her underage girl child, or any underage child for that matter, is out partying and would come home at five in the morning? At the risk of sounding insensitive, these are moral questions all parents should grapple with.
As we go forward, no ideal approach to dealing with adolescents, especially their drinking, has been found. The temptation has been, unfortunately, to deal with adolescents in fragments.
Policies
Given the relative ineffectiveness of alcohol prevention policies in decreasing the uptake of alcohol by young people, restricting their access to alcohol may be a crucial prevention strategy. Taverners or alcohol vendors do not operate an implicit moral rule under which alcohol is provided less readily to younger children. More potent law enforcement interventions are needed if children’s access to alcohol is to be decreased.
As Marvin A. Block put it in his title ‘Alcohol’ the general prohibition of alcohol by law is not worthy of consideration.
The failure of that approach is a matter of record. What is needed is a progressive, self- germinating change in our environment, based on enlightenment, group conscience and even self-interest- a change of attitude toward drinking so that individuals who know they ought not to drink will be free to abstain without discomfort or recrimination. The way ahead may be long and tortuous, but a change of social attitude and environment need not represent an impossible dream. It is a problem we cannot afford to ignore.
A solution must be found. The goal is clearly before us. It is to be hoped that we have the initiative required to respond to its challenge, for our responsibility is clearly defined.
We need an action plan. We need a team effort – a multidisciplinary team effort. And we need community involvement.