How to tackle under-age drinking problems

Hats off to people like Philip Farrugia Randon (May 13) and Richard England (May 17) for their concern over the problem of under-age drinking.

Other high-profile and professional personalities need to follow suit and publicly show their support for a long-overdue action to check this harmful situation.

Those who are in a position to do something to bring about such a change are fully aware of the problem. We need to work for an environment in which the young will be protected from all that is unashamedly laid out for them by the people who sell and provide them with alcoholic beverages.

How many more surveys need we carry out to convince the legislators, the law enforcers, the people in the entertainment industry, the parents and the public that we are allowing our young to become alcohol dependent from a vulnerable early age?

Are we showing all this indifference because the consequences and incidents arising from alcohol intoxication generally happen away from the shop, bar, pub or club where the alcohol is sold or served?

Is it not a fact that when clients are served with more alcohol than they can handle, they are simply and unceremoniously shown the door?

Does not the common shopkeeper realise that his own kids may probably be getting their own alcoholic beverage supply from some other outlet? For the fact is that kids of any age are freely supplied with all the alcoholic beverages and tobacco they ask for.

It is clear that good parenting, or education, are not enough. It is not enough either to raise awareness. A drive to check this abuse has to be backed by effective measures to deter and severely punish those whose only interest is to exploit the exuberance, sense of adventure and folly of young people.

Enough words, we want action. Yes, parents and others interested in the welfare of young people need to come out and make themselves heard. Also, besides adequate laws and regulations, serious and responsible law enforcement must be strictly ensured.

We need to raise the legal drinking age from 16 to 18; introduce tough laws and stiff fines to control abuse by vendors and under-age consumers; prohibit the sale of alcoholic drinks from shops and bars situated near schools; prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages from grocers and supermarkets to the under-aged; keeping the under-aged out of bars and adult entertainment places; controlling, if not banning, alcohol consuming schemes, such as two for one prices and open bar practices as well as happy hours; banning of alcohol and tobacco advertising in sports and events where the young can be expected to attend and making better use of the breathalyser law.