Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

French try to put cork in teen drinking binges

Opinion Alcohol and teens are a heady mix, writes Cherie Sivignon in this week’s L’expat.

Before I moved to France I was under the impression that French citizens had a better attitude to the consumption of booze than my New Zealand peers.

And that is true.

My husband Franck, born and raised in France, had no cultural pressure as a youngster to repeatedly binge drink himself into a drunken stupor. He grew up with alcohol in moderation beginning as a child with a watered-down glass of wine during Sunday lunch and it always accompanied food.

His teen friends never chanted witty rhymes such as “eating’s cheating” as they cajoled their mates into drinking yet another bottle of beer with the aim of getting drunk. It was never a goal of his group of friends to go out and get smashed so they could boast about how much they were able to consume, or laugh if their mates had to vomit.

However, Franck is now part of an older generation. Due to turn 40 this year, his teenage years and the cultural attitudes to alcohol of his peers are, sadly, 20 years out of date.

Times have changed in the land of food, wine and politics.

This shift has been accompanied by the teen embracement of foreign popular culture and the introduction of RTDs or alcopops, as the English call those pre-mixed, usually sweet-tasting spirit-and-fizz concoctions.

Like their English and New Zealand counterparts, many French teens now binge drink.

In a move designed to put a cork in the bottle of this unwanted cultural shift, French MPs in the lower house have voted to increase the legal age to buy alcohol, from 16 years to 18 years.

Yep, it is legal for a 16-year-old to buy booze in France, as it is for beer and wine purchases in Germany and a couple of other Western European countries.

The French bill also seeks to ban open bars and the night sales of alcohol at petrol stations, believed to be a prime source of booze for young people.

However, the message behind the law change has been diluted with the legal introduction of alcohol advertising on the internet. Booze will be able to be advertised online, although print, radio and television remain a no-go area for alcohol ads.

Legislators also have plans to up the pressure on smoking by increasing the legal age to buy cigarettes to 18 years. The move follows the surprisingly successful ban on smoking in French cafes and restaurants.

These proposals to increase the age limits for buying alcohol and tobacco are well and good but, as every teenager knows, with a little forward planning (and a helpful 18-year-old) it is easy to get one’s hands on booze and ciggies.

Reversing the change in cultural attitudes, now that would be the trick.

source: Stuff NZ

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Web Delivers New Worry for Parents: Digital Drugs

We all know that music can alter your mood. Sad songs can make you cry. Upbeat songs may give you an energy boost. But can music create the same effects as illegal drugs? This seems like a ridiculous question. But websites are targeting your children with so-called digital drugs. These are audio files designed to….

Exercise may fight addiction

New approaches for treating and preventing drug addiction range from low-tech – regular exercise – to high-tech such as experimental vaccines aimed at helping to prevent former drug users from relapsing. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is just as excited about both options. Of the two, though, exercise will probably….

Drug testing

Drug testing basically involves collecting the urine samples to test the different drugs like cocaine, marijuana, PCP, amphetamines, etc. The teenagers, are especially more vulnerable to drug abuse as their body and brains are still developing. This can lead to adverse effects on his health, body, behavior and brain. There are number of methods that….

Governments’ Drug-Abuse Costs Hit $468 Billion, Study Says

Government spending related to smoking and the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs reached $468 billion in 2005, accounting for more than one-tenth of combined federal, state and local expenditures for all purposes, according to a new study. Most abuse-related spending went toward direct health care costs for lung disease, cirrhosis and overdoses, for example,….

Society woman explodes alcohol myths

On the outside she lived a youthful life of glamorous balls and high society but on the inside Liz Jamieson-Hastings had a terrible secret she was an alcoholic. Now a respected alcohol counsellor who works in schools and prisons, Liz has written a book about her experiences, Still Standing: From debutante to detox to help….