A new report on alcohol consumption suggests young people in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality are binge-drinking far more often than other young Nova Scotians.
The study, conducted by a number of public agencies in CBRM, says alcohol consumption is so normalized that people face tremendous pressure to drink when they socialize.
Students at Cape Breton University say they aren’t surprised by the report’s findings.
“There’s nothing at all to do here but drink, go to the bars, go to school,” says CBU student Jamey Lawson.
“The mindset is that you have to be drunk to have fun,” says CBU student Haley Morrison. “They think that you need to drink to enjoy stuff.”
The report indicates 53 per cent of Cape Bretoners aged 20 to 34 admit to drinking heavily in the past month, compared to 38 per cent of young people in the rest of the province.
Sam Hodder, who co-authored the report, says a culture of drinking and intoxication is widely accepted as a normal aspect of local culture.
“The alcohol consumption amongst our youth, the normalization of overconsumption, that it’s not really a big deal,” says Hodder.
According to the report, the average Cape Bretoner has their first drink at 13.4 years old, but the study identifies problems among all age groups.
Police say alcohol is a factor in an overwhelming number of calls to which they respond.
“Sexual assaults, domestic violence, assaults, property damage, a lot of those complaints are associated with alcohol as a root cause,” says Cape Breton Regional Police Chief Peter McIsaac.
The report’s authors hope it will help CBRM take steps to curb the culture of drinking, and a similar effort is already underway in the university community.
A campaign by Students Nova Scotia encourages students to drink only in moderation.
“It’s basically the ‘sloppy versus social’ campaign,” says Brennan Boudreau, vice-president of the CBU Student Union. “What we’re doing is having a survey online and we’re going to turn that into our actual policy here at CBU.”
Police, local health and addiction officials, the health authority, and municipal councillors and staff conducted interviews with more than 50 people from health care, law enforcement, youth and community groups in compiling the report.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald and The Canadian Press
