Life> no use

British binge-drinking taking toll on young

(AFP)
Updated: 2006-11-23 10:58

LONDON  - Britain's notorious "binge-drinking" habit -- drinking purely to get very drunk -- has fueled a 20 percent rise in alcohol problems among the young in four years, new figures revealed.

Some 20 young people per day on average are diagnosed with conditions ranging from alcohol poisoning to behavioral disorders due to excessive drinking, according to data by the National Health Service.

Any visitor to a British town center on a Friday or Saturday night will know the scene: hordes of chanting teenagers staggering from pub to pub, fighting, vomiting or being otherwise anti-social.

Other aspects of the problem are less visible. "It's not unusual for a child to have drunk a liter of vodka," said Ian Forster of the North West Ambulance Service, reporting an increase in underage drinking in Liverpool.

According to the NHS Information Center, the number of under-18s being admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions rose from 6,288 in 2000-1 to 7,579 in 2004-5.

The Department of Health admits the problem is a serious one. "Tackling binge-drinking is a priority. Although levels of binge-drinking are no longer rising, there is no room for complacency," said a spokeswoman.

The government launched a "shock" campaign last month on television and in cinemas, warning young people of the dangers of excess drinking, much as the risks of smoking have been increasingly highlighted in recent years.

But a recent government decision to relax pub and bar opening hours has fueled fierce debate: authorities argue that it leads to a more relaxed way of drinking, rather than the binging encouraged by early closing times.

Critics claim that, while in other countries all-hours drinking simply means that people drink more slowly, in Britain people simply take the opportunity to get even more drunk.

In Liverpool, ambulance workers are frustrated that binge-drinking slows them from helping people with other problems.

"Resources are quite sparse anyway, so to be dragged from pillar to post all over the city for underage drinking, which is avoidable, is keeping us from the patients that we're trained to treat," said Forster.