 Alcohol has been in use for centuries and it´s a part of our culture that we can not get away from. Alcohol is associated to parties, fun and positive, social stimulans. But, it has also been associated to violence, addiction, crimes and diseases. Responsability. 10% of all people that drink alcohol sooner or later will develop an addiction, and the younger you are when you start drinking the bigger risk you have to become addicted in the future. That´s why parents and adults should take more responsibility for youths and tell them about the risks and most important, they should not by any circumstances buy alcohol for their children. Is it moral to preach to the youths about how bad drinking is and then in the weekend go to the liquor store and buy alcohol for them? Some people say: ”If I buy it for them, I know what they are drinking and then I don´t have to worry about them asking someone on the street.” and ”then I know what they are drinking and I don´t have to worry about them getting too drunk.” But what happens when they have finished the beers or the bottle of wine and figure they want to drink more..? Then they probably don´t mind what they drink as long as they get more drunk and sooner or later they drink something that will cause serious damages. If parents would stop buying alcohol for their children it doesn´t mean that all drinking among youths will stop, because it won´t, but maybe it will teach youths that drinking isn´t the only option to have fun, because a lot of youths nowdays actually think so. If parents would set a good example the youths would get a better view on how seriously drinking can be and that you can get addicted even though you just drink at weekeends.
In a questionarie about youths´ drinking habits the answers were ”more” than I expected. I asked youths in the ages 16-18 both boys and girls, and here are some of the answers: When I asked the 16 years old about their drinking habits 75%(!) of them said that they drink alcohol (around) once a week and that they don´t think that they have much problems with getting alcohol. I got almost the same answers from the youths aged 17-18 but, in the age of 18 more than 50% said that they drink alcohol twice a week. And the question: ”Do you think it´s ok with parents buying alcohol for their children?” 70% said Yes. 55% thought that they have more fun when they´ve been drinking and 70% thought that more people drink alcohol today than 10 years ago. That is actually fairly true, because since 1990 and up until 2000 the alcohol consumption increased, but since 2000-2003 it hasn´t changed much at all. But why is it that 55% of youths today think that they have more fun drinking? That´s a question I unfortunately can´t answer but I belive that people have somehow forgotten how to communicate properly, but when they drink they get more selfconfident and feel that they can do anything they want.
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