Galway addiction counsellor Joe Tracy wants the drinks industry to be severely regulated in its targeting of young drinkers. Michelle McDonagh reports
A Galway alcohol addiction counsellor is calling for the introduction of strict advertising guidelines to prevent the drinks industry from deliberately targeting young people.
Joe Tracy of the Western Health Board's Community Alcohol Counselling and Treatment Centre has welcomed Health Minister Michéal Martin's announcement that he now plans to tackle the alcohol problem which has reached epidemic proportions among the young.
"For far too long, we have placated and cajoled the drinks industry and asked them to come on board with us.
"I would very much welcome it if the Minister went down the road of looking at licences and limiting the number of places that can sell drink," Mr Tracy says.
Although he accepts that he could be accused of being puritanical in his attitude towards alcohol, he points out that the drinks industry in Ireland has shown no responsibility when selling alcohol to the very young and he sees the fallout of this every day.
"After a public representative resigned from the Western Health Board because of his feeling about the smoking ban, I got a very poignant phone call from the mother of a young man who was pulled out of Galway Docks who pointed out that nobody resigned when her son died as a result of alcohol," he says.
According to Mr Tracy, the drinks industry spends a staggering €60 million on advertising in Ireland every year, while at the same time claiming that advertising does not lead to an increase in the consumption of alcohol.
"All over the country, the age factor is dropping dramatically," he explains. "The amount of young people entering treatment programmes is mind blowing. If somebody is on a treatment programme with dependency issues at 19, they must have started drinking at a very early age."
The number-one cause of alcohol abuse in young people, in Mr Tracy's opinion, is deliberately targeted advertising that portrays drink as the "must have" accessory after the designer trainers and the mobile phone.
"The drinks industry has not shown any responsibility or direction. Instead it has glamorised alcohol and made it a sexy commodity.
"All of the best ads on TV are alcohol related and are deliberately targeted at young people."
Mr Tracy says alcopops are directly marketed at the young drinker and it is a ploy that is working very successfully.
There is now a six-month waiting list for the country's teenage treatment centre at Aislinn in Kilkenny.
He warns that many young people source their first drink at home and accuses parents of failing badly in their duty to lead by example when it comes to their drinking behaviour.
Minister Martin needs to look most aggressively at the advertising code, and to put strict guidelines in place to stop the drinks industry from deliberately targeting the young with its message.
He is also calling for the enforcement of a codification system in off-licences so that alcohol found on those who are underage can be traced back to the supplier.
Young people source most of their drink from off-licences where it is cheaper, he says.
Mr Tracy is strongly opposed to the selling of double and treble shots and concoctions such as 'Depth Chargers' and 'Fat Frogs' in night clubs and pubs because they have led to too many deaths among young people in Galway and the rest of the country.
"The Minister needs to introduce a very strict server law so that everybody working behind a bar must show certification and an understanding of the pharmacology of alcohol.
"A licensee shouldn't be allowed to operate a licensed premises without certification and the drinks industry should pay for this," he says.
Mr Tracy says that drinking patterns in Ireland differ enormously from the rest of Europe where people tend to drink more moderately during the day instead of binge drinking later in the evening.
Young people have huge difficulties in looking after themselves when they are under the influence of alcohol, he says, and this is reflected in the dramatic increase in visits to STD clinics around the country and in unwanted pregnancies.
Mr Tracy says: "The sports industry has been blatantly highjacked by the drinks industry and former Galway football captain Ray Silke recently commented that many of the most promising sportsmen lost out to an All Ireland medal because of alcohol."
