RISING ALCOHOL USE BIGGER PROBLEM FOR YOUTH THAN ILLICIT DRUGS, SAY REPORT

SYDNEY -- BINGE drinking has reached epidemic proportions among young
people and teenagers from more affluent families may be at greatest risk.

More than a third of teenage boys claimed to have had more than 10 drinks
in a session in July in a study conducted by Roy Morgan Research for the
Salvation Army.

Its report warned that a massive change in drinking habits in recent years
was a greater worry than illegal drug-taking because it affected many more
people.

"This generation of drinkers starts younger, drinks more and indulges in
binge drinking to a greater extent than any previous generation," the
report said.

The study showed that young people from more affluent families could be at
greater risk of becoming binge drinkers because they started at an earlier age.

Where the family income was more than $50,000, young people started
drinking at 15. Where families earned less than $25,000, they started
drinking at 18.

"The younger a person is when they start to drink the more likely they are
to drink more than 30 drinks a week," the report said.

Overall, 63 per cent of teenagers had their first drink by the age of
14. For the 14-24 age group, the prevalence of binge drinking had grown
dramatically in five years. Forty-five per cent said they had at least 10
drinks on one day in the previous month while in 1997 only 18 per cent had
gone on such a binge.

The study found that 22 per cent of teenage girls had gone on a drinking
binge in July, having more than nine drinks in a single four-hour session.

The report, based on a sample of 614 Australians aged 14 and over, said
community acceptance of alcohol and recent publicity about its positive
health effects had hidden "the dreadful effects of excessive drinking".

The young people surveyed said the main reason they drank was to fit in at
social activities.

But Paul Dillon, information manager at the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre, said his work among schoolchildren indicated many drank
"to get out of it, to get wasted". He said Australia was one of the few
countries where binge drinking was acceptable and concern about illicit
drugs had sidelined alcohol as an issue.

"Parents see alcohol use as a protective factor against other drug use," Mr
Dillon said. "But in reality the only drug problem most will experience
with their child will be alcohol."

He said the rising number of young women going on alcoholic binges was of
concern as their bodies were less able to handle alcohol.

Dr Paul Haber, head of drug health services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
in Sydney, said binge drinkers were at increased risk of injury and death,
pregnancy, sexual abuse, fights and accidents.