Tonight:
4°c
Children in London drink more than 100,000 pints of lager a week, a report reveals.
The figure, which relates to young people under the age of 15, is the equivalent of giving every fan at Arsenal's Emirates stadium three bottles of lager each.
There has also been a huge rise in the number of young girls and Muslims drinking alcohol, the borough-by-borough study of alcohol abuse in the capital found.
The investigation also revealed:
■ Girls between 11 and 15 are twice as likely to be admitted to hospital after binge drinking than boys.
■ The percentage of young drinkers of Bangladeshi origin has increased five-fold in four years, and those of Pakistani origin has more than doubled, while the number of white British drinkers has dropped.
■ Children in outer London are more likely to get drunk than those in inner London.
James Cleverly, chairman of the London Assembly health and public services committee, which published the report, said: "The rise in young girls and Muslims drinking are the most concerning aspects of the report.
"We are not trying to vilify young people, we are trying to reduce the damage alcohol does."
The London Assembly report, called Too Much Too Young?, found girls under 15 are drinking as much as boys. But 14 girls in every 10,000 will be admitted to hospital because of alcohol, compared with 7.4 boys.
The figures were based on research involving focus groups in London.
Experts said they are concerned because girls have a much lower tolerance of alcohol than boys, but still drink the same quantities.
Sue Kenten of the Drugs and Alcohol Service for London said: "We cannot drink the same as men, we do not metabolise it in the same way."
The figures show 10 per cent of youngsters of Pakistani origin and 12 per cent of Bangladeshi origin admit to drinking, compared with four per cent and two per cent four years ago.
But the percentage of white British 11 to 21-year-olds who admitted having drunk in the last year dropped from 80 per cent to 64 per cent.
Mr Cleverly said: "The increase among these ethnic groups is alarming." He said the number of young Muslims who drink could be higher but they are scared of admitting it.
The report raised concerns around how Muslim families will cope if a child develops an alcohol problem.
The report highlights massive discrepancies in hospital admissions across the capital, with the highest rates seen outside the centre in places including Sutton and Kingston.
Haringey has the lowest rate of underage drinking, with just two per cent of under-15s admitting being drunk in the last month, compared with 18 per cent in Richmond.
The number of alcohol-related hospital admissions for women aged 16 to 21 have more than tripled, from 101 in 2002 to 387 in 2006.
Paramedic Brian Hayes said: "While we are picking people off the pavement and mopping up sick, we hear requests over the radio to help patients in a real emergency."
Reader views (1)
not fair on the police and ambulance to run around after them and to clean up their mess, it`s the parents duty to show their children what is right and what is wrong to begin with.
- Zubin, mitcham. UK, 21/06/2009 13:49
Report abuse
