Figures that show one in five 16- and 17-year-olds in Maitland drink enough alcohol to put their lives and health at risk are shocking.
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Even more alarming, however, is the fact that the number of 12- to 15-year-olds abusing alcohol in Maitland has doubled in the past 25 years.
Alcohol causes more drug-related deaths and hospitalisations in Maitland than any other substance for people aged 15 to 34.
Aside from the health impacts, Life Education also says that booze is a factor in half the assaults that occur in the Hunter.
Clearly this is a problem, but the reaction shouldn’t be an extreme ban-the-beers attitude.
Moderation, commonsense and education are the best ways forward.
It requires a cultural shift rather than a move to impose more rules, which would likely be ineffective anyway because many teenage drinkers are already consuming alcohol illegally.
Hunter Life Education director Matthew Chantrey says adults should foster a safe and responsible attitude toward alcohol in the family home, so kids don’t grow up thinking that dangerous habits such as binge drinking are acceptable, or even normal.
This is a good point.
If a child grows up in a household where they see mum or dad go out of a weekend and get rolling drunk, or crack open half a dozen beers in front of the football on a Saturday afternoon, that child will probably think that behaviour is acceptable.
But if parents lead by example and teach their kids that, while it’s OK for an adult to have a drink every now and then, heavy alcohol consumption can cause serious health and social problems, the necessary cultural shift may begin to happen.
