Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds are getting drunk at least once a month
Posted on 08/31/2007 10:41:45 AM PDT by Stoat
Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds are getting drunk at least once a month
A "hard core" of young teenagers is drinking to increasingly dangerous levels every week, it has emerged.
Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds are also getting drunk at least once a month, despite a drive to cut soaring numbers of young drinkers.
Four out of 10 pupils aged 11-15 have tried smoking at least once, and a majority of young smokers are illegally served in shops.
The official survey of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among 11-to 15-year-olds reveals the number of school-age drinkers is falling overall but a hard core is consuming more each year.
Regular drinkers aged 11-13 are consuming more than 10 units a week — double the amount in 2001 — while 6,000 11-year-olds also smoke once a week.
Older teenagers who drink regularly are also downing 11.4 units a week, a rise of one unit on last year and the equivalent of five and a half pints. Half of this group are binge-drinking up to two days a week.
The Government said the figures are a success story because 45 per cent of school pupils have never drunk alcohol, a rise from 39 per cent four years ago.
But campaigners said tens of thousands of young people are still damaging their health by increasing their consumption.
Frank Soodeen, of Alcohol Concern, said: “The overall number of young drinkers may be going down but there is now a core of young people who are finding it much easier to get hold of alcohol because of a lack of parental support and the wide availability of drink.”
Today's report shows that one in five pupils is getting drunk once a month, including four per cent of 11-year-olds.
With more than 611,000 children this age in England, it suggests almost 24,500 could be drinking to excess every week.
The survey of 8,200 pupils at 288 schools shows that nine per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds are smoking regularly. The majority buy cigarettes from shops.
The legal age for buying tobacco will rise to 18 in a month but Amanda Sandford, of lobby group Action on Smoking and Health, said shopkeepersare likely to break the law.
“There are huge problems here with retailers not carrying out thorough checks,” she said.
The article naturally causes me to wonder if the trends are similar here in the USA.
Sad Momlist ping :-(
Say, how’s that prohibition thing working out, eh?
So how much were these kids drinking when they were 6 to 8 years old? \sarc
Not surprising when you think about it.
Five years ago they were 6 to 8 years old. Hard to get the guy to take your fake ID when you can’t even see over the counter.
With all of the underage drinking in Harry Potter, it's no wonder kids are drinking more.
That sounds pretty much like my junior-high years, and my mother's, too.
My daughter, who is now sixteen, likes to tell me of the time that thinking it was apple juice, drank out of a cup of beer on the kitchen table during a Christmas party. Now when she sees me with a beer she just says; how can you drink that stuff. So far, so good.
The official survey of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among 11-to 15-year-olds reveals the number of school-age drinkers is falling overall but a hard core is consuming more each year.
Seriously, the article say that fewer preteen are drinking - while a small group are real drunks. One suspect that those have alcoholic parents, if they have any parents about at all.
just wait until she’s in college. about face!
(make ya nervous some?)
-you mean butterbeer was alchohol?
Why is it not considered Labour’s fault? If Thatcher were in power during such a thing that would be all people would talk about.
How much did they drink when they were 6-8 years old?
So, the title should read: "Shock figures show 11 to 13 year olds bragging more than they did five years ago"?
:-)
HALF!
Yes, my dear. Don’t you remember Winky the elf getting plowed on it in “Goblet of Fire?”
When I first saw that picture, my first thought was “She’s not drinking it”.
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