There is drinking ... and there is getting drunk. The UK has one of the highest levels of drunkenness among young people in Europe. According to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, 76 per cent of 15- to 16-year-olds say they have been drunk at least once. Some 29 per cent report having been drunk 20 times or more. Why is this? Why do some young people go out intent on getting drunk as fast as possible? Who encourages young people to drink?
The brewers say that they don't market drinks at under-18s. Is this how it seems to young people? Is there peer pressure to drink alcohol? Or do those who are inclined to drink heavily seek each other out? Talk about the different motivations there are to drink. Are there any healthy and positive reasons to drink? How are they different from unhealthy and negative reasons?
How young is too young to drink? One hospital in Liverpool reported that children as young as eight are being admitted with acute alcoholic intoxication.
Accident and emergency units across the country say that around 50,000 teenagers are now being admitted drunk each year.
Talk about the hazards associated with drinking. Do young people become more impulsive or take more risks after drinking? Are they more argumentative or more likely to have accidents? Up to 1,000 young people a week suffer serious facial injuries as a result of drunken assaults. Some 18,000 young people are scarred for life each year.
Sex and alcohol often go together. Some young people have sex they later regret because they had been drinking. Studies suggest that alcohol makes people less likely to use contraception.
What rules should there be about young people and drink? Around 15 per cent of students excluded from school were suspended for drinking alcohol at school. Is this fair?
Have young people ever had alcohol education lessons in schools? Were they useful? How might they be improved?
