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'It causes more harm than drugs'
EVERY week a child is taken to Bassetlaw Hospital A&E department in need of urgent medical assistance because they have drunk themselves into a stupor – the Guardian can exclusively reveal.
In the last year alone62children were rushed to the emergency department drunk-the youngest was an 11-year-old boy.
And these numbers havetrebledin the last five years, according to hospital records.
Worse still, in the Bassetlaw area, alcohol admissions for the under 18s is significantly worse than the average for England, according to the latest statistics by Notts County Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT).
“Alcohol is causing more harm to more people regularly than illicit drugs, both in the adult and young people populations,” said John Taylor, lead manager for alcohol, at DAAT. “The figures are horrible to see.”
Mr Taylor said a national campaign, being launched this month, will focus on educating parents and adults who give drink to children. He said part of the problem was that children get mixed messages as they are given plenty of help and advice about alcohol consumption at school.
“But young people are going home and being given alcohol,” he said.
The latests statistics show that 55 per cent of 13-year-olds drink more than the recommended amount of alcohol for a fully grown adult and these figures rise to nearly 90 per cent in 16 to 18 year-olds.
“The other problem is that at a young age the effect of alcohol on a child’s body is far more corrosive,” he said.
Dr Emyr Wyn Jones, medical director for the Bassetlaw and Doncaster Hospitals NHS Trust agreed that under-age drinking is a serious problem and said it increases the chances of the child growing up to be an alcoholic.
“The best medical advice is not to start drinking until past your teens,” he said.
“We know that children who begin drinking regularly in their early teens are over four times as likely to become alcoholics as those who don't start drinking alcohol until they are 21 or older.”
“So this highlights the importance of preventing underage drinking and delaying drinking alcohol as long as possible.”
“Alcoholism and alcohol abuse bring a whole range of medical problems, including damage to the liver, heart failure, and damage to the brain and nervous system,” added Mr Jones.
The steep rise in underage drinking is also strongly linked to other problems which plague Worksop and surrounding areas, such as anti-social behaviour.
More and more children are seen gathering in gangs on street corners, leading to police to adopt dispersal zones in a bid to curb the problem.
Local Area Commander for Bassetlaw Insp Alan Hamilton said that during several police operations and as part of their patrols, officers have confiscated alcohol and taken young people back to their parents.
“We haven’t seen a sudden increase in reports of underage drinking, but when we attend calls to rowdy nuisance we sometimes find young people that have been drinking,” said Insp Hamilton.
“Not only does underage drinking have serious implications for the young person's health, it also affects the rest of the community when it leads to rowdy behaviour. ”
”We have on ongoing operation at weekends in which officers stop young people on the street and confiscate any alcohol. Where a young person presents particular concern we refer them to the appropriate agencies for advice on alcohol issues.”
“This ensures they have the necessary aftercare to prevent their drinking becoming a more serious health problem.”
“We are committed to working with our partner agencies to do everything we can to reduce underage drinking.”
Recognising this increasing society scourge, Bassetlaw MP John Mann launched an alcohol inquiry last year in which he discussed a variety of issues relating to alcohol consumption with children from schools across the area.
The discussions uncovered the lack of youth facilities and young people in the town are craving entertainment after school.
Nigel Turner, manager at North Notts Arena said he hopes the centre’s new ice rink, which opened last week, is already helping keep teenagers off the streets.
“We’re hoping that by introducing the ice rink it will help give the young people something to do,” he said.
He estimated that in a five day period more than 200, 11-16 year-olds had been through the doors at the Arena.
“Hopefully it’s already making a difference,” added Mr Turner.
”There’s plenty on offer to keep them off the streets and we’ve got snooker and pool here as well.”
“One of our targets is to keep the young people occupied and active.”
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Weather for Worksop
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
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Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 4 C
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