Alcohol

What is Alcohol?

We all know what alcohol is but, as parents, we may not be sufficiently aware of the dangers associated with young people drinking too much. While we worry about children becoming involved with drugs, we may well regard getting drunk as a fairly normal part of growing up. The truth is, however, that more young people experience problems through drinking too much than through drug use.

A young person who is drunk is more likely to have an accident, to take risks and or to get into dangerous situations that they would not normally get into (such as fights, for example). The health risks associated with drinking, particularly binge drinking, are greater for young people than for adults because of their physical immaturity, and greater for females than for males.

Facts and figures

• It is illegal to sell alcohol to under-18s (young people aged 16 or 17 are exempt when eating in restaurants).
• Police have the power to confiscate alcohol from under-18s drinking in public places.
• Each year in the UK 1,000 young people under the age of 15 are admitted to hospital requiring emergency treatment for alcohol poisoning.
• Most children have their first alcoholic drink between the ages of 10 and 13, at home, with their parent’s permission. Some children, however, start experimenting without their parent’s knowledge, often with friends, and often because they are curious about the experience of getting drunk.
• The strength of alcoholic drinks is measured in % by volume: the impact of alcohol consumption depends on its strength, how fast it is consumed and also when the person last ate, how much they weigh, their mood and the surroundings.
• Some drinks which particularly appeal to young people are deceptively strong: there can be as much alcohol in a 330ml bottle of ‘alco-pop’, for example, as in a glass of whisky.

What alcohol does

• For most people, drinking a small amount of alcohol helps them to relax and feel more sociable; for others drinking is a way of escaping problems.
• The immediate effects of moderate alcohol consumption may be slurred speech and impaired co-ordination; excessive drinking can lead to vomiting, loss of consciousness and alcohol poisoning.
• The after-effect of too much to drink is a ‘hangover’, which may last a day or so.
• An equivalent quantity of alcohol affects females quicker than males.
• Alcohol is a depressant.

Dangers and health risks

• Anybody who is drunk is at greater risk of having an accident or getting into a dangerous situation.
• Combining alcohol with drugs is extremely dangerous and can be fatal.
• A person who is unconscious from over-drinking risks choking on their own vomit and this can be fatal.
• Alcohol poisoning can be fatal.
• Over time, excessive drinking can cause serious health problems (in particular to the liver, heart and stomach)
• Over 25,000 deaths in the UK each year are alcohol-related.