Aware kicks off anti-underage drinking campaign in Sandton
HYDE PARK – The campaign hopes to drive education and awareness about underage drinking.
An anti-underage drinking campaign created by the Association for Alcohol Responsibility and Education (Aware) was kicked off in Hyde Park.
The campaign will be the first campaign of this scale that will work across multiple platforms to drive education and awareness about underage drinking.
According to Ingrid Louw, the CEO of Aware, underage drinking is reaching alarming levels in South Africa with children from as young as 10 years old drinking alcohol. In order to tackle this problem, they believe that they need to start having a conversation with children from a younger age.
Dr Candice Groenewald from the Human Sciences Research Council has focused her research on adolescents who are at risk of engaging in drug and alcohol abuse.
“One of our key findings is that young people have access to alcohol and young people are drinking alcohol at an alarming rate…normally alcohol use starts between the ages of 13 to 15 but we’ve started noticing that this is decreasing in age.”
The Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu, who was in attendance, said that an initiative of this nature is long overdue considering that alcohol is the most commonly used and abused substance among young South Africans. “The scale of this crisis is a major national concern because it affects young people who represent our future. The relationship between alcohol, crime and violence is both direct and complex with the devastating impact of individuals and families.”
She added that it is important that each person examines their own attitudes toward underage drinking and the campaign cannot focus solely on the youth but also their families and society as a whole. “Underage drinking takes place within the context of a society in which alcohol use and abuse is a normative behaviour and images about alcohol are glamourised to appeal to young people.
In order to create more discussion about underage drinking, Aware has encouraged people to share the story of their first drink using #MyFirstDrinkStory. Zulu used the opportunity to share her first drinking story to kick off the campaign.
Details: Aware info@aware.org.za
Share your thoughts on the campaign on the Sandton Chronicle Facebook page
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