Binge drinking target of new campaign by Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver Coastal Health is launching its 8th annual “Think Before You Let Them Drink” campaign, and the timing is intentional.

It’s grad season and the beginning of the summer party season – and Vancouver Coastal Health says that correlates to higher than normal rates of binge drinking among youths, and attempts by kids to get alcohol from their parents.

This year, police also want to send the message that it’s time for parents to stop “bootlegging” for their kids.

“Kids are looking for boundaries from adults in their life. They’re not looking for you to be the boss of them, but they’re looking for an understanding of what’s important to you as an adult,” said Cst. Jeff Palmer with West Vancouver Police.

Calista Fanthorpe, 21, started drinking when she was 12 years old.

She got alcohol from a lot of parents, she says.

“My own parents, adults outside of liquor stores. We always paid for it. My friends stole alcohol a couple times, but it was too risky. We didn’t want to get arrested.”

Calista is the face of binge drinking in B.C. She’s young, she’s female, and she lives on the North Shore, which has a higher rate of young binge drinkers than the rest of Metro Vancouver, says Vancouver Coastal Health.

READ MORE: Health survey finds ‘undesirably high proportion’ of reported binge drinking in Whistler

“One young person seeks help from the Emergency Department every five days on the North Shore for using alcohol,” says Kerrie Watt, who crunched the numbers from Vancouver Coastal Health over the past five years.

“Sixty-three per cent of the time, the young person is female.”

According to Watt, young women used to be considered “underperformers” by the alcohol industry, but a targeted campaign in the early 1990s changed that.

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. found alcohol is the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 18 and 24. Women who binge drink have a higher risk of breast cancer and stroke, and are also more likely to be sexually assaulted and engage in risky sexual behaviour.

Calista says she had to hit rock bottom several times before she finally stopped her alcohol and substance abuse.

She says many of the friends she used to drink with are still binge drinkers, but she was one of the few able to quit. Her message to parents — and any adult who thinks allowing children to drink before they turn 19 is acceptable — is this:

“Adults have become more lackadaisical about the rules nowadays, and that isn’t helping youth. We don’t know any better. There are some kids with their wits about them, but not many youth have common sense. We can’t figure it out on our own. We needs adults to tell us no.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Adults have become more lackadaisical about the rules nowadays, and that isn't helping youth. We don't know any better. There are some kids with their wits about them, but not many youth have common sense. We can't figure it out on our own. We needs adults to tell us no."