Alcohol Education Difficulties

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32253, 23 March 1970, Page 16

Alcohol Education Difficulties

A narrowly-based programme of education on alcohol centred on schools could not be fully effective unless it reflected an enlightened and realistic community attitude; a prohibitive programme contrary to general practice and social acceptance was unlikely to attract, inform. or influence, the chief executive officer of the National Council of the Licensed Trade (Mr J. W. Thompson) said on Saturday. Mr Thompson was speaking to a seminar for social workers and parent-teacher organisations held at Christchurch Hospital and arranged by the Canterbury branch of the National Society on Alcoholism. Any programme must be designed for the widest impact on the community, Mr Thompson said. It would require basic information about drinking habits in the community. acceptance by the community of a programme uncluttered by taboos and prejudice, and an understanding of the aims of the programme.

.1 It was not enough to I 11 express concern or agitate' [for programmes, no matter • how sincere that approach J might be. t It was necessary to face the 11 facts that liquor was likely •to be around for a long time yet, and it would be drunk; | i' that most people enjoyed) 11 drinking and it did them no jI harm; that most people drank) in moderation, and that drink-j 5 i ing among younger people | -[Was. more widespread than) B i people cared to admit. f • Young Drinkers f: In New Zealand more than; r \ two-thirds of young people! • were drinking frequently or) I )occasionally. A survey in! I Australia had shown that 80) per cent of women under 20 g said they had their first drink •- before the age of 14. In the r United States a survey t- showed 75 per cent of highci school students had drunk f liquor, Mr Thompson said. >- In schools in New Zealand there were opportunities for e the use and problems of alcot hoi to be considered, and r several aids, including pamnphlets and films, were availtv able to teachers. i-1 The critics of this proe gramme did not take into e j account what was being done 1! or what was available, he said. I-1 Some advocates of an edui-) cation programme were in1 accurate in their approach.

and illogical. If by “education programme” they meant a method of teaching, they had failed to look far enough. Twenty years ago a Royal Commission saw what was needed: a process of learning by everyone in the community, Mr Thompson said. Curbs Difficult The possibility of curbing drinking byyoung people was [ not bright in the present New Zealand social setting, said) Mr M. Lyons, the district child! 'welfare officer. I Legal restrictions existed.) but prosecution touched only) j the fringe. Children drank • earlier than was generally; realised, according to a [Palmerston North survey, but; ! this did not rule out the need for an age limit on hotel' frequenting. “I do not think it oldfashioned to expect young people to observe different standards from adults.”

It was often claimed young people were more mature than formerly, and physically this was so, Mr Lyons said. But intellectually and emotionally they were probably no better equipped for an orderly existence than their forbears, coping as they now had to with a physical and social environment more demanding than ever before. The most worrying attitude was complete obedience to change without reliable

measurements of its result, and the turning to escape devices, such as alcohol and drugs, instead of trying to put together the pieces in life that seemed to be coming apart, Mr Lyons said. Marijuana Danger He also referred to marijuana which, he said, some were anxious to equate with alcohol in the hope that it would be as freely available. [ This was very disturbing. ) There were no certain beneificial effects known to be obtained from the drug, the | active ingredient was extremely potent and thought (impossible to regulate or standardise, and the drug had a clear capacity for causing psychological dependency by • offering the individual a boltihole from reality, he said. It also removed inhibitions towards sex and violence, and could cause progression to (harder drugs.