'Counselling not prohibition is the way ahead'

MUMBAI: A study on the youth's drinking patterns in Maharashtra carried out by the International Institute of Population Sciences (an autonomous institute under the administrative control of the ministry of health and family) found that just 3% of the interviewed boys drank more than once a week or more frequently. The figure for girls in the state was zero.
The study also busted the myth that distressed youngsters in Maharashtra's rural areas are drinking their lives away.It is the urban youth that consumers more liquor, though not substantially more. In urban areas, 13.3% boys and 0.3% girls had consumed alcohol at some point in their lives. In rural areas, the respective figures were 8.4% and zero.
Just the previous year, in 2005-06, a countrywide youth report prepared by the National Family Health Survey had showed that alcohol consumption among young men in Maharashtra stood at 14%—significantly lower than the national average of 21%.
It is possible that the numbers might have changed in the years since the research was conducted, but the state has not given any data to back its decision to impose a higher drinking age of 25.
The administration's newfound resolution has come under severe criticism from several quarters, including from parents, prominent Mumbaikars and excise officials. Besides other things, the critics have questioned the wisdom of singling out the youth when the state should instead be encouraging responsible drinking. Even de-addiction experts are near unanimous in their view that imposing a higher age limit is not the means to curb drinking.
"We do see youngsters coming for detoxification or older addicts who tell us that they started drinking when in school. From a clinician's perspective, we advocate delaying the age of use of substances such as alcohol, but there is likely to be only a small percentage of drinkers who fall between 21 and 25," says psychiatrist Karthik Rao, who consults at National Addiction Research Centre and is an honorary consultant with the BMC's de-addiction centre.
Doctors say that instead of subjecting youngsters below the age of 25 to prohibition, the administration should adopt measures to promote responsible drinking and to address factors that make many youngsters vulnerable to substance abuse. Rao suggests that schools should introduce "mentor groups" to deal with children prone to psychological problems to introduce confidence-building measures.
"Imposing a higher age limit serves no purpose. It is important to realize that it is not alcohol which is the problem, but an addictive personality type," explains Dr Yusuf Merchant, who has been working on de-addiction for three decades. Merchant explains that those prone to alcoholism show psychological symptoms such as low boredom and pain threshold, hypersensitivity and a distorted worldview. He fears that bans and age limits may prove counterproductive, making alcohol "more attractive to youngsters with deviant personalities."
"The state should work with schools and colleges to identify such personalities, understand their susceptibility and introduce specific targeted measures," he says.
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