Alcohol Cayman’s biggest drug problem among kids
(CNS): Despite perceptions that many of Cayman’s social problems are caused by illegal drug use, it is the misuse of alcohol that has the most negative impact on the local community, the National Drug Council director said ahead of this year’s Alcohol Awareness Month campaign. Here in Cayman, as is common around the world, the use of alcohol by teens and children is of particular concern. According to the NDC’s latest student survey results, alcohol is the number one drug of choice with local school children, with well over half of those surveyed already having tried alcohol.
“Many people are affected by alcoholism. Alcohol plays a leading role in many of our social problems, including crime, homelessness, teen pregnancy and domestic violence,” said Joan West Dacres, Executive Director of the National Drug Council.
All communities face a number of substance abuse issues but underage drinking continues to be among the most pervasive. The National Drug Council’s Student Drug Use Survey 2010 (CISDUS) revealed that 39% of Caymanian students surveyed reported using alcohol at least once in the year prior to the survey and 54.1% reported having at least one drink during their lifetime.
“Alcohol happens to be the most abused substance by youth in our islands. The increase
in the availability of flavoured alcoholic drinks, termed as ‘alcopops’, and the examples
of social drinking set by adults are factors that make alcohol appealing to younger
people,” said Simon Miller, Prevention Officer of the National Drug Council.
The NDC also revealed that teens engage in binge or excessive drinking, saying they binge drink at a party because they assume that a couple of drinks are harmless. Partying creates the illusion that they are having fun and alcohol enhances the fun.
Most children who use alcohol get it from a friend or family member. Nineteen percent (19.3%) of drinkers reported getting alcohol from friends, 8.9% from other relatives, and 8.5% from parents, the new survey, which will be officially released next month, shows.
As the NDC gears up to join the international campaign next month to raise awareness of alcohol abuse and encourage people to make healthy and safe choices, it said it was vital for parents to communicate the harmful effect of underage drinking.
One conversation isn’t enough to give them the information and guidance they need. Parents have the ability to influence a child’s decisions about underage drinking by simply talking often and honestly about alcohol, the experts stated.
Throughout the month of April, the National Drug Council will continue to air its series of national public service announcements and advertisements in Hollywood Theatres to get the message out. For further information on alcohol, underage drinking, and tips on talking with your child about alcohol please contact the National Drug Council at 949-9000 or visit www.ndc.ky.
Category: Local News
ACTUALLY, THE NUMBER 1 DRUG OF THE WORLD IS SUGAR !
bad parenting is the biggest problem caymanian kids face
under-aged drinking IS illegal drug use!
It is well-studied that Teens will experiment with the habits and trappings of Adulthood regardless (and in spite of) efforts to constrain that behavior. Those revelations are part of the excitement of becoming a young adult, and are virtually unstoppable.
Equipping youth for the inevitability of this phase of life should not be the burden of the NDC. Preparing youth to make good choices should first and foremost begin through healthy examples at home (and to a lesser extent through life counsellors at the primary/secondary school level).
Before exposure (and starting at a very young age) parents are required to cover these important family-time talks, ie. "please’s and thank you’s", "respecting personal property", "the birds and bees", "respecting the family name", "life consequences", "HIV and other avoidable afflictions", "prison life", "life expectancy in the gang culture", "listening to your elders", and many many more. After those lessons are hammered home dozens of times, over many shared family dinners, the choice becomes 100% theirs. You can only hope that you adequately fulfilled your parental responsibilities so that they make the right choices later in life.
Anything the NDC does is great, but it will be completely supplemental to what should have already been drilled home by their parents/role models (and over many years).
You don’t really think these type of conversations are being held between parents and their children do you?
Instead what is happening is the child watches the parents behavior so domestic violence, drinking, drugs,adultery and blaming this group or that group for their troubles basically this is the education for the child.
Too bad the recent census couldn’t accurately count the number of adults with alcohol problems in the Cayman Islands.
I like to think that the great majority of parents in Cayman love their kids and want to do the right thing. Those that don’t already know, need to learn that it is THEIR job to be a mentor and prepare their children for life, and not some governmental department or school. YES, these conversations regularly occur in normal caring households.
Re anything the NDC does is great. What do they do except report how bad the problem is? Just asking.
It is a shame how we have failed our children. When I was a teenager, my parents waited up for me, smelled my breath, and made sure I was not going to get away with being intoxicated. Curfews and kindness work. Give kids something to do instead of drinking. Our children are being raised on fast food, video games, and too much freedom to roam and get into trouble.
Combine this with our staggering illiteracy rates and you realize that the schools, parents, governments, churches, and families have all failed our children.
For goodness sake, the clubs are serving alcohol to underage kids. This has been going on for years. Also parties at friends homes, no adult supervision. What do you expect. Then when something happens everyone is like oh poor so and so….the problem does start at home….and don’t make an excuse for the home being a one parent home…that isn’t an excuse!!!!
I’m glad the NDC undertook this report. Teenagers are undoubtedly curious about alcohol especially since it seems like a socially accepted not amongst many people living in Cayman (foreign and local alike). I don’t know if we can stop them trying alcohol but we definitely need to educate them about the hazards to health, safety and their futures. No more molly coddling and hand holding these kids because trust me, they know it all and some ad wwith an adult telling them not to drink is NOT gonna work. These kids are desensitized to so much through the overuse of technology. They need shock and awe and they need to see it in relation to their peers to make it believable.
As for us older folks, its kind of hard to take the issue seriously when on any given Friday you can see your local friendly MLA falling down drunk at many happy hour joints, so I applaud the NDC for their work!