This year the theme for Drug Action Week was “Looking After Your Mind”.  Member services across Queensland participated and hosted many activities. Each day of Drug Action Week had a particular theme and in keeping with this, QNADA, Dovetail and DRUG ARM co-hosted a panel discussion, focused on: “Changing the Drinking Culture of Young Australians”.

Jeff Buckley, Principal Consultant, Dovetail commenced the discussion with an overview of some key statistics, facts and examples of the national drinking culture within Australia, not just our young people.  It was eye-opening and important to question and consider which behaviours and messages our young people may be mirroring.  For example,  have you ever thought about comparing the images from say the Melbourne Cup each year, or from a former Prime Minister now in his early eighties, to those regularly in the media from Schoolies and the Fortitude Valley or the Gold Coast on any given weekend?  You can view Jeff’s powerpoints here.

Our panellists – Siobhan Delgado (YETI), Mark Lingwood (QPS), Trevor Knox (DRUG ARM) and Erin Mercer (Chillout Zone) were then called upon to provide insight into issues such as parental and family influence, alcohol advertising, school-based AOD education, and alternate programs like Hello Sunday Morning. You can view a short biography of the panellists here.
 
Some other questions and discussion topics thrown at our panel included -

• How would you describe the drinking culture in Australia, and do you see something unique or different about the way young people consume alcohol?

• Our health and human services systems contain many programs and initiatives that target young people specifically.  In your opinion, what are the reasons why we need to approach working with young people around alcohol and drug use differently, than we may do so with say adults or other groups in the community?

• We hear a lot about the problems and harms of youth alcohol abuse. In your opinion, are there any benefits of alcohol use by young people who are under 18 years of age? And if so, what are they?

• Obviously one of the things that most of us in this room are concerned about is reducing the harms associated with alcohol use, particularly with young people.  What do you think are the top 3 things we can do to minimise the harms for young people from drinking?  What works?

• Schools are an integral site for health promotion, education and harm prevention.  What do you think is the best way to utilise schools in addressing alcohol use amongst young people? And if we do want to introduce alcohol and drug education into the curriculum, at what age and stage should this be done?

• There are calls for the new LNP state government to scrap this curfew and allow clubs to open until 5am.  Will this be effective in addressing alcohol-related issues in high density drinking areas?

• Finally, if there is consensus amongst frontline youth, health and AOD practitioners about the need to address problematic alcohol use, how do we collectively advocate for policy and program changes at a local, state and federal level?

 
In answering these, and in response to several questions and statements from the audience, some key themes became apparent –

• As a society we all have a responsibility to consider and act in relation to our national drinking culture
• Greater emphasis should be placed on education, early intervention and prevention
• Additional steps, different approaches and support are required for vulnerable cohorts
• Drink Safe Precincts are demonstrating some positive results, however we need to continue to consider innovative and harm minimisation strategies
• The challenges in rural and remote communities can be even more complex with limited social, cultural and recreational opportunities or activities to access
• Healing and addressing generational trauma is necessary, particularly for Indigenous young people
• Following some restrictions on alcohol advertising the industry has adapted, creating more subtle influences linked to traditional Australia values eg. Raise a Glass 2012 campaign by VB for Anzac Day
• A change to the Australian drinking culture will require us as a society to think of alternative ways of both celebrating wins and achievements and heading down to the pub to de-stress after a bad day
This is an important discussion to continue, not just in AOD sector specific forums, but with our friends, families and importantly young people who we encounter in a range of settings.  We thank our panellists for giving their time to provide their valuable on-the-ground insight and experiences and those of you able to join us for your engagement and participation in the discussion.  For those of you unable to make the event, we hope that this summary provides some food for thought. 

There are a range of resources for working with youth available at www.dovetail.org.au or at www.drugarm.com.au.

We’d love to hear about your Drug Action Week activities – email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , including with any photos, so we can share the great activities across Queensland during Drug Action Week 2012.