Mother Talkers

Shocking figures on Australian tween and teen drinking

by Rachel

Mon Feb 25, 2008 at 04:04:25 PM PDT

A week ago, Sue in Queens asked us all How many kids do drugs? Well, if you’re talking about Australia, the answer is, a lot more than you want to see, and more children are developing health-threatening proclivities, according to this article in today’s The Age. Excuse me for doing a blatant cut-and-paste job, but the statistics are summed up as follows:

CHILDREN as young as 12 are seeking help for alcohol abuse as new figures from a major Melbourne drug treatment centre reveal a six-fold increase in cases of young people with drinking problems.

Some are drinking a slab of beer [NB: a slab is 24 cans of beer]Rachel or a bottle of spirits a day and have developed serious health problems such as cirrhosis of the liver or hepatitis C. Cannabis dependency has also risen sharply, with some children smoking it to block out the pain of abuse.

Youth workers from Victoria's biggest drug treatment service for under-21s, the Youth Substance Abuse Service, say alcohol and cannabis dependence are now more common than heroin addiction.

The new figures from the service come ahead of a separate report to be released today from the Australian National Council on Drugs, which will warn that 20% of 16 year-olds are drinking to harmful levels in any given week, while one in every 200 children aged 12 are drinking at harmful levels.

The ANCD report combined several major statistical studies on substance abuse for the first time. It warned that extra support for the family members of young substance abusers — including siblings — was needed.
Figures released to The Age show that the Youth Substance Abuse Service treated 776 cases of alcohol problems last year — up from 136 in 2002.
Cannabis cases rocketed from 608 to 1213, while heroin cases plummeted from 824 to 286.

The inhalation of toxic substances such as spray paint, glue and petrol (known as chroming) has also doubled.

And users are getting younger, with 12 to 15-year-olds accounting for 12% of all drug treatments — up from 9% in 2002

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This is not an article you want to read with your first cup of coffee in the morning. The article goes on to cite one of the report’s conclusions, that substance abuse was less likely to occur in households where parents disapprove of alcohol use:

Today's ANCD report will argue that alcohol and substance abuse is less likely among young people whose parents actively disapprove of alcohol use.

"Drug and alcohol use by young people has become normalised and is often seen as a rite of passage to adulthood," ANCD chairman Dr John Herron said.

The report estimates that at least 451,000 Australian children are at risk of exposure to binge drinking by an adult.

One of the report's authors, Dr Sally Frye, said a family environment where children were not exposed to alcohol was less likely to lead to binge drinking habits than one where parents try to gradually introduce their children to alcohol.

I have a question as to how this part is written - "actively disapprove", in the reporter's words, is different to "not exposed to alcohol", Dr. Frye's words. And what does "not exposed to alcohol" mean? Does that mean not drinking in front of your child? Not offering your child sips or drinks? It's a bit vague. What say you, MTs? I grant you that news reportage will focus on phrases like “six-fold increase”, but I have to say that personally, any report that teenagers are drinking themselves into cirrhosis is a worrying circumstance.

Tags: teens, tweens, drugs, alcohol, abuse, Australia (all tags)

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