Meet UK’s 11-year-old drunk generation

LONDON - A new UK research has revealed that children as young as 11 are getting caught up in the binge-drinking culture.

The study by the Schools Health Education Unit also stated that a third of 15-year-olds have been drunk to the point of being sloshed and only eight percent of children said they have never touched alcohol.

To curb the dangerous trend, NHS North East Essex primary care trust has appointed school liaison workers, an alcohol nurse specialist with team up with police, the probation service and fire service to fight binge drinking in ever younger pupils.

Portsmouth, which has a spiraling underage drinking problem, has introduced an “alcohol school nurse”.

Suzanne Moore, who has been a school nurse for 12 years, will work with secondary school children.

“The role is all about educating youngsters and helping them to make changes. It’s not about telling them ‘you have got to do this’, it’s very much about what they want to do,” the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

Health officer Laura Tollerton said, “We try to show them how to stand up to peer pressure, which seems to have a lot to do with very young children drinking too much. But most of the drinking with young kids takes place in the home, where it is made too available, so we also get parents in to talk to them.”

“With the older children, you do have to explain about sensible drinking and the link between getting blind drunk and teenage pregnancy,” she added.

Last year, almost 13,000 alcohol-related admissions of young people under 18 were recorded. Some 9,000 received treatment for dependency, double the rate five years ago. (ANI)