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VIDEO. “Icelanders now know that it is a health problem that requires treatment” in Iceland, the fight against alcohol addiction among young people is bearing fruit
VIDEO. “Icelandians now know that it is a health problem that requires treatment” in Iceland, the fight against alcohol addiction among young people is bearing fruit – (WE EUROPEANS / FRANCE 2)
While in the 1990s the rate of alcoholism among Icelandic adolescents was significant, the country is now seeing a real drop in alcohol consumption among this population. The positive result of an innovative prevention program. Extract from the magazine “We, the Europeans”.
At the end of the 1990s, Iceland woke up with a hangover: a study revealed that one in four adolescents smoked regularly, that almost 20% of young people used cannabis and 40% abused alcohol.
The country then decided that alcoholism was a public health problem and launched a vast program. Among the first measures, the sale of alcohol is prohibited to young people under 20 years old.
7% of Icelanders already hospitalized for addictions
The National Center for the Fight against Addictions is faced with this scourge: 7% of the 370,000 Icelanders have already been hospitalized there. Young people are welcomed there for the time to detoxify, before being taken care of by psychologists and educators.
“Since 2000, the number of adolescents we receive here has been constantly falling“, confides the director of the center, who has seen Iceland’s progress on the establishment’s figures. Indeed, in twenty years, the number of admissions of minors has gone from 130 per year on average to around thirty .”Most people in Iceland now know that it is a health problem that requires treatment, she adds. So the patients came very early. And it’s worth it for a society to intervene early, because it’s a very serious disease, it’s the disease that kills young people the most.”
Excerpt from “Without alcohol, a more beautiful life!”, rebroadcast in “We, the Europeans” on January 18, 2024.
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