Left to right: Christian Olsen who struggled with alcohol problems because of ‘adult-assisted drinking’ with Danielle Raymond and her mother Julie who lost their sister and daughter, Shannon, in 2008 to alcohol.
Grad is supposed to be a time of celebration for teens and their families, but as doctors and nurses in our emergency departments can attest, it’s also a time when the tragedies associated with teenage drinking become more apparent.
June 12 marks the start of VCH’s annual anti-bootlegging campaign on the North Shore, which aims to raise awareness about the dangers of underage drinking, especially with grad and the summer party season looming. This year, educating adults about the consequences of their actions is at the heart of the campaign.
“Our culture is saturated with the belief that teen drinking is inevitable, and as parents and guardians it is easier to flow with current teen culture instead of fighting against it,” says Kerrie Watt, an alcohol and drug prevention educator at VCH. “But we only have to look at the recent string of tragic teen deaths on party buses and the numerous house parties where minors had have access to alcohol to realize that supervised drinking really doesn’t work. Adults aren’t making it ‘safer’ by purchasing alcohol for teens and giving them a place to drink.”
Kerrie Watt, an alcohol and drug prevention educator at VCH, speaks about the dangers of underage drinking.
Alcohol remains the most commonly used substance among youth of all ages and kills more teens than any other drug, yet 80 per cent of North Shore youth report they received alcohol from an adult. Underage drinking—90 per cent of which involves binge drinking—can have serious consequences on the adolescent brain and can lead to long-term addiction. In fact, 40 per cent of alcoholics began drinking before the age of 15, while only 10 per cent begin drinking at age 21 or after.
As adults, parents and ultimately health care providers, it’s in everyone’s interest to help prevent underage drinking. When adults make alcohol less accessible to youth, there are fewer tragic instances of fatal vehicle accidents; fewer incidents of alcohol poisoning leading to ED visits; reduced instances of long-term addiction; and perhaps most importantly, it helps change attitudes about alcohol and its role in the community.
The campaign is in its fifth year and is a partnership between VCH and North Vancouver RCMP, West Vancouver Police Department, the West and North Vancouver school districts, District and City of North Vancouver, the District of West Vancouver, Squamish Nation and the North Shore Action on Prevention Task Force.