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| Tuesday, 02 November 2004 |
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According to a recent research carried out by a team of lecturers of the Colombo and Peradeniya universities, 18 per cent of new university entrants are getting addicted to illicit and other varieties of alcohol. Drinking among our youth has become rampant during the past twenty years and, in the judgment of most observers, has given rise to a host of community problems. Dean of the Faculty of Sociology, University of Jayawardenapura, Prof. Nandasena Ratnapala, says: "The increasing of using all varieties of alcohol by our young men will become a severe threat to our whole society in the future, unless a concrete solution is adopted by the relevant authorities to eradicate the menace." Youth drinking has, over the past several years, been strongly associated with criminal offences. As one Senior Police Officer revealed 50 per cent of all arrests of juveniles under the age of 21 were for "disturbing the peace while under the influence of alcohol, assault and battery while under the influence of alcohol; vandalism while under the influence of alcohol". That trend appears to continue through later youth, a period of life that is culturally defined as extending through the late 20's and early 30's in most Sri Lankan societies. Different approach Alcohol use and abuse has been the subject of numerous past seminars and conferences, but more often than not, these have treated the problem of youth drinking from the perspective of the clinical psychologist or social case worker, as a symptom of personal maladjustment or social malaise among the young in Sri Lanka. What we need today is a different approach altogether, more that of the cultural anthropologist than of the social caseworker. The major aim of such an investigation should be to examine as thoroughly as possible the cultural meaning and context of alcohol use in the different Sri Lankan societies. Instead of isolating youth drinking from the cultures in which it has become so deeply embedded, we must examine how and why alcohol is utilized in our society. With a better and more explicit understanding of how alcohol really works in a society, concerned community members are in a better position to identify and utilize those controls, traditional and modern, that might effectively check heavy drinking among youth and the excesses to which it often leads. Sound public policy on drinking, as on other issues, always proceeds from an accurate grasp of the nature of the problem and knowledge of the various means at the disposal of the community to deal with the problem. In our country, drinking is a predominantly male activity. The drinking is looked upon as something similar to a rite of passage into adulthood. Parents and older members of the community, while they may counsel against drinking and bemoan its disruptive effects in the home and village, fully expect that most young men will drink regardless, since they see drinking as an inevitable part of growing up. About the best they can hope for, it would seem, is that drinking will be done discreetly and out of sight of themselves and that the secrecy that surrounds it will inhibit any public display of drunkenness. Drinking patterns everywhere seem to undergo a marked change when young men enter adulthood, usually around their early 30's. A few adults seem to give up drinking alcohol, except perhaps on a very occasional basis. However, the facts seem to indicate that most males do continue drinking as adults. Why? Why do youth drink? The answers given to this question are usually many and varied. Young people drink because they are frustrated. They drink to 'show-off.' They drink out of boredom or to identify with their peer group. They drink to have an excuse for anti- social conduct, or because they have no other recreational activities to occupy their leisure time. They drink to escape frustrations and failures, or possibly to celebrate minor successes. The list of explanations for youth drinking is almost endless. It has often been suggested in discussions and reports on youth drinking that alcohol abuse and the kinds of deviant behaviour can, to a large extent, be explained by rapid cultural change and the discontinuities and tensions that it has brought to modern-day Sri Lanka. Rapid change brings about a sense of being rootless as it disrupts traditional institutions and values, and this in turn leads to anomie or 'crazy' behaviour among the young. Opinions I spoke to a number of undergraduates who are in the habit of consuming alcohol daily. I asked them why they drink. All of them agreed that drinking serves several functions for them. The gist of their arguments could be segmented into three groups: First, they believe it provides them with the opportunity to express themselves despite the severe restraints on self-expression that Sri Lankan cultures impose on the young. It allows them to give vent to emotions that it would not otherwise be proper to express. The way that many young men would put this is that drinking gives them the courage to do or say things that they could not do or say if sober. Drunkenness furnishes one of the rare opportunities for a young person to speak his mind and unburden himself of whatever strong feelings he may have had to suppress. Drinking also serves the function of gaining recognition for young people. In their mind youth do not enjoy an especially high social status in Sri Lankan cultures with the premium that they place on age. Young people are expected to be rather irresponsible and are very often treated accordingly by their elders. Relatively little notice is taken of their desires or opinions, but by the same token their mischief is also lightly dismissed as the sort of frivolous or foolish behaviour. The third major reason that young people drink is for the sheer fun of it. It provides an exciting interlude and a brief escape from the otherwise monotonous routine of daily life. Drinking is something of an adventure, especially since it is usually done clandestinely against the wishes of parents and authorities. In the final analysis, in my personal opinion, we might say that these young people drink because it is expected that they will drink. Adults may wring their hands afterwards, but they knew in their hearts all the while that youth drunkenness was all but inevitable. After all, alcohol is today a common drink in their family and social parties, all ceremonies and even at funeral houses. Adults have not done anything against this new 'tradition.' And youth are quick to read the message. Solutions What can be done about the problem? There are no clear-cut answers of what ought to be done right now. Some recommend that formal educational programs should be conducted through the schools and media. Prof. Ratnapala says: "Conducting more awareness programmes for the benefit of the younger generation by Government or NGOs is the only solution to eradicate this problem." Others say that education was called for, but not so much to impart information as to change society's attitudes. They maintain that we modulate our warnings on alcohol and, instead of presenting it as the darkest of all evils, we admit quite honestly that it brings dangers only if abused. If we were to take this approach, however, we would also be required to change our attitude towards youth itself. As long as young people are regarded as reckless and irresponsible, we cannot hold them fully accountable for their decisions and their behaviour. We will continue to expect the worst from them, and we will be incapable of challenging them to moderate their drinking behaviour out of anything but fear. Yet such a change in attitude towards youth would require nothing less than a major cultural shift in thinking, and for that reason it may well be hopelessly impractical. |
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"Not my kid. He'd never drink." If that's what you're
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