"... lashings of ginger beer..."

At a time when teenage drinking is more problematic than ever, maybe we should be re-evaluating how we deal with alcohol in our society, and how we can help keep kids safe.

In the days when Enid Blyton wrote her seminal children's adventure stories, teenagers enjoyed a kind of innocent freedom beyond most young people's reach now. Told to make their own fun, and left to their own devices, any problems they encountered were resolved amongst themselves, without the need for any adult intervention. In The Famous Five series, the four children and their dog are forever going off on camping and cycling holidays together, equipped with wholesome picnics: tomato sandwiches, cake, and the ubiquitous bottles of ginger beer.

Sadly, the last thing you'd find in today's teen picnic basket is lashings of ginger beer – unless it's of the alcoholic variety. Underage drinking is a major concern for both parents and young people alike. Research shows that teenagers are drinking more regularly, and more in a single sitting, with binge drinking a high risk factor for potentially fatal alcoholic poisoning. The number of accidents occuring, and unsafe sexual practice as a result of intoxication, is also on the rise.

Last October, the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, launched a “Know Your Limits” campaign targeted at the under 25's, as statistically, they're the ones '...most likely to drink irresponsibly and cause harm to themselves and others.' But the latest figures for binge drinking amongst 16-24 year-olds in England remain less than encouraging. More than a third of young men, and a quarter of young women, drink in excess of the recommended guidelines (8 and 6 units respectively, on at least one day of a week).

'I first started drinking alcohol when I was about thirteen,' says Rosie, who's currently sixteen, and living in Penzance. 'We used to nick a tiny amount of spirits...just a little bit, so they couldn't tell it'd gone down... from our parents' bottles, to take to the U/18 discos. We thought we were really cool, but we never really got drunk... wasn't enough to go round.'

At 12-13 years, some young people try drinking as a way of distancing themselves from their child status. By 14-15 years, they're deliberately seeking out alcohol specifically to get drunk – just for the fun of it – and are rarely aware of the potential hazards or possible consequences of their drinking.

'When I was fourteen, we used to hang around at peoples