Focus on the rise in juvenile alcoholism

The number of juvenile alcoholics in Kazakhstan is rapidly increasing despite the state's efforts to curb the nation's alcohol drinking habit. A national centre designed to introduce a healthier lifestyle to Kazakhs reports that this year 610 children in the country were diagnosed as alcoholics. In 1999, only 29 such cases were recorded. EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM "These figures do not reflect the gravity of the situation, because they register only kids who have been forced to see a doctor or caught by the police," Raisa Kolokina, the anti-alcohol programme's coordinator at the national centre, told IRIN on Wednesday from the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty. Juvenile alcoholism is growing at a much higher rate compared to alcoholism among adults, especially in the southern and northern regions of the country. If adult alcoholism has quintupled in 10 years (from 46 to 258 alcoholics per 100,000 people), among children under 14 it has grown tenfold. Among 14- to 18-year-olds, more than 400 per 100,000 are alcoholics. According to a survey conducted by the centre, most of the children try alcohol for the first time at home. "We need to teach people "the culture of drinking", Kolokina said, stressing that "it is necessary to change the common perception that juvenile drinking is not a big deal". TEEN DRINKING AND THE LAW Kazakh law prohibits the sale of alcohol to individual under 18 years, as well as commercials of alcoholic beverages on TV. "Although we see violations of these laws every day there has not been a single trial that would bring to the court someone who sold vodka to a kid," Kolokina told IRIN. It is very easy for a child to buy alcohol on the streets of Almaty. For sellers of alcohol, profit is the main incentive, so they are unlikely to ask anyone for an ID. On the rare occasion when one is caught selling alcohol to a minor, he is fined a maximum 3,000 tenge (about US $20). Such alcohol sellers regard it as easier to pay the fine than to refrain from selling their goods to children. YOUTHS DRUNK IN PUBLIC The number of drunken children on the streets has doubled in the last five years, according to Gulnara Bushekova, who overlooks juvenile affairs at the police department of Bostandyk, the liveliest area in Almaty. She told IRIN that parents often encouraged their children to drink and even organise drinking parties. "Just this week, a 16-year-old had to be revived after being found with alcoholic poisoning after a birthday party. Another, who has been drinking with his parents since he was 11, died last month after consuming poor quality alcohol," she said. In the Soviet Union, juvenile alcoholism was not considered a separate problem. Rare cases of alcoholic poisoning among children were treated the same way as adults and in the same facilities. Today the Ministry of Health Protection requires each public clinic to have a therapist for juvenile substance abusers. EDUCATING ABOUT THE DANGERS OF DRINK The Ministry of Health Protection in cooperation with World Health Organisation has been actively conducting information campaigns to explain the dangers of alcoholism to minors. Therapists who specialise in juvenile alcoholism go to schools to deliver lectures, students receive flyers and brochures, watch documentaries, and every child in schools is required to attend instruction on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, although today children might be better informed about the dangers of alcoholism, they still do not know how to find a better alternative to drinking. "The main reason kids drink is because they have nothing else to do. Schools do not provide free extracurricular activities or sport clubs as they used to in the Soviet Union, and most parents cannot afford to pay for expensive private lessons," Indira Kenisbekova, a chief therapist on substance abuse in Almaty, told IRIN. "While parents are preoccupied with making money and struggling with the hard economic situation, their kids are left to themselves without control. There's nothing left for them to do but to get together and kill their time drinking." In Almaty today there are 58 juvenile alcoholics on record, whereas two years ago there were only 10. Nearly 2,000 children were caught drunk on the streets this year. According to Kenisbekova these figures do not reveal the real situation in the city as only about 20 percent of cases are being recorded. It is difficult to expose juvenile alcoholism, primarily because schools are unlikely to admit that their students have such problems. "They do not want to be punished by the Ministry of Health Protection for the lack of effective preventive measures. When a kid is caught drunk, his teachers will rather send him home than report this problem to a doctor or to the police," said Kenisbekova. "As soon as they learn about a child who has a problem with alcohol, they try to get rid of him and force him to transfer to another school. They prefer to keep the secret to themselves and avoid telling doctors that some of their students are alcoholics." REHABILITATION In Almaty, a rehabilitation centre for juvenile alcoholics hosts 20 children who have been caught drunk on the streets by the police. The youngest alcoholic to stay at the centre this year was nine years old. "There have always been more alcoholics among children than drug addicts. However, much less attention is being paid to this problem by the international organisations and by the community. But even drug addicts usually start with alcohol." Kulimsha Mirzadinova, the rehabilitation centre's director, told IRIN. Most of the centre's patients do not have a family or their parents are alcoholics. They are forced to stay there by doctors and police, but rarely run away because for most of them they are getting the best food and enjoying the friendliest environment they have ever had. But when they leave the centre, they are likely to return to their old ways. "We can rehabilitate them and teach them about the consequences of alcoholism, but we can't change their environment. They are likely to start drinking again," said Mirzadinova. "Parents are to be blamed when their children become alcoholics. But we can't change their families," says Boris Rybalov, the rehabilitation centre's therapist, "Nobody is an authority for these kids, neither teachers nor their parents. The hardest thing is to reach their minds, to make them understand, to explain. They are not afraid of anybody and they reject any form of control." Nadya, 17, was brought to the centre from her foster home after she got drunk and started a fight with her supervisors. She said she tried hard liquor for the first time at the age of 12 with older friends and was drinking regularly by the age of 15. She admitted she was afraid of becoming like her mother, an alcoholic currently in jail. Nadya hated to think that perhaps her nine-year-old sister could be drinking and smoking on the streets right now. Another patient at the rehabilitation centre is 11-year-old Ravil, who ran away from his foster home and lived as a beggar on the streets, spending his earnings on beer. He said he hoped he would soon be released so that he could get back on the streets. Substance abuse therapists point out that children become alcoholics three times faster than adults. It is more difficult to treat these cases and achieve full rehabilitation. Many juvenile alcoholics are likely to stay addicted after they turn 18, and then they are transferred to the so-called "adult" group. So far, there are no statistics available that could show how successful the treatment of young alcoholics can be and how many of them stay addicted after they grow up.