Teenage drinking is increasing, says Siguršur Siguršsson, chief executive of Heimili og skóli. He says this can be seen in the data, while people who work with children have also been warning about the trend in recent years.
So we are unquestionably seeing an increase.
There have been cases of minors being able to buy and collect alcohol from online retailers without being asked for identification.
RŚV recently spoke to the mother of a 17-year-old boy who says her son and his friends make extensive use of online retailers.
"Access has naturally increased enormously," Siguršur says. He questions what responsibility retailers have.
Children should not be able to get hold of alcohol, and we parents need to be able to trust these shops to prevent children from getting access to it so easily.
Siguršur says action needs to be taken in response to the trend.
We need a new nationwide campaign, to come together on this and decide that it is not acceptable for children to drink alcohol. That is a decision we all need to make and work together to achieve those goals.
Previous examples show that this can be done. Teenage drinking was successfully reduced at the beginning of the century.
"At that time, we all had to come together to achieve those results, especially parents," Siguršur says. He points out that cuts have been made to prevention work and that parents have been left somewhat alone in the fight. It is important for parents to keep an eye on their teenagers and talk to them, but not interrogate them.
Spending time together is the best prevention.
