Solutions for beverages with high alcoholic content to everyone is talking about

File Photo, Matthew Charest

Marc-Antoine Turcotte

Sunday, 11 march, 2018 21:15

UPDATE
Sunday, 11 march, 2018 21:15

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The death of Athena Gervais has shaken the Quebec, and his father Alain, the chairman of the board of ethics of the quebec industry and a specialist in addictions make the same observation: when we talk about drinks with high alcoholic content, intended for young people, it is necessary that things change.

The young woman died in Laval, some time after she has consumed a drink FCKD UP (11.9 per cent alcohol, the equivalent of four glasses of wine) and that she had a fall near his school.

• READ ALSO: Athena, a “comet” that has “paid the price”

A petition to reduce the rate of alcohol-6.5 % of this kind of drinks in the taste disguised by the sugar and flavourings that is online for five days. The airing of the episode has caused an explosion in the number of signatories: at the time of writing this text, more than 9000 people have supported this proposal.

Claude Béland (CB), chairman of the board of ethics of the quebec industry, alcoholic beverages, and Jean-Sébastien Required (JS), addictions specialist and teacher at the University of Montreal, have pointed to some problems related with this drink highly alcoholic, in addition to propose some lines of reflection.

All in all, Jean-Sébastien Required is rather pessimistic and does not believe that things will change significantly.

Here’s what they said interesting.

CB: “two days ago, I can see FCKD UP in a convenience store, there are still in the tablet. I asked him if he had read the newspaper. “I need to sell my stock” he told me. It will lose maybe 100 $ (if he pulls out the cans). To save his $ 100, he may be sick, but he place the money as the final argument.”

CB: “It’s the federal government that takes care of it. The federal government says, “no, no, it is the provincial”. During this time, it continues to sell. I couldn’t believe that someone was dead, and that no head of State stood up and said that it had to mean something.”

JS: “Everything is on the web is not affected by the laws in force. You can’t drink a drink in a pub tv, but on the web, the laws do not apply. This is not just it, we are also talking about slogans, such as “from zero to party in a few sips”.”

JS: “I think this is the opportunity of a wake-up collective, and not just about the product. Yes, it is very toxic, but you have to realize that it is time to talk about education and harm reduction. It is part of the normal development of a teenager testing his limits. Speaking of moderation, this is good, but we must go further than that.”

JS: “we must collectively speak to the young people who decide to eat, show them that we can avoid the dead, as to turn his friend on the side if he vomits.”

JS: “there is a hypocrisy, a double standard in the face of alcohol, it is mind-blowing. It is [the] commonplace, [the] values. There are even medical associations who take cannabis, but turn a blind eye on alcohol. Yet it is the worst drug, if one includes the violence (related to consumption).”

JS: “At a minimum, we need to strengthen the supervision of these products. Cans are easy to fly, perhaps it should be put behind the counter. There is alcohol at 94 % at the SAQ, it is not necessary to put everything in the same basket. Some beers strong will to live of small shops and stores of microbreweries. We must be careful not to fall into the easy solution. The problem with these drinks is that they don’t taste the alcohol.”

Alain, the father of Athena: “They asked for a 6.5 percent maximum for the sugary drinks of the kind, for we feel the effect before it goes off.”

JS: “The friends of Athena may have had a fear of a sanction [to the school, if they had expressed of the danger]: “listen, we drank, she is in danger.” They may not have said anything. Of course, it takes a part of the consequences, but the schools must include this is what the teenage years. The easy solutions do not lead to nothing.”

JS: “[Is it going to change?) Not so much, at least not at the regulatory level. I have the impression that there is something going on, but the lobby, the economy and the money lead the world. We might see small changes, but nothing major.”