Too Much Too Young?: Alcohol Misuse Among Young Londoners

Ah, summertime. And with the advent of a bit of fun we begin to see the usual signs that the press and public figures are anxious about what young people can and do get up to when the days are longer and they have a little more time on their hands.

Such as? In brief, the message is: Teenagers hanging around on the streets is bad. Things to do, places to go (preferably on Friday and Saturday evenings, as recommended in the Aiming High for Young People strategy) and little to drink in the way of alcohol is good. For example, the London Assembly has issued its first-ever assessment of the drinking habits of young people in London with recommendations for tackling alcohol use among young people up to 21. Children's Secretary Ed Balls has just launched a £1.4m crackdown on teenage summer binge drinking.

What kind of crackdown? The kind that targets the 69 youth crime action plan priority areas. The government wants children's services to work with the police to develop and submit (and, if the plan is accepted, deliver) a three-point plan that will demonstrate how they would use the money for a range of prevention and enforcement activities aimed at averting, reducing and stopping alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour. The problem is that the proposal seems more interested in promoting the use of existing antisocial behaviour measures than it does on giving the local areas space to develop innovative preventive work that addresses local need and lies outside the criminal justice route. So, addressing the causes of underage drinking and bad behaviour is linked to parenting contracts and orders. Enforcement is about confiscating alcohol, dispersing groups of young people from a local area, or using acceptable behaviour contracts.

And what's the situation in London? Probably reflective of the situation in other areas of the UK. Overall, more young people are drinking - although the London Assembly report also notes that young people in London drink less than their peers elsewhere. However, there are increases in the numbers of young women, and young people from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities drinking. It's too easy for under-18s to purchase alcohol. And young people themselves comment on the poor quality of alcohol education, and not knowing where to go for help or advice.

Did they ask young people why they drink? Yes, with the majority of 16- to 21-year-olds saying it makes them feel more relaxed, friendly and outgoing, although naturally some also drink to deal with stress and personal problems.

Any solutions? Sensible rather than revolutionary recommendations such as: better monitoring of the situation, better leadership and co-ordination of activity, targeting boroughs where hospital admissions are of particular concern and introducing a referral to an alcohol nurse specialist in cases where injuries are related to harmful drinking. Also working with alcohol retailers, making sure that alcohol education is effectively covered in the personal, social and health education curriculum, and running a campaign against alcohol through the drugs awareness programme Frank.

FACT FILE

- More than a third of young Londoners aged between 11 and 21 are regular drinkers

- At 14 per 10,000, alcohol-specific hospital admission rates among young women were twice as high as for young men

- Too Much Too Young?: Alcohol Misuse Among Young Londoners