The ban on selling alcohol on September 1 has been successful in reducing alcohol abuse by minors who celebrate the start of the academic year on that day, specialists say.
Specialists have concluded that the measure, introduced nine years ago and initially subject to much criticism, has been justified.
The director of the Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department Inga Juozapavičienė says that, first and foremost, people‘s attitudes have changed and few question the need for such a ban anymore. The ban has been shown to be justified by the decrease in juvenile alcohol consumption.
“Cases of juveniles under 18 admitted to medical institutions due to alcohol poisoning on September 1, 2005, numbered 25. Let us look at the tendency now. In 2013, such cases totalled zero. In 2014, we had two such cases, last year just one case. To claim that the ban on alcohol sales on this day has not succeeded after seeing such statistics would be incorrect and unfair,” she said.
LRT
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