The increasing binge drinking culture among young people highlights the “dire need” for an alcohol policy which helps reduce availability, experts are warning.

Measures that could be introduced include increasing the alcohol tax and banning special offers on alcohol.

“Malta urgently needs an alcohol policy which does not merely focus on preventative measures but concentrates mainly on environmental measures,” Marilyn Clark, an associate professor at the University of Malta’s Faculty of Social Well-being, has advised. “You can’t change the person; you first have to change the social environment surrounding that person, which facilitates accessibility of alcohol.”

According to the main conclusions of the draft Health Systems Performance Assessment – the first nationwide check-up on the island’s health system – binge drinking is a “worrying new phenomenon in Malta” and the situation is “deteriorating”.

Proportion of the population (aged 15+) reporting the consumption of six or more units of alcohol on one occasion, by age group

It reported that one in 10 people aged 15 to 34 knock back an average of six or more units on one occasion.

Psychology Department head Carmel Cefai said binge drinking could be prevented by raising the tax on alcohol and increasing the number of random breathalyzer tests. Special offers on the sale of alcohol should be banned, he continued, and the number of retail alcohol outlets in a given area should be regulated and limited.

The sale of alcohol in other outlets such as snack bars, confectionaries and supermarkets should also be regulated.

The drinking age should be raised to at least 18, from 17 years. Some countries have even raised it to 21, he noted.

The abuse of selling alcohol to young people should be controlled, with more spot checks being undertaken in bars and places of entertainment.

“While alcohol has been ingrained in Maltese culture for quite some time, ranging from homemade wine consumption to village festas, social occasions and family events, binge drinking among adolescents and young people in Malta is quite a recent phenomenon,” Prof. Cefai said.

The binge drinking of foreigners in Maltese pubs could serve as a fatal attraction

He attributed the worrying increase in binge drinking to today’s commercial, cultural and peer pressures exerted on young people to engage in excessive drinking as a normative rite of passage.

Bars and other places of entertainment operate as “havens of alcohol use and abuse”, encouraging young people to engage in binge drinking by promoting special offers that are particularly attractive to young people.

A lack of enforcement, Prof. Cefai added, increases the ease of access and availability. This includes the sale of alcohol to underage people in bars and clubs as well as in other alcohol retail outlets such as snack bars and supermarkets. Tourists have also brought their own habits and fashions with them.

The binge drinking of young people from different countries in Maltese pubs, clubs and other places of entertainment could serve as a fatal attraction for our young adolescents, he said. This could be mitigated by more education and health promotion programmes for adolescents in school and within the community and by providing psychological support to young people at risk of or already misusing alcohol.

The provision of alternative places of entertainment that would ‘compete’ with alcohol-dependent places of entertainment is an important way of battling binge drinking. Aġenzija Sedqa said it was not surprised by the HSPA results, adding that consecutive studies by the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (Espad) consistently showed that binge drinking among Maltese adolescents and young adults was a phenomenon that had been with us for a number of years in Malta.

“Until some years ago, binge drinking used to be more associated with the northern European countries’ style of consuming alcohol,” the agency said.

“The southern European countries, including Malta, had a different pattern, which was one where people drank smaller amounts of alcohol into older age rather than bingeing in their younger age.

“In fact, physiological damage caused by alcohol (e.g., cirrhosis of the liver) used to be evident in older persons and the social consequences associated with binge drinking, such as violent behaviour, were fairly uncommon.”

Are you a binge drinker?

Maria Portelli, 23

My drinking habits heavily depend on the crowd, the event and whether it’s a weekend or not.

If it’s a birthday or a farewell party, I’d easily take eight or nine glasses of alcohol over a five-hour period..

You feel left out when you don’t drink – it helps you unwind after a long, hard week.

I know that binge drinking has detrimental effects on my health but I don’t have a drinking problem because I know my limit and I can stop.

John Caruana, 29

I rarely go out but when I do, I would take between six and 12 drinks over a span of four to five hours.

For people who find it difficult to socialise, drinking helps you to emerge from your shell. You’re happier with minimal effort.

I know I must be causing my body some harm but I don’t go out every weekend. I also know my limit – when I feel I’m drunk, I’ll stop drinking and allow two hours for the effects to subside.

The impact of bingeing

• Dangerous driving – binge drinkers are significantly more likely to report alcohol-impaired driving than non-binge drinkers;

• Unintentional injuries such as car accidents, drowning and falls;

• Violence and domestic abuse, particularly among males (street fighting, physical assault, sexual assault);

• Unprotected sex which may lead to sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies;

• Heart attacks;

• Liver disease;

• Brain damage and increasing memory loss in the long term;

• Babies with foetal alcohol syndrome.

What is binge drinking?

Binge drinking takes place when five or more units of alcohol are consumed in one session. One unit is equivalent to:

• Half a pint of ordinary strength beer (three to four per cent alcohol by volume)

• A small pub measure (25 ml) of spirits (40 per cent alcohol by volume)

• A standard pub measure (50 ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port (20 per cent alcohol by volume)