Feature ArticleRisk Taking

“C'mon! Another can't hurt!”, called Bob. At only 17 years of age I had been reluctant to

have a drink, but I couldn't stop the might of peer pressure. I hesitantly took another can,

but before I knew it Bob was on the ground, moaning and bleeding all over the place in the

midst of a brawl.

We've all been in this situation before where there's been too much alcohol consumed but

how often, especially for teenagers, does this apparently harmless fun, end in tragedy?

Young people are hospitalised everyday due to excessive drinking and its consequences.

This leads to hospitals being choked up, police are constantly breaking up fights and

traffic is gridlocked from drink-driving accidents. There just isn't any room for this

behaviour in society.

Countless teenagers attend parties every week, many of them consuming alcohol. These

parties are held to have fun but alcohol consumption, under-age or legal can turn that fun

into life-threatening situations, brought about and fuelled by binge drinking. With 4 people

under the age of 25 having their lives cut short each week all related in some form to

alcohol intoxication; this problem is affecting not only their peers, but their families and the

wider community as well.

With more than 1 in five teens between the ages of 14 and 19 years of age consuming

alcohol on a weekly basis, and around 30% percent of the males drinking seven or more

drinks on at least 1 occasion; $15.3 billion is an estimate of the costs for alcohol-related

social problems in Australian communities between 2004-05. This is what the rest of

Australia has to pay for and ultimately live with.

Many members of society are becoming victims of this unacceptable drinking, whether

family or close friends, or witnesses of tragedies including deaths from alcohol-fuelled

violence and recklessness. One police officer who was called to a drink-driving accident

stated that he “.. was traumatised for the rest of my life” and “... could never bring myself to

drink after the accident.”.

So how can we stop this behaviour and intoxication from happening? Education, “upping”

the price of alcohol and tougher laws are some solutions currently being considered.

While raising the price of alcohol might lower the amount being consumed by teenagers,

many older people are against this idea. One particular man, Mr Pete says that if prices

are raised, the only people drinking less would be the people who drink little like himself.

Mr Pete enjoys a cold beer on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, but he claims there would

be no way he could afford this if prices were raised due to the tough financial times we are

currently pulling out of.

Educating teens about the dangers of alcohol both at school and at home by their parents

seems to be the preferred option by most, but mates opinions and peers rate higher than

parents at this time of their lives. Some sceptics are worried that following your parent's

advice is too hard in these situations and it's easier to copy your mate's behaviour. This

would result in teens caving in to peer pressure and just following the flow, which is what

needs to be stopped. If, as part of the school's push to lower the dangerous consumption

of alcohol, they included 'field' trips to hospitals and rehab centres where the

consequences of their actions can be clearly seen by real people just like themselves, this

may bring to reality the results of their silly acts.

Tougher laws, if pressed into action by Governments, could relate to less binge drinking in

older age categories, but it is believed unlikely that teens would be affected at all. This

means that all the possible solutions are unlikely to be fully or even mostly effective, so

how can society cope with the current numbers of alcohol-related violence? It can't without

many more communities becoming adversely affected.

How can we say we are providing and caring for this generation when they are intoxicated,

driving around killing innocent drivers and their mates; starting fights in your favourite

Friday-night destinations? Society needs this to stop and shouldn't be allowing this to go

on, but how?