Adolescent alcohol users perform worse in school

Apr 20, 2009 News

As the Ministry of Health continues to tackle the issue of underage drinking in Guyana, it has been revealed that adolescent drinkers perform worse in school and are more likely to fall behind and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence.
This was discussed extensively during a two-day discussion on alcohol control hosted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Ministry of Health.
It was noted that for alcohol and other drug prevention education messages to work, they must be supported within the family and community beyond the school walls, and alcohol policies and laws must be fairly, consistently and expeditiously enforced.
In dealing with limiting the access of alcohol to youths, as it relates to commercial availability, it was noted that there must be vigorous use of compliance checks, appliance of appropriate sanctions to violating merchants, education of merchants regarding techniques and responsibilities.
In addition alcohol sellers and servers should be at least 21 years old and persons under 21 should be prohibited from entering alcohol establishments.
It was also suggested that there must be control on hours of sale and drink specials, control on outlet location and density as well as increasing price through excise taxes, make manufacturers or purchase of false fraudulent identification a crime and development of community support for enforcement operations.
As it relates to the social availability aspect of the issue, there was a call for special enforcement campaigns to prevent parties where alcohol is served, registration laws, enforcement of laws against buying alcohol for minors, enforcement of social host laws, source investigations and the development of community support for enforcement operations.
Parents are also being asked to play their part since their role constitutes a major part in enforcing the rules on their children. As such, it was recommended that there be parent coalitions to reduce youth alcohol use, media campaigns, media advocacy and counter advertising.
The traffic department also falls into this category, as there is a need to enforce zero tolerance laws, sobriety checkpoints, vigorous well-publicised enforcement of driving laws and development of community support for enforcement operations.
It was also explained that male drivers between the ages of 16 – 20 have six times the fatality risk as drivers more than 25 years of age.
They also have less drinking experience, less driving experience and ability and they also tend to engage in risky behaviour such as speeding and not wearing seat belts.
Meanwhile, regarding strategies based in schools, it was suggested that prevention curricula policies and media literacy programmes be established.

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Adolescent alcohol users perform worse in school

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