Parents were urged to make a difference in underage drinking yesterday as Alcohol Awareness Month launched on the island.

Anthony Santucci, the executive director of the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, described the April initiative as a “call to action”.

“This is a time to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce stigma and encourage communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues,” he said.

This year’s event is being held under the theme “Talk Early, Talk Often”, and Michael Dunkley reminded parents of their responsibilities in steering their children along the right path.

“Alcohol use and abuse remains one of the greatest challenges facing Bermuda’s young people,” the Premier said, pointing out its link to problematic behaviours such as violence, road fatalities, unsafe sex and educational failure.

“Let’s be very clear: parents are the most important role models in their children’s lives and we urge them to set a positive example and get involved,” Mr Dunkley added. “Know their friends, know where they are going and what they are doing. Create clear and consistent expectations, and enforce them.

“Discuss the consequences and show that you care enormously about your children and the choices they make.”

Shadow health minister Michael Weeks said alcohol should be made less available to young people, after the 2015 National Schools Survey showed that 18.2 per cent of middle- and high-school students had admitted to drinking.

“The younger the person is when they start consuming alcohol, the greater the potential to become addicted to alcohol or drugs later in life,” he said. “Consistent and sustained parental attitudes can influence a child’s decision about whether or not to use alcohol and/or drugs.”

Nandi Outerbridge, the Junior Minister of Community, Culture and Sport, read the proclamation for Alcohol Awareness Month, revealing Cada’s lobbying plans to help to improve Bermuda’s relationship with alcohol.

Prospective initiatives include sobriety checkpoints, mandatory alcohol testing for all collisions which cause injury, the establishment of an Alcohol Bureau of Control and the introduction of “social hosting” legislation, which would impose lawful liability on those serving alcohol to minors, plus adults who are already intoxicated.

However, Mr Santucci told The Royal Gazette that there were no discussions at present to raise the island’s legal drinking age of 18.