Binge Drinking and Substance Abuse

Hollie Blake

Binge drinking is seen in endemic proportions in the Sutherland Shire and indeed throughout the nation.  For too long there has been a certain cultural acceptance of binge drinking in Australia, particularly in young people under 25years of age.  For this demographic of young people, regardless of legal age, drinking is the accepted culture.

All it takes is a trip down to Cronulla on a Friday or Saturday night to illustrate the magnitude of this problem.  You see young people as young as 13 or 14 drinking to excess.  You might know these people from school or from around the community.   I, for one, have numerous friends that will do this every weekend.  And come Monday, it is always the same story.   They'll talk about how they humiliated themselves, and how sick they felt, swearing that they will never drink again.   And then come the weekend, they'll be back at Cronulla.

For some young people, it will be too late to say never again.  Statistically, each week in Australia one teenager dies and another 60 are hospitalised due to alcohol related causes.  While the abuse of completely illicit substances also poses fatal threats to users, the number of related deaths and illnesses in no way matches up to that of alcohol usage.

Now, we know this.  The Government has ensured a very thorough detailing of the effects of binge drinking and substance abuse.   We are taught the short term implications of drinking; dehydration, vertigo, black outs, vomiting.   We are taught the long term implications of drinking; liver failure, memory loss, stroke, brain damage. We are taught the effect that this has on our relationships with our families. We are taught the effect that this has on our relationships with our families.

But this does little good when we as a society are almost complacent about the problems that this potentially causes  the community, and therefore we, the youth demographic, continue to engage in this potentially fatal culture as if it a rite of passage.  

Not everyone will have a problem with alcohol usage, many young Australians are sensible in their use of alcohol, but for some, there is a rising attitude, particularly evident in our community, of 'drinking to get drunk'.   This is a culture that we have accepted as a nation.  This culture has to change.  What we as a society have come to tolerate has got to change.

Excessive alcohol consumption destroys the health of community members, impacts upon families and social groups, and also threatens the survival of the aboriginal culture.

The Federal Government has recognised the problem of binge drinking among young people on the community, pledging $53.5 million over 4 years to reduce binge drinking and its associated harms across the nation.  The "Alco-pops" tax, whether one agrees with it or not, further demonstrates the government taking this threat seriously.

But Government funding and policing will only go so far.  There is a point where the community must take some responsibility, both individually and collectively, to address the threats that excessive alcohol consumption poses.

Societies' values have become very loose in regards to underage drinking and are thus inadvertently encouraged.  Children are beginning to drink earlier and earlier, some as early as 12, affecting their minds, their bodies, and ultimately, their futures.  This then carries on into adolescence and adulthood, creating a large demographic of regular substance users.   The community has condemned the use of illicit drugs, yet accepts the drinking culture as a part of being Australian. 

As a community we must scrutinize our acceptance of binge drinking, not just in regards to young people, because it is this attitude of acceptance that transcends onto this vulnerable group. 

Only then can we start to remedy or at the very least, reduce the harm of alcohol usage. Changing the communities attitudes towards drinking will not be achieved immediately, but it must start.