Beer taboo

The amount of beer drunk by young people and adults has increased ten times in the past decade, reports the Ministry of Health. At the moment, according to the data of the Yaremenko Institute of Sociological Research, over 40 percent of teenagers drink alcohol, including vodka. That is why there is a need to immediately start combating juvenile alcoholism.

How? One of the options is to put ban on selling beer and low-alcohol drinks to underage persons. This is exactly what is stipulated by the amendments to the laws limiting the consumption and sale of beer and low-alcohol drinks adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in late January. On the one hand, we can rejoice that Ukraine has been passing certain decisions on combating juvenile drinking. However, on the other hand, the law does not say who should make sure beer is not sold to teenagers in stores and kiosks or how the guilty will be punished. Should one depend on the shop assistants’ conscience? Whereas in supermarkets this can be influenced to some extent by installing surveillance cameras, what should one do in the retail, when old women sell beer simply in the street?

Den has asked experts whether the new law will be helpful in combating the problem of juvenile drinking.

Olha BALAKIRIEVA, head of the board of directors, the Yaremenko Institute of Social Research:

“The law will only facilitate illegal sale of beer. For teenagers this has become the culture of spending their leisure. This kind of ban will have no effect, as it is unclear what the mechanism of the law’s action will be, who will be responsible for this, and who will control the sale – none of these nuances has been well thought-out. Generally, the methods based on mere prohibition are always inefficient. Bans should be gradual and limited. A broad information campaign should be carried out in cooperation with the system of education, using all education channels, along with the activization of the public sector and optimization of parental control.

“However, in Ukraine, the beer problem is exacerbated by ads, i.e., they should be totally forbidden. Moreover, an explanation should be provided about the effects of drinking beer on teenagers, whose bodies have not matured yet. This explanation should be made through the mass media, educational establishments, social ads, and health protection institutions. On the other hand, we have now a ban for selling, but where is the ban on drinking alcohol in public places? In which form should this be controlled? We have taken some steps, without even taking into account other countries’ experience, where advertisement of alcohol on the whole, and beer in particular, is totally banned.

“Bans on selling alcohol to persons under certain age should be supported by a system of control. This does work in lawful states, so this decision should go in package with other ones. According to our recent surveys, alcohol consumption has stabilized. If we follow the tendencies of other countries, the indices will drop. But the problem is that we are speaking about alcohol on the whole, whereas the consumption of beer and low-alcohol drinks has essentially grown, due to its attractiveness to young people. And when a person is attracted to something, s/he will attain this. Therefore, Ukraine should develop a clear-cut state policy concerning alcohol and other narcotic substances, but we have none of this yet. It should be comprehensive rather than consist of individual measures.”

Hennadii ZILBERBLAT, head of the Kyiv Oblast Psychiatric and Drug Abuse Medical Association, Merited Doctor of Ukraine:

“Unfortunately, beer alcoholism is a problem of young people and should be combated through complex measures. Why do young people tend to drink beer most frequently? Because it exists and is considered an attribute of adulthood. This is a cheap drink, which can be bought at any kiosk. Not the least role is played by ads: when you see a positive image, like a sportsman with a bottle of beer, you subconsciously read this as ‘drinking beer is sporty.’ Nobody gives it a thought that after three or five years of systemic drinking of beer, one stands every chance of becoming an incorrigible alcoholic.

“It is no secret that beer relaxes, which makes its main special characteristic. But as time passes, beer is viewed as an inseparable part of recreation. I frequently come across cases when beer becomes the first step to the diagnosis ‘alcohol addiction.’

“When they bring guys aged 16 or 17, who are already beer addicts (they even have alcoholic mania), I have no doubts that beer leads to alcoholism. We conducted research among 11th-graders in one large city in Ukraine, and none of them is a drug addict, but 50 percent drink beer about one time a week. It turned out that their arterial pressure is higher than among those who don’t drink. Besides, senior pupils who drink alcohol had psychological and psychical problems, i.e., medical problems and issues with functioning in society: family conflicts, lower grades, etc. At the moment, a total of around 5,000 Ukrainian teenagers are in the risk group. And this number includes only those who have caught the eye of drug-abuse experts, whereas the real figure is ten times higher.”

Oleksandr CHEPUR, head of Poltava Oblast Youth NGO Your World:

“Teenagers do not have well-shaped life beliefs, so their personalities have become a sort of target for tobacco and alcohol-producing industries. The law forbidding to sell beer and low-alcohol drinks to underage persons is indisputably a positive step on the part of the state. Some stores keep to this law. Still, in small shops, kiosks, or simply in the street they do sell alcohol, paying no attention to the age. I have recently witnessed a 13-year-old approach such a kiosk and say, ‘My father asked me to buy [alcohol],’ and they sold it to him. Who knows, whether those were parents who asked, or whether he was buying it for himself? Therefore, it does not suffice to forbid; one should create system of control that would enforce the law and also raise the fines.

“In our opinion, this control should be partially carried out by NGOs, but the state should help in this, providing assistance in the realization of NGOs’ programs and projects. Therefore, this law is only a part of the whole complex of the needed measures. For example, our youth NGO is carrying out educational work with pupils in this direction. At the moment, we are conducting a course to cultivate normative sex behavior among teenagers in eight educational establishments in Lubny, Poltava oblast. This course pays great attention to the strategy of refusal from alcohol and sex relationships when there is a choice.

“Since 2007, we have been taking part in providing interesting leisure for teenagers. This includes communication clubs, sports games, and thematic video discos. This year we have started to work with parents, too. The state should understand that mere bans won’t bring any real results, whereas an all-round (first of all financial) support of such initiatives as ours will have more effect on resolving the problem of juvenile alcohol abuse.”