DRINKING HABITS Later Closing Not Substitute For Alcoholic Education

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31500, 14 October 1967, Page 20

DRINKING HABITS Later Closing Not Substitute For Alcoholic Education

\ <SP«e<ollV wrt««n fcr -Th* rrtw bv th, MV r.D. KAMSAY J \This is New Zealand’s historic week. The Sale of Liquor Amendment pih has been tabled in the House of Representatives, debated and passed.\ We have finished with “archaic” and “outmoded” liquor laws, we are no longer the laughing stock, the backward nation of the world, and we shall no longer be ashamed by the “six o’clock swill.” The era of civilised drinking has begun.

A nation expecting miracles from 10 pan. closing must keep a few stubborn facts in mind, lest current enthusiasm be replaced by disappointment and despair. Was it the nasty, 'iinfair, outmoded legal restrictions that caused unhealthy attitudes towards beverage alcohol? Will the liberalised controL so decisively hskri| for by voters, promote reponsible and moderate behaviour? This big question is about to be tested. And all of us hope for better things.

Beer end evening drinking facilities are not on trial, but people. The adjustment of bar hours cannot produce a social reform which citizens neither appreciate nor morally uphold. To trust the adjust meat of legal drinking hours to do for us what the inner goodness of people alone can do is a cheap and ineffective way out of our problems.

“We believe that the very necessary improvement in the drinking habits, of our soeiety cut only come very gradually,” is how the Presbyterian Church's Standing Committee on Alcohol Problems put it. “Thus we do not claim that changes in *houn* will result in spectacular change in •habits;’ but we are convinced that positive steps towards such improvement ate both necessary and desirable.”

Unchanging Habits Optimistic dependence upon outward regulation to do for our alcohol problems what only a' strong inner life can do has one sure end—dlsappointinent Aa Act of Pyriiament, even though it comes with the strong recommendation of a conclusive referendum, cannot alter the coatser attitudee and habits of a nation. The keg party in a private home or a hired hall is untouched by the 10 p.m. dosing laws. Whatever the hotel or chartered dub is doing, their prime soda! intention is intoxication, and they intend to get on with it. The youngsters in the habit of loading the car with flagons and heading for the river bed are hardly likely to change their intention of a “booze up” because ban are open at night. Nor is the sports dub going to dose off its postplay celebrations nor the staff picnic dedde on a switch to

Community attitudw to drunkenness, addictive drinking and alcoholism are overdue for a- change. How can this be done? Not by way of a sitapie legislative switch to longer and later hours. The only way out of our social crudity and individuai irresponsibility te a sensible alcohol education programme.

Request in 1960 , “We, as a committee, are very strongly of opinion, that, as a correlative measure to the modernisation and liberalisation of our licensing laws, there should be more definite encouragement of specific' and sound education as to uses and abuses of alcohol and we urge Government through the Department of Education to giv* this matter immediate attention and to see what effective steps can be >ken in thC directions which we have indicated,” said the 1960 Licensing Committee—a select commitee of Parliament. It went even farther, for in the conclusion of its report it made this recommendation: “That the committee is of the opinion that there is real need for carrying out of an active and continuous programme of education and research in the

implicit dangers in the use and abuse of alcohol and strongly recommends that the

'Licensing Control Commission should be requested to look into this matter and submit to the Government for its consideration a programme setting out the ways and means by which our: objective could best be secured.”

They may have erred in tagging the educational task upon a quasi-judlcial body, but at least they were asking that something specific be done. ' When the 1962 Sale of Liquor Act was being debated in the House, Mr N. E. Kirk, then a back-bencher, moved that an educational clause be added to the Bill, quoting these 1960 Licensing Committee recommendations.

The Prime Minister said that the point raised by Mr Kirk did not strictly belong in the provisions of the Bill but would be considered in another context. This has not been done.

