Education the key to teen drinking problem

Education, not passing more laws, is the best way to tackle excessive drinking by teenagers.
That's the verdict of many Northlanders who deal with alcohol abuse and issues affecting teens.
Instead of increasing the drinking age they say education, personal responsibility and firmer parental control are needed.
That reaction follows the defeat in Parliament of a bill to increase the drinking age to 20, and the Government's pledge to look into the impact of underage drinking.
Whangarei's "campus cop", Constable Hank van Engelen, said the bill's failure was a shame.
"Maybe the MPs can look at it further. The change would have been good. Since kids are given the freedom, they should be responsible for what they're doing," he said.
Jenny Gibbs, manager of Rubicon Youth Alcohol and Drug Services in Whangarei, said education of teenagers and parents would yield results in the long run.
"It's the gang culture that most youths and teenagers have got themselves in but we've got to keep working to bring about an attitudinal change. That's definitely not an overnight process," she said.
Rubicon runs daily outreach programmes in high schools in Whangarei and Dargaville.
But bar owner Len Schinckel, of the Coal Miner's Daughter in Kamo, said changing the age limit wouldn't fix anything - adults could still buy and supply alcohol to the underaged.
"Education, personal responsibility and parental control is the way to go. Putting an age limit won't solve the problem," he said.
Kaitaia tavern owner Peter Thomas disagreed, saying the problems had become worse since the drinking age was lowered to 18. The introduction of RTD (ready to drink) beverages, attractive to teens, had contributed to the problem.
Carmen Hetaraka, co-ordinator of Whangaruru's Community Action Youth Alcohol and Drugs, said the problem would remain, whatever the age limit.
He believed families should abstain from alcohol completely.
"Young people get alcohol because it's acceptable to their parents, uncles and relatives who, unfortunately have been brought up in a society where it's okay."
The root causes of alcohol abuse needed to be looked at.
Education provided only temporary relief because teenagers still returned to the environment where alcohol was within reach.
Advertising also played a role, he said.
Ross Vickers, Whangarei pub owner and chairman of the Life Education Trust, said a law should be brought in to make it illegal to be intoxicated at 18.
But it was good that the bill wasn't passed, because an 18-year-old could still go to a bar and learn to drink responsibly.
* Northland MPs voted for 20 All six Northland-based MPs - National's Phil Heatley and John Carter, Labour's Samuel Dover and Shane Jones, Brian Donnelly of NZ First and Hone Harawira of the Maori Party - voted to return the drinking age to 20.
Mr Heatley, who got in trouble with the police as an 18-year-old in Whangarei after a night of drinking, said the defeated bill would have tackled the problem of teenage alcohol abuse to some extent.
He was particularly concerned about alcohol sales in supermarkets and bottle stores. He said those should be restricted to people over 20 because there was no control on where they drank or how they behaved.
However, he said it was okay for 18-year-olds to drink at a bar, because patrons were supervised and could be refused service if they behaved inappropriately.
Mr Heatley said those calling for education to tackle drinking problems simply did not want to promote clear boundaries and personal responsibilities.Imran Ali