The Ministry of Health is clear that it wants to achieve a healthier society without succumbing to the pressures that “come from all sides” and, after declaring war on tobacco, it has another substance in its sights to reduce consumption among minors: the alcohol.
The General Directorate of Public Health and Health Equity of the Ministry is working with the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD) to bring to Congress this year the bill with which it will try to regulate the sale, advertising and marketing of alcohol to stop consumption in the youngest.
“We have a very long way to go in legislative measures, in conflicts of interest, because the wine industry in Spain is an industry that also has a lot of power and there is a lot of way to go out there,” the director points out in an interview with EFE. General of Public Health and Health Equity, Pedro Gullón.
In younger children, alcohol affects organs such as the liver or pancreas at a very vulnerable time of full development, but it mainly attacks the brain, specifically the hippocampus, related to memory and learning. Binge drinking (drinking the largest amount in the shortest possible time or ‘binge drinking’) can cause irreversible brain alterations.
According to the latest ESTUDES survey of 2023, more than 70% of adolescents aged 14 to 18 had drunk in the last year and 56.6% in the last 30 days. It is the most consumed psychoactive substance.
42.1% have gotten drunk in the last year, a form of consumption – the cause of alcohol poisoning – that increases with age, so that in those aged 18 it is close to 60%. The percentage of those who binge eat rose to 28.2%.
The data for the youngest children is also worrying: in a recent PNSD pilot study, 34.6% of 12 and 13-year-old students acknowledged having drunk at least once in their lives, a prevalence that decreases as they age. shortens the time period (30.6% in the last 12 months and 21.5% in the last month).
The law on alcohol and minors is not a new aspiration: in 2017, a paper was created within the framework of the Joint Commission for the Study of the Drug Problem, the conclusions of which were to guide future regulations.
Among them, putting an end to bottled drinks and “happy hours”, establishing a zero alcohol rate for moped and motorcycle drivers under 18 years of age or limiting advertising at points of sale.
Since then, the different ministers who have passed through the Ministry -Dolors Montserrat, the only one from the PP; Carmen Montón, María Luisa Carcedo, Salvador Illa, Carolina Darias and José Miñones, all from the PSOE – have shown their intention to undertake this law.
Mónica García has also done so, who in her first appearance in Congress advanced this draft bill to protect the health of minors from alcohol, which will also include pregnant women, to harmonize the different regulations on its consumption, advertising and sale. .
The draft, already very advanced, revolves around 5 axes, the first, introducing into the legal system the commitments assumed by Spain in the comprehensive protection of children and youth and harmonizing current regulations at the state, regional and municipal levels in in relation to the consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors and their sale, as well as their commercial, advertising or other type of communication.
In addition, it will incorporate a view of public health and social determinants of health, in order to develop policies that effectively prevent consumption.
Thirdly, there will be a series of environmental prevention measures to protect children from exposure and, fourthly, a series of tools to avoid alcohol at an early age from the educational and family sphere and define the role of the health sectors. and social services.
Finally, healthy environments will be promoted and social and leisure alternatives free of alcoholic beverages will be encouraged.
Gullón believes that the objective is “clear” and enjoys the support of the majority. “I think almost all of us are aligned on this. What happens is that sometimes there are interferences that go beyond those basic objectives that we all share.”
The epidemiologist makes these considerations in the midst of the commotion caused by the Comprehensive Tobacco Prevention Plan (PIT) 2024-2027 approved this Friday.
A plan for which, against all odds, the Ministry ended up gaining consensus from the PP communities, who after threatening for days that they would not give their approval to the document because they opposed the procedure used, left the Interterritorial Council “satisfied”, describing the moment as “an important day for the fight against tobacco”, in the words of the counselor, Julio García Comesaña.
“There is no plan in recent years that has been subjected to this scrutiny. And there perhaps we are talking about interests other than wanting to approve it,” he laments.
He does not know if the counselors have received pressure, “but of course” in Health, which has “received it from all sides”, especially from the industry, they have not been carried away by it.
“We, according to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, do not have to meet with tobacco companies because they have a very clear interest in a product that does not generate any benefit, except for harm to people’s health.” , he clinches.
Whether the same will happen with alcohol, he does not know, but he remains firm, no matter how strong the sector is in Spain: “we always go with the scientific evidence of professional societies and also with the intention of trying to create a more healthy. This is the clear objective we have,” he concludes.
