Radio Australia Today Editorial

The Cult of Sugar and Vodka

28 April 2008

I suppose it’s part of the whole growing up thing.

Just like you need to test how far you can bend a pen before it breaks, teenagers in many (mostly western) countries feel the need to see how much they can drink before they collapse, die, or regurgitate the evening’s contents.

I mentioned on Friday’s ANZAC Day blog how society was split into two extremes on this day of commemoration. Many were out partying on this holiday. Many more were out remembering soldiers who fought or fell.

This morning as I was riding into work, I passed a couple of young dudes in a work truck parked on the side of the road. One was hanging out the door and throwing up gallons of something into a gutter. Now I could be wrong here. The guy might’ve had food poisoning, and feeling bilious at the start of his work day.

But I don’t think so. It was five in the morning. If he was that ill, he would not have been up for work. No folks, they had been out boozing at the end of a long holiday weekend. Too long for this guy.

Youth drinking is a problem. These people are not just trying it out. There is actually a cult of getting blotto repeatedly. Clearly this is why these guys go home alone. Women, for some reason, just don’t find the smell of vomit attractive.

Which brings us to the alcopop issue. Alcopops are those cruiser drinks where a (very cheap) version of spirits is added to some flavouring, sugar, colouring and preservatives to make a ready-made drink-you-under-the-table concoction that has the combined charm of being cheap and tasting like metholated spirits.

For some reason the previous government here reduced the tax on these quality products, and perhaps as a result, their consumption by teenagers has shot up. (It’s probably also helped by the fact that these drinks are packaged so they look like fun soft drinks, the most serious repercussion of which is merely a series of tooth holes).

The new government here has just announced that the tax will be put back on the drinks, making them a dollar more expensive.

It may be too late though. When people get a taste for stuff, money won’t be a stopper. Just ask a smoker. Cigarettes cost twelve dollars a packet, but people still buy them, no matter how poor they are.

Latest figures show a quarter of teens binge drink at least once a month. Which means they’re getting that taste for it.

Looks like they’re having a great time.

Meanwhile our guy in the truck is probably still throwing up.

Yes, there’s nothing like having a good time.