July 2002

Strategy to target alcohol abuse

Under-age drinking, binge drinking by tertiary students and excessive drinking at sports clubs will be targeted in a new Victorian Alcohol Strategy.

Launching Stage 1 of the Victorian Alcohol Strategy, Health Minister John Thwaites said other areas to be addressed would include workplace drinking and alcohol-related violence.

‘Alcohol promotions targeting young people on the internet and the use of alcohol in TV programs such as Secret Life of Us and Big Brother and will also be investigated as part of the Strategy.

‘Backed up by hard-hitting ads, the Strategy will help reduce the damage that alcohol abuse does to the health and social fabric of our community—damage that is often underestimated and unrecognised.

‘Alcohol abuse can have a wide range of destructive consequences, including having unsafe sex, getting into fights and into trouble with legal authorities and driving under the influence of alcohol.

‘The Strategy will identify and highlight these consequences and provide information on how to avoid them.’

Mr Thwaites said statistics on under-age drinking and binge drinking by young people demonstrated the need for a co-ordinated, comprehensive approach to reducing alcohol abuse.

‘For example, recent studies show that the number of young people being treated for alcohol problems is on the increase.

‘In the current financial year, the number of children aged 12–17 treated for alcohol problems is forecast to be 405—a staggering 38 per cent higher than the last financial year, when the number was 294.

‘In the same period, the number of 18 to 25-year-olds treated for alcohol problems has increased even more substantially—by 42 per cent from 1024 to 1456.

‘Other studies have shown that most young people saw themselves as social drinkers with only three per cent identifying themselves as binge drinkers.

‘But some 15 per cent of young people aged 16–24 are drinking at levels defined as hazardous by the National Health and Medical Research Council.’

Mr Thwaites said the Victorian Alcohol Strategy would include:

• Hard-hitting ads to target under-age drinkers, warning of the dangers of binge drinking;

• Promoting Standard Drink guidelines;

• A campaign to increase tertiary students’ awareness of the dangers of drinking, targeting the start of the university year and ‘O-Week’ events;

• Investigating alcohol promotion in the media and on the internet to reduce improper promotion and advertising of alcohol to young people;

• Promoting alcohol-safe environments with:

– increased funding to the Good Sports Program to encourage the responsible serving of alcohol at sports clubs;

– kits on safe alcohol practices for workplaces;

– a reduction of alcohol-related violence through co-operation with police and identifying high-risk premises.