‘Friends keep young drinkers supplied’

Press, 22 June 1978, Page 4

‘Friends keep young drinkers supplied’

A 14-year-old Christchurch schoolboy who was drinking two bottles of vodka a day has now joined the growing ranks of juvenile alcoholics. “People are often shocked when I tell them this,” said the director of the Canterbury branch of the National Society on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Mrs Lyn Cassidy), “but the fact is we have young people drinking from the age of nine, and they do not seem to have any difficulty getting hold of it.”

Mrs Cassidy told a meeting of the Institute of Public Administration yesterday that friends and even parents helped keep the youngsters supplied and were very reluctant to bring the problems out into the open. Wives, too, were prepared to live with an alcoholic husband for years before, in

desperation, they took some action. “It may be 10 to 15 years before they do anything, by which time they are in a very depressed state and the kids are very disturbed,” said Mrs Cassidy. “Battered wives are frequently the victims of booze.” Mrs Cassidy, formerly the charge sister at Queen Mary Hospital, at Hanmer Springs, described working with alcoholics away from the hospital environment as “working in the bloody Klondike.” “Working in the field we become involved in the nittygritty of the alcoholic’s life.” Alcoholics ranged in age from 14 to 70, although the average was between 25 and 30. However, there are exceptions. “I recently had a dear little old lady aged 80 who had quite a problem. She had just lost her husband and taken

to the bottle. But she was determined she ‘wasn’t going to die a drunk’.”

In recent years there had been a distinct trend towards “cross-addiction,” said Mrs Cassidy. This meant alcoholics were also hooked on drugs such as valium or sleeping tablets. Apart from the devastation it caused within the home, alcoholism was costing industry thousands, said Mrs Cassidy, and it was in that area that the society had been stepping up its activities in recent months.

Absenteeism and poor work performance were big management headaches, said Mrs Cassidy, and the co-operation of managements in dealing with the problem was sought. The society has started with the Post Office, which has 4000 employees in Christchurch, and plans to expand into other large Government departments and employers in the private sector.