Urban Conversation: Binge Drinking

I was both disturbed and stirred to share in discussions on the topic of "Binge Drinking & Street Violence - how can we change the culture?" Urban Conversations is an social justice initiative of The Salvation Army Project 614 (Majors Brendan & Sandra Nottle) and tonight's panellists were both informed and informative.

The evening, facilitated by Seven News Journalist and 3AW radio personality, Nick McCallum, featured the following high profile personalities.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg ~ Psychologist and Media Identity

Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana ~ Victoria Police & Corporate Sponsor for Drug & Alchohol portfolio
Dr Pippa Grange ~ AFL Players Association Psychologist
Nathan Buckley ~ Former Collingwood Captain & Sports Journalist
Paul Ramadge ~ Editor-in-chief of The Age newspaper

Binge drinking is a major community challenge in Australian society that affects our youth, in particular, and countless others in the process. How? Recent research has proved that around 3,000 people die every year because of alcohol abuse and annually it’s estimated 65,000 people are hospitalised because of alcohol abuse. Studies reveal a consistent link between heavy drinking and physical brain damage, in addition to the fact that 2,500 Australians are now treated annually for alcohol related brain damage.

Need more info? Start here: http://salvos.org.au/need-help/the-facts/binge-drinking.php

Most encouraging was the outcome of discussion resulting in committments from the various panellists to take a stand and do all they can to influence a culture of change. The strongest committment was voiced by Paul Ramadge, who declared that The Age would run a focussed campaign dedicated to binge drinking in the hope that tonight's words might be "put into action" to bring about transformational change in our society.