We have seen considerable changes of law in the last six years, all generally favourable to those engaged in liquor trading, but nothing in the way of enlightened control or alcohol education has been offered. This is irretrievable community loss. Shall we be content with a similar future? Difficult Decisions Responsible decisions on beverage alcohol do not come easily. Temperance (moderation) is a learned experience. Self-control is hot automatic. Nor can the law, however liberal we make it, help very much; it is an outward coercive thing, To be in control iff oneself—to drink wisely or not-at all, whether one’s parents or peers drink or not —means posession of ihner resources that come by way of facts, on alcohol, a good deal of self-awareness, and ethical considerations. To encourage such mature outlook, and decisions derived by way of reason, is something the law cannot do. If It is to be done at all, it will be by way of soundly-based education. True and acceptable as that , may be, where to begin? The ; Royal Commission on Licene- ' ing of England and Wales | (1929-32) declared that it was , the clear duty of the State to ; assist in reducing drinking i to excess, and the cultivation of better drinking attitudes. I This was recognised by our Government in IMS, when the Education Department in- ' eluded alcohol education in i the new syHabus. Alcohol in ! relation to food values, the ' effect of alcohol on the human body, and alcohol in the light of modern research i were the three divisions of the subject, with no grounds , for controversy in the scientific nature of treatment “A knowledge of these facta is essential for all children at the primary school stage,” said the syllabus. Brave words, but intention has not guaranteed performance. At high schools the principal and board of governors have greater flexibility in planning the teaching programme. But here, too, alcohol education is the “drop out” The 1946 Royal Commission on Licensing, in a comprehensive survey of educational needs said: “Although little attention may have been given in the past at the secondary school level to specific teaching concerning the effects of alcohol, the fact ta tbet the girl or boy leaving the secondary

school is much nearer the stage in life at which alcohol may become a temptation” (para. 1979).

An up-to-date survey would amend the statement, for secondary school pupils are already in> drinking decision situations/AU the girls in a sixth form of a Christchurch girls’ school had experimented, so the principal discovered. All but one boy in a fifth form Christchurch coeducational school had tasted alcoholic drinks, although he too faced the opportunity. Dr Arnold B. Come, of the United States, in a recent survey, reports that 90 per cent have sampled wine or beer at least once by the time they graduate from high school. Survey Taken In a survey of 200 Palmerston North fifth-formers two years ago 22 per cent stated that they were non-drinkers. Of the remainder, 38.5 per cent bad their first drink before 12 years of age, 30.5 per cent between 12 and 15 years, and 9 per cent after their fifteenth birthday.

Parents, church and day school teachers must therefore be prepared to give instruction in the nature and effects of alcohol from an early age. It Is social cruelty of a high order to catapult

young people into drinking situations without basic knowledge as to the alcoholic content of various drinks

they may be offered, and what care is needed in keeping control of oneself.

Parents whose boast It is that they teach their children to drink decently in their

homes may have sueceed«fin conveying by example a responsible attitude towards* drinking pleasures. But thejob is not half done without scientific and well presented facts.

Our children have a right’, to the truth, not merely to our own attitudes. Parent* themselves may be poorly equipped with this vital information. They too could gain from some elementary study.

As a spot check, how many: readers know the alcoholic content of vodka? And how would you warn your daughter to detect a vodka-laced fruit drink should some* schemer be offering it at- a party? Without odour and' taste it may be, but it is not.' without effect. How to keepone’s head when all around you are losing theirs? Even though the home and the church may fail ta this: aspect of child training, it-in no way absolves the school' from its valued part in pre-I paring a youngster for Iffe. Government should not inject a needed stimulus into slothful schools, but direct ita considerable resources into encouraging the communitygenerally to learn that drinking pleasures have correspond-: ing responsibilities. If we donot learn to handle our newwon freedoms in mature wiys r the old problems will reappear. If we adopt healthier.' more constructive attitudes towards the darting, dangerous drug of our culture, we shall be able to transmit improved customs and habits to our children. It’s worth everything to tryfor their sakes, don’t you think?