Have you ever asked your child to run to the store and bring you whiskey for guests who are just arriving, wine for the sauce, or a cold beer for refreshment on a summer afternoon? Are you aware that it is illegal for anyone under eighteen in BiH to buy alcoholic beverages, as well as other drinks containing alcohol, in stores, or to be served these drinks in hospitality establishments? We know that most of you won’t spend your free time browsing various laws, but it’s hard to miss the sign above the register: “Sale of alcoholic beverages to persons under eighteen prohibited,” or something similar. Yet, various studies show that obtaining alcohol is as easy for children and young people as buying chewing gum. It is easy to blame store and café employees for selling and serving alcohol to minors, but whose responsibility is it that they even got into that situation? Often, parents not only turn a blind eye to what their child will order at a local café, but also send them to buy alcohol or allow them to purchase it for themselves.

The experiences of young people show that only about 11 percent have ever been refused the sale of alcohol. In a 2015 study, as many as 86.6% of sixteen-year-olds believed they could obtain alcoholic beverages very easily or fairly easily. More than half of young people mainly obtain and consume alcohol in cafés—56% there, 23% in stores, 16% in clubs, and about 5% at home. So, even though this issue, aimed at protecting the health and well-being of young people, is regulated by law, in practice it is not enforced. There are many responsible parties, but it is crucial that you, parents, as those closest to children and young people, do not approve or support this behavior yourself. Do not send children to buy alcohol for you, no matter the purpose. Today the child may buy alcohol for you, and tomorrow perhaps for themselves.