The campaign of DUAL Association, financed by the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs of the Ministry of Health, warns about the increase in young people and adolescents of the phenomenon binge drinking or binge drinking.
Thus, the entity, under the slogan "Live the binge", states that this way of starting in alcohol is "very dangerous for their health, and proposes the realization of other alternative leisure activities that are incompatible with this habit".
"Binge drinking consists of ingesting large amounts of alcohol in a very short time and is facilitated by the phenomenon of botellón, where young people tend to integrate alcohol consumption as another game of a competitive nature," warns Raúl Izquierdo, psychologist and technical director of DUAL Association.
In that sense, the greatest danger for DUAL is that compulsive intake focuses more on the game or coping with challenges than on drinking as an end in itself. "This increases the risk of triggering critical situations such as alcoholic comas or other health emergency episodes," Izquierdo denounces.
Therefore, DUAL proposes a "collective effort" as a society to marginalize the practice of botellón, connote it as negative and denounce it. "We understand that health authorities and the administration should lead a movement that already obtained a resounding success with the habit of smoking: that is the example to follow," says the psychologist.
Establishments that sell alcohol until late hours
For his part, Joan Ramón Villalbí, Government Delegate for the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD) considers that it is "an episodic, intensive consumption that is done in a group, in a botellón context".
For the Government Delegate of the PNSD, one of the main factors that explain binge drinking is the wide opening hours of "alcohol trade establishments where alcohol is bought and not drunk, such as food stores and supermarkets, which sell alcohol at retail at a relatively cheap price".
In that line, he recalls that all autonomous communities have prohibited the sale of alcohol to minors and many of them also the acquisition in food stores from certain hours. According to the PNSD delegate, in some the schedule is wider, in others more restrictive, but controls on the sale of alcohol to minors are sometimes not met, so "administrations can act," he says.
"This trade that used to close at 8 p.m. is now open until very late hours and this means that we have very affordable alcohol at night, a very low-cost consumption, very intense, for the same price that a more moderate use would have in a place where drinks are sold or a nightclub," explains Villabí.
The delegate adds that this situation is a phenomenon that "only occurs in Spain, since many countries have prohibited drinking in the street, outside the terraces of restaurants", although he also admits that many city councils have taken "seriously" to address the problem and have practically managed to eradicate the botellón.
Change in consumption patterns and role of parents
For Raúl Izquierdo, "unfortunately" society has become familiar with the practice of botellón and sometimes adds the fact that the debut in alcohol consumption in minors "carries a connotation of rite of passage from childhood to adulthood", he regrets.
In addition, in recent times it has been normalized and some adults assume as their own the practice of botellón in patron saint festivities of towns or neighborhoods. "80% of parents believe that alcohol encourages parties," denounces the psychologist.
In that regard, the PNSD delegate warns that young people who have early contact with alcohol are more likely to develop dependence. The beginning of the most problematic alcohol consumption in young people is in group situations, without supervision and when they have nothing to do as in summer," says the delegate.
"Alcohol in minors is much more dangerous than in adults because the human brain usually develops until age 21, it is a growing brain with which it is much more sensitive to alcohol damage," explains the Government Delegate of the PNSD.
In relation to parents, the psychologist recommends establishing reasonable control and supervision measures and be alert to possible signs in young people, since parents tend to think that their children drink less than they actually do. "We tend to see our children as smaller than they really are and overestimate the effect of our regulatory capacity".
In that sense, he advocates favoring communication in an open and comprehensive way, being flexible but establishing a well-defined regulatory framework. "We fall into the trap of thinking that controlling is incompatible with trusting," says Izquierdo.
"In functional families where there is contact, communication and trust there are fewer possibilities of problems occurring," concludes the Government Delegate for the PNSD.
DUAL Association
DUAL Association is a non-profit entity, declared of Public Utility, a pioneer in the creation of programs, services and specific centers for the group of people affected by a Dual Pathology (mental disorder and substance addiction), their families and professionals linked to their treatment, in addition to developing numerous programs, of very diverse nature in favor of socially vulnerable groups.
Since 2012, it has been developing the campaign Los Que No, aimed at minors, parents and educators through a website with profiles on the main social networks.
