Minister wants to ban alcohol use by minors

Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina yesterday said the consumption of alcohol by those aged 16 and under should be made illegal.

She pointed out that Maltese legislation only banned the sale of alcohol to children but did not prohibit consumption.

Ms Cristina was speaking on the results of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (Espad) held in 2003 among 16-year-olds in 35 countries.

The survey results with regard to Malta are mixed. Maltese 16-year-olds smoke less than when the last survey was carried out in 1999 but their alcohol consumption and drunkenness have remained on the same levels while their use of drugs has risen.

The Espad survey is conducted by the Council of Europe through the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and other Drugs. Sedqa, the national organisation against drug and alcohol abuse, and the Education Division collaborate on the survey, which was published yesterday by Sedqa at the same time as in all 35 European countries.

Joe Gerada, the chief executive officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, said the Maltese placed eighth from last when it came to illicit drug consumption. When it came to alcoholic beverages, the country placed 14th from the top. And when it came to smoking, it placed second from last.

Mr Gerada said that as in the previous study, alcohol was the most widely abused substance. Only 6.4 per cent of 16-year-olds, a slight rise compared to six per cent in 1999, had not had alcohol at least once in their lives.

Fifty-one per cent of those who had taken alcohol (59 per cent boys, 45 per cent girls) reported doing so on 20 or more occasions in their lives.

There was a marginal drop in the number of students who reported to have been drunk at least once over the previous 12 months - 38 per cent in 2003 against 30 per cent in 1999.

There was a slight drop - from 5.4 per cent in 1999 to 4.6 per cent in 2003 - in the number of students who reported drinking beer almost daily while a slight increase was reported in this cohort for daily drinking of spirits, from 7.2 per cent in 1999 to 7.8 per cent last year.

Another slight increase was noted in those who reported consuming more than five drinks in succession over the last 30 days. The increase was from 48.4 in 1999 to 49.1 per cent in 2003. Boys were twice as likely to be heavier drinkers than girls.

There was a significant increase in the number of respondents - from 16.4 per cent to 32.2 per cent - who reported they consumed alcohol in a disco.

Although a drop in cigarette smoking was reported by respondents when compared with the previous study (56.6 per cent in 1999, 52 per cent in 2003), more than one in every two students experimented with tobacco. Moreover, 10 per cent (13.9 per cent in 1999) reported this to have taken place by the time they were 11.

Unlike the evidence from studies among older generations, the frequency and intensity of smoking among girls (19.3 per cent) was higher than that of boys (16 per cent) and reflected a negative form of equality.

By the age of 16, experimentation with illicit drugs was not uncommon as already evidenced in the 1995 and 1999 Espad studies.

The so-called soft drugs were often the first to be tried out. In this study, 10.3 per cent (7.2 per cent in 1999) reported at least one time experimentation with cannabis (12.8 per cent for boys and 8.2 per cent for girls).

The most commonly abused illicit drug emerged once again as inhalants, with 15.9 per cent (16.2 per cent in 1999) reporting to have used them.

A significant drop was registered in relation to tranquillisers and sedatives. While in 1999, 5.9 per cent admitted to having used tranquillisers and sedatives, in 2003, 2.6 per cent reported that they used these substances illicitly. A worrying trend was that 8.4 per cent (8.6 per cent in 1999) reported that they were prescribed tranquillisers and sedatives by a doctor.

Although experimentation with drugs at this age was not high, it still remained a worrying threat. Although it was anticipated that there would be a significant increase in lifetime use of ecstasy, there was actually a drop from 2.3 per cent to 1.2 per cent.

Ms Cristina said the government was working on the formulation of a national drug policy which would lay emphasis on reaching out to parents and support services for abusers.