The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia - 12 August 2009 - ADCA SAYS ANTI-AOD PROGRAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN RESPONDS TO NEEDS OF PARENTS

12 August 2009 - ADCA SAYS ANTI-AOD PROGRAM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN RESPONDS TO NEEDS OF PARENTS

The Federal Government’s newly revised anti-alcohol and other drugs (AOD) program for young children responded to the needs of parents dealing with these very real and complex AOD issues, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA), Mr David Templeman said today. Mr Templeman was commenting of the launch of How to Drug Proof Your Kids by the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, in Parliament House in Canberra.

How to Drug Proof Your Kids is a program first developed in Australia in 1999 by Melbourne-based Focus on the Family, and since then it has reached 52 000 parents in Australia. The program has also been successfully implemented in eleven countries.

Aimed at parents of children aged eight to 14, the program emphasises the risks of both illicit and licit drugs, with a special focus on alcohol.

Mr Templeman said that extensive research sadly showed that parents and families play a crucial role in reducing the risk of harmful alcohol and other drugs use, the number one cause of serious injury and death in young people.

“Children in Australia face tough choices in their teen years,” Mr Templeman said. “Evidence also shows that by 14 years old, 70 per cent of children have used alcohol, by 17 a third have used marijuana, and school children smoke some 3.5 million cigarettes a week.”

With alcohol responsible for 30 percent of all deaths in young adults and eight percent of young people engaging in the use of illicit drugs, a greater investment in the prevention of alcohol and other drugs abuse in young people is needed.

Mr Templeman said the How to Drug Proof Your Kids program had undergone an extensive evaluation and revision process, and that the new program was built around the premise that parents were still the most influential factor in steering children away from the use of alcohol and other drugs.

“The program emphasises the risks from both licit and illicit drugs, with a special emphasis on alcohol. Issues include the latest Alcohol Guidelines, research around brain development in adolescence, binge drinking, as well as parental and cultural influences,” Mr Templeman said.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Brian Flanagan, Manager Strategic Communications and Policy – Phone: 02 6215 9802 or 0400 860 058 (m)

12 August 2009

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