KEY POINTS:
The drinking habits of our young people have come to the fore lately because of the Young Farmers' "last man standing" competition, since abandoned, and regular alcohol-related hospital admissions and parties that get out of control.
We are at a point where youth binge-drinking is socially acceptable and is even a rite of passage for many young New Zealanders.
We have all heard stories about crazy, drunken nights, out-of-control parties and the chaos and idiotic acts that are retold on the hungover days that follow.
This behaviour seems to be embedded in Kiwi culture. The Alcohol Advisory Council found that 50 per cent of people aged 12 to 17 drink alcohol. Of those, 44 per cent are binge-drinkers, with 25 per cent described as uncontrolled binge-drinkers.
Last year the World Health Organisation noted with concern the early onset of drinking and binge-drinking among young people in New Zealand.
What this means for the future is more alcohol-related harm such as that we see every day at the Salvation Army's addiction treatment programmes and community-based social services. It is a toll measured in relationship breakdowns, domestic violence, road fatalities, isolation from family and friends, unemployment and crime.
Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton has pointed to the emotional and physical harm associated with youth drinking. And there's the estimated social cost of $2.4 billion a year.
Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor says binge-drinking "has been accepted as the norm for generations" and has pointed to the importance of changing our drinking culture "so that drunkenness becomes socially unacceptable".
It is clear that some of those teenagers bingeing on alcohol will become Salvation Army clients.
The challenge we face as a society is how best to minimise the harm done by youth drinking.
Although the Government is reviewing the regulation of alcohol advertising as well as considering the sale and supply of liquor to those under 18, the Salvation Army believes that the solutions are multi-faceted but that the Government could take two important steps to help arrest the cycle of alcohol abuse.
First, the Government should take a tougher approach in the regulations that govern alcohol promotion.
Like any advertising, that for alcohol is aimed at increased sales.
Such advertising is one of the ways in which drinking is promoted as being the socially desirable norm. It is inevitable that alcohol advertising is reaching children and teenagers under the age of 18.
Second, Parliament should reconsider raising the drinking age to 20.
That would not only make it tougher for young people to legally procure alcohol but would send a strong message that New Zealand is taking the problem of youth drinking seriously.
Such a move would also help to encourage a desirable youth culture where alcohol is not considered necessary to have fun or be cool.
The Salvation Army will be on hand to help pick up the pieces, but we would much prefer that the individual and social consequences of youth drinking were prevented in the first place.
* Major Lynette Hutson is the national manager of the Salvation Army's addiction and supportive accommodation services.
