'More mature drinking'

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 23

'More mature drinking'

Longer drinking hours have given the average New Zealander a much more mature and leisurely approach to drinking, resulting in a reduction in the number of cases of intoxication, says the president of the Canterbury branch of the National Society on Alcoholism (Dr E. B. Reilly) in his annual report to be presented next week.

On the problems associated with teen-age flatting, Dr Reilly said that the family home was still the greatfest power for good, and that contact with children who left home should be maintained.

“In my annual report last year, I expressed concern at the number of young people leaving the parental home to live in unsupervised and often sub-standard accommodation. This is a continuing and potentially dangerous situation which is a breeding ground not only for alcoholism, but also for drug addiction,” says Dr Reilly.

“Hitherto it has been our declared policy not to become involved in the latter problem as it was regarded as a matter for the police. If the experience of the Auckland branch is any criterion, however, we will be unable to stand aloof much longer. Role of Parents “If this ominous situation is to be corrected, the cooperation of every parent is a vital necessity. It this socalled permissive society, it is all too often the parents who are permissive, lacking the courage to say no to their children. Too often they conform without question to standards set bv other parents, even though they may run counter to their moral viewpoint.

"In the final assessment there can be no doubt that the oldest restraining and beneficial influence on the young—the family home—is still the greatest power for good. Even if children do leave home, parents should insist on maintaining communication,” says Dr Reilly. “The rejection of the home by children, plus their rejection by the pjarents, adds up to a situation fraught with unhappiness .and

disaster. Dr W. M. Platts, consulting venereologist to the Health Department journal, has said that the incidence of venereal disease reported from these flatting situations is heavy.”

The society was trying to do its part by addressing the young in schools and elsewhere, and the services of the clergy were also available, but there was a need for a special agency to organise a counselling service for parents who were havi ing difficulty with their teen--age children or children who had left home, said Dr Reilly.