Good practice principles low rik drinking EU RARHA

Chapter 4
Guidance to reduce alcohol-related harm
for young people
Rebekka Steffens a and Doris Sarrazin a
Young people are particulalry vulnerable to harm from alcohol. Providing them protection is
highlighted as a priority theme in the EU Alcohol Strategy of 2006 b and in the Action Plan on Youth
Drinking and Heavy Episodic Drinking for the years 2014-2016. c In Joint Action RARHA, guidance to
reduce alcohol-related harm for young people was addressed as a specific topic in a task led by the
Coordination office for drug-related issues of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe. In accordance
with the Action Plan, and bearing in mind that 18 to 25-year-olds are a group with generally high
alcohol consumption, the target group was defined as young people up to the age of 25 years.
Snapshot of drinking by young people in Europe
Alcohol consumption by young people is common across European countries, including drinking to
intoxication, despite a legal framework which does not allow consumption by people under a minimum
age which is most commonly set at 18 years.
In the ESPAD study of 2015, in all participating countries except Iceland, over half of the 15-16-
year-old students responding to the survey had drunk alcohol at least once during their lifetime. d
Nearly half reported alcohol use at the age of 13 years or younger. Averages across the countries were
80% for lifetime use and 48% for consumption during the 30 days prior to the survey. An average of
13% had been intoxicated at least once during the last 30 days. There were significant differences
between the countries, with many Nordic countries and many Balkan countries among those with the
lowest prevalence rates. An analysis of trends across 25 countries for which data was available since
1995 showed a slight decline over the last decade in the prevalence rates for lifetime alcohol use as well
as for drinking and heavy episodic drinking within the past month.[ 1 ]
The legal framework for reducing underage access to alcohol varies widely between and even
within EU member states [ 2 ]. The minimum age limits differ for purchasing, consumption and
possession, and according to the location where alcoholic beverages are purchased or consumed, i.e.
between on-premise and off-premise, or public and private areas. In most EU member states the age
limit is 18 years for alcoholic drinks with both lower and higher alcohol content, and for both onpremise
and off-premise outlets. However, the range is from 16 to 20 years of age, depending on the
alcoholic strength and outlet. In several EU countries 16 is the lowest age for being sold or served
alcoholic beverages.
Despite the legal age limits, alcoholic beverages are perceived to be easily available by young
people in Europe. In the ESPAD study of 2015, 78% of the students across the participating countries
stated that alcoholic beverages would be easy to obtain if they wanted to[ 1 ]. This suggests a lack of
compliance with the legal age limits and an overall low level of enforcement of the existing regulations.
Lack of compliance with age limits has been linked with differences between EU countries in legal
measures to support enforcement, such as methods and tools for age verification, prohibition of the
a
Coordination office for drug-related issues, Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL)
b
Communication from the Commission on an EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol related
harm (COM(2006) 625 final).
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52006DC0625
c
Action Plan on Youth Drinking and on Heavy Episodic Drinking (Binge Drinking) (2014-2016).
http://ec.europa.eu/health/alcohol/docs/2014_2016_actionplan_youthdrinking_en.pdf
d
The ESPAD study covers most of the European continent, with 35 participating countries in 2015, 24 of them
being member states of the European Union.
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Good practice principles for low risk drinking guidelines