CHRONICLE COMMENT: DRINK-DRUGS CHAMPIONS

It is unlikely that anyone in Oldham will be surprised by the conclusion
reached by the Alcohol and Health Research Centre that under-age drinking is
now very common. In Oldham it is endemic.

The research showed that British teenagers are the biggest consumers of
alcohol, drugs and tobacco in Europe and, significantly, that fewer than
half - probably, in reality considerably fewer than half - of British
parents knew where their children were on Saturday nights.

Oldham's experience will certainly mirror the national picutre with
extensive use of cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine, crack and heroin. Pubs,
discos, parks and street corners are the most common places where drugs are
bought with friends and brothers and sisters as the most likely suppliers.

The problems associated with drugs are being tackled in Oldham and elsewhere
through drug action teams - groups of senior officers from various agencies,
putting into place strategies to reduce drug abuse and to counter the impact
of drug addiction, either on the individual user or on society at large -
but alcohol abuse is not given anything like the priority, even though its
consequences for individuals and society at large are significantly greater.
Recent research, for instance, has shown that one in eight deaths of men
aged 15 to 29 was caused by alcohol abuse.

It is clear that while attempts to counter the damage inflicted on society
at large by drugs are laudable, much more needs to be done to reduce
under-age drinking, to protect the drinkers from harm and to protect the
rest of us from the harm they do.

As a priority, parents need to take more control of their offspring - the
research shows that parental knowledge of children's wherabouts has an
enormous effect on teenage behaviour - but much more needs to be done by way
of educating youngsters about the harm excessive use of alcohol can do their
bodies, in both the short and long term.

There also needs to be much tighter controls on the supply of alcohol to
under-age drinkers, with stiff penalties - including the removal of licences
- - for those shopkeepers and bar owners who flout the law.

A good case could also be made for a combined substance misuse policy,
covering alcohol and tobacco as well as drugs in an effort to combat the
mounting cost of all three on society at large.