That a glass of brandy before going to bed improves tension. That beer serves nursing mothers. Does it sound familiar to you? Surely, at some point, we have heard this type of advice that suggests the goodness of alcohol, in some cases, with some doses, in some spaces.
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Good drinks. This is what the “normalization” of alcohol in our daily lives is about, which has a pernicious effect on our children and adolescents: “These kinds of messages, advertising, family gatherings, the environment that surrounds minors and that normalizes the “Consumption of these drinks instills in them that they are expected to drink too.”
Carolina Piñeros, executive director of Red Papaz, assures this and gives an alert, based on information endorsed by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, entities that have been warning that no alcohol intake is safe, that is, that It has no consequences.
“It applies to everyone, but the earlier a minor is exposed to alcohol, the stronger its negative impact will be on their neurological development. Allowing or giving alcohol to a minor is accepting that their cognitive potential will be limited, to some degree. Do we want that?”, he reiterates, listing direct and indirect damage to children’s health.
If alcohol intake has occurred during pregnancy, it entails risks for the infant of low birth weight, malformations and cognitive delay that, in the medium and long term, degenerate into poor school performance, mental health problems and high risk of addictions and chronic diseases (seven types of cancer would be associated).
“The indirect damages that we are seeing affect the smallest and most vulnerable, and have to do with a greater predisposition to suffer situations of abuse, abandonment, sexual abuse and road accidents, among others. There is also an increase in the vulnerability of these children and adolescents when family resources are allocated to alcohol instead of food, education or recreation, for example. “The normalized consumption of alcohol, even if they don’t drink it (they drink it at a very early age), has a negative effect on them.”
Drinking is normal, apparently
According to the Colombian Drug Observatory, Antioquia is the second department in prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents. 39% of our students, between 12 and 17 years old, drink alcohol. Only 10% of minors in the same range perceive “a great risk when drinking occasionally,” and only 43% of them “perceive a great risk when getting drunk.”
2024-04-21 19:00:00