Aussies Under 25 Drink to get Wasted, Study Finds
A report from the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) revealed that Aussies ages 25 below particularly drink alcohol for the main purpose of getting wasted, consuming higher alcohol level that put them in life-threatening situation.
The report said that one in eight deaths of these young Aussies is caused by situation through which they put themselves into when too much drunk.
As much as these youths engage in fewer drinking spree than the adults, they tend to consume higher risk of alcohol level each time.
"The level of alcohol-related damage occurring in our communities is simply appalling. The health, social and economic costs associated with alcohol use simply cannot be allowed to continue at the current level," ANCD Chairman Dr John Herron said.
The report also made a shocking revelation that 60 per cent of all police call-outs, reaching a shocking 90 per cent of occurrence at night, are all alcohol-related incidents.
Hence, 20 per cent of Australians, young or adults are putting themselves at risk of having lifetime injuries or diseases brought by too much alcohol consumption. There are at least one in every four Australians who had reported being victim of alcohol-related verbal abuse.
In an interview with ABC, ANCD member Professor Steve Allsop said that there is "hardly an Australian community or family that has not been affected by alcohol problems."
"Our safety on the road, the costs to our hospitals and police service, our concern about young people all demand investment in effective responses," he said.
"I think if you were to talk to anybody who works in the police service, anyone who works in a hospital emergency department or scores, thousands of families who have ... had violence and other problems inflicted upon them because of someone else's alcohol use, then you'll agree and understand why Australia needs to take a new course of action on how it deals with alcohol," the council's executive director, Gino Vumbaca, said.
"There's three areas you have to tackle and that's availability, price and promotion. Availability means we look at the amount of venues we have and the licensing hours we have for alcohol availability. Price, you're looking at some bottles of wine being sold on the internet and the like and in supermarkets, you know, a couple of dollars a bottle. And the other thing we have to look at is promotion. It's a self-regulated system. Advertising at some points is incessant at young people," Mr Vumbaca told ABC.
ANCD said that an Alcohol Action Plan is underway. The action plans desires to target the "unacceptable levels of crime, violence, health harms and family disturbance" caused by alcohol.
The council calls for states and territories to compile and release data on alcohol sales to allow a more focused analysis of the effects of alcohol in each specific area.
Most importantly, ANCD calls for the government as a whole to establish laws reviewing the negative influence of alcohol advertising to the Australians.