Crusade of substance

Think energy drinks and the implication of their effects on the young. Think, wonder and shudder. Red Bull, probably the most popular of those drinks, is banned from sale in Norway, Denmark, Uruguay and Iceland, while health departments in France, Ireland, Turkey, Sweden and the US have expressed concern about it. (The Times, September 2).

The drink is freely available in Malta. Why shouldn't it be? Because those countries that have banned it, some of them high up in the league of progressives, are not fools. Why, then, are we so foolhardy? That's not the end of it.

A new drink has appeared on the international scene. It is called Cocaine. It is cleverly advertised as a safe way of entertaining (sic) oneself, rather than falling for the dreaded drug. It is advertised, among other places, on our ubiquitous billboard parade. Why should it not be? Because it is banned throughout Europe - except in Malta, Albania and Hungary. That is what was told to The Times by Anthony Girard, a social worker who has made it his mission to highlight the dangers for the young of energy drinks, especially mixed with certain other types of drink.

Why is he worried about Cocaine? Because, Mr Girard feels, the drink is lethal for children. He was referring to its composition - it has as much as six times caffeine content as Red Bull. Caffeine is a stimulant. Kids, who should be full of unlimited reserves of energy, are resorting to stimulants. They are also being brainwashed, I feel, by the name Cocaine, which might leave little space in their mind to alert them against cocaine, the deadly drug.

Our early teenagers have already been identified as among the most addicted to drink in Europe. Now, crusader Girard is drawing attention to the development of fresh addiction to energy drinks which are freely available in Malta, though variously banned elsewhere. Who is listening? Who is caring? The Commissioner for Children, at least, is listening. She intends to follow up on Girard's suggestion to call a National Forum to deal with the issue of Maltese children at risk from the abusive consumption of energy drinks and other substances.

The idea, reported by Fiona Galea Debono for The Times, was spearheaded by Girard, who is on a mission to have energy drinks regulated in the same way as alcohol, and who proposed the national forum at a recent public discussion on health. Great, but who else is listening? Where are the kids - the target from their early years for more, much more than energy drinks, including hard alcohol and drugs? Where is the political class?

That class is currently edgily fidgeting with the idea that adolescents should be given the right to vote at 16. Rather than being encouraged to doubt, to think critically and fluidly, the young are being targeted to be herded into the political pen two years earlier than the present coming-of-political age point.

It is laughable to see the jostling that began taking place after Labour leader Joseph Muscat went well off his steady track, in my opinion, to push this needless point on the national agenda. Elements within the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika quickly made it known that they had come up with the idea in the first place. Anything you can do I have already done better - that sort of silly comedy line.

The political focus on the young should not be to turn them into partisan diehards at an even earlier age than at present. It should be to make them question everything and anything under the sun, at least as it walks, talks, or creeps and growls in this our most pathetic of the Creator's jokes. They should be challenged to take notice of Girard's mission, which includes the drinks warning that "our children are knocking it down - whatever they can lay their hands on".

Why are our kids doing that? The adults among us should be asking that and chasing relentlessly and anxiously for answers. Teenagers should be brought into the chase.

Those who are not addicted to energy drinks and worse substances and habits should be encouraged to bare their soul about the problems of the young. Those who are in the murky swim should also be encouraged to speak out.

What moves them, motivates them, disgusts them?

Why, at a time when they possess the precious gift of early youth, are they driven to drugs, to alcohol, to the harmful types of energy drink?

What ails them?

Do they feel the older generations are failing them? And if so, how?

How do they describe the examples that we are giving them?

Are we helping them? Are we relevant at all in their scheme of things?

There is so much that needs to be tackled in the sphere of the young; so much that requires answers and relevant action. If only we had more individuals like Girard whom - my loss - I do not know.

Promoting his sort of concern, of positive action is what political action should be about - not to steal value from youngsters by roping them into the political circus from their middle teens. Come to think of it, perhaps there also needs to be a national forum about the need for and lack of serious political substance.