Tackling Substance Misuse - Report Example

Tackling Substance Misuse Insert Insert Insert The Government Alcohol Strategy is a policy document that tries to evaluate the impact of alcohol on young people under the age of 18 years in United Kingdom. This essay will review how this policy will change their behavior, why the alcohol strategy needs to be changed, what happens at the street level and the provisions of services. The document will also evaluate aims of the policy document, whether it will achieve its aims and why not. Finally, the paper will suggest the best way to tackle alcohol misuse among young people under the age of 18 years. In addition to the Alcohol Strategy document (2012), the essay will examine the Youth Alcohol Plan (2008) to be able to bring out how they have changed. Finally, the two documents will be compared and contrasted. How will this policy change their behavior? The Government’s Alcohol Strategy 2012 is a policy document that seeks to change the behavior of irresponsible drinking among the underage people. The strategy outlines radical steps to achieve its ambitions. However, such changes are not realized overnight and therefore there is need for a combination of efforts from all stakeholders including the community, industry players and the government. According to the alcohol strategy of 2012, UK government will ensure that internal problems are solvable locally, there is a reduction of crimes fuelled by alcohol, and health disparities are well tackled by emphasizing on responsible drinking. The local authorities who are given extensive range of powers to handle challenges brought about by bad behaved individuals will take the centre stage in implementing the changes. The agencies will be empowered to control the density of the premises licensed and to prioritize the objective of health in licensing (Purshouse et al 2012). The government will also give local authority the powers to control timing and sale of alcohol. Late night levy, that contribute to policing cost, will be introduced to businesses that operate until late in the night. All these mechanisms will be implemented and where immediate and universal changes are needed, firm and fast action will be taken (Government 2012). The industry players have not been left out in the behavior change campaign. The Government Alcohol Strategy 2012 recognizes that in changing the drinking culture, the industry plays a crucial role in changing one from being alcoholic and bad behaved to one who is linked to positive socializing behavior. Similarly, the Youth Alcohol Action Plan document also outlines how the government is going to build a responsible industry that prevents misuse of alcohol by giving the customers a wide variety of drinks with low alcohol content. This action plan have been termed as Responsibility Deal since it purely worked to instill a sense of responsibility to all individuals involved (Government 2008). The document also tends to support individuals in making informed choices about responsible and healthier drinking practices. Through the document, it is very unacceptable to drink excessively. The two documents also elaborate on mechanisms which the government will employ to make people understand the risks around excessive drinking as well as help them make informed choices about themselves and their families. It also details the support system that will be available for those that need help in changing their behavior (Government 2012). Why change the alcohol strategy After carefully analyzing the document, it is clear that the alcohol strategy need to be changed if the government has to realize long-term solutions. This is because the document was proposed without consultation of the big players in the industry. Secondly, the document covers and affects a larger population of the country in that in its execution, it may pose a challenge to all stakeholders. Therefore, changing the strategy will outline actions to tackle the harms of alcohol including reduction of cheap alcohol availability and developing schemes of forced sobriety for alcohol convicts. What happens at street level and the provision of services? There are many things outlined in the Government Alcohol Strategy of 2012 that promote irresponsible drinking in the streets. First, there is a ready availability of cheap alcohol in the streets (Government 2008). Moreover, the industry needs and commercial gains have been given priority over the concerns of the community. This has resulted to behavior change with the number of people excessively drinking at home increasing. In addition to that, there are those who consume alcohol before going for a night out popularly known as pre-loading. According to the Government Alcohol strategy of 2012, two-thirds of 17-30 year olds people arrested in England always claimed to have pre-loaded. Furthermore, it states that those who engage in violence are mostly the pre –loaders. The aims of the policy document According to Porshouse et al (2012), the UK government was clear in her policy documents that she needed to radically fight against irresponsible alcohol consumption. This could be achieved through reshaping the society approach to alcohol. The aims of the policy document were therefore: To instill behavior change by raising awareness on effects of alcohol. To reduce the number of violence fuelled by alcohol. To reduce the number of adults drinking above the guidelines of NHS. To reduce the number of binge drinkers. To reduce the number of deaths related to alcohol. Finally, to reduce sustainably the number of 11-15 year old kids taking alcohol. After carefully analyzing the document, it is clear that the aims of the government may not be realized. This is because all aims are directed at an individual initiative to change. If the drunkards fail to adhere to the mechanisms put in place, the vise would increase instead of decreasing. However, by applying good mechanisms on the ground, some can be realized but others may not. Engaging the stakeholders will be one mechanism of making the aims to be realized. Steps to tackle alcohol misuse among the young people less than 18 years I. Reduction of cheap alcohol availability The government for a long time has discounted alcohol heavily. Consistence and strong evidence point out that alcohol price increase leads to reduction of alcohol demand. This eventually led to reduction of the harm caused by excessive drinking. The effect is more on regular heavy drinkers under 18 years. To achieve this, alcohol duty will be raised by 2% above the retail inflation each year from 2014 to 2015 (Government 2012). In addition to that, the Youth Alcohol Action Plan stipulates that the government will consider introducing “minimum cider” rule that ensures white ciders with high strength will not be graded as other ciders. There will also be introduction of higher duty to high alcoholic content beers. This step to reduction of alcohol availability has been laid down in both documents (Porshouse 2012). All the mentioned steps aim at reducing alcohol consumption by raising the price of alcohol. The UK government will introduce the minimum unit price meaning there will be a defined price to which alcohol will not be sold below it (Government 12). Moreover, the government is considering a ban on shops that sell multiple cans or bottles. This will terminate promotions that offer discounts to large quantity buying. However, this ban will not be applicable on bars and pubs (Youth alcohol action plan 2008). II. Alcohol advertising It is known that there exists a link between alcohol consumption and advertising. The UK government has plans to ban or to control adverts that target the younger people less than 18 years. The government tends to work with Ofcom and ASA to ensure that such adverts are not brought to the public either through printing, broadcasting or even online adverts (Government 2012). References The UK government June 2008, Youth Alcohol Action Plan, pp 6-32, Stationery Office, London. The UK government March 2012, The Government’s Alcohol Strategy, pp 6-32, Stationery Office, London. Purshouse, R., Brennan, A., Rafia, R., Latimer, N., Archer, R., Angus, C., Preston, L. and Meier, P 2012, ‘Modeling the Cost-Effectiveness of Alcohol Screening and Brief Interventions in Primary Care in England,’ 180-80, Bethesda, MD, Pub med. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/ags103 Read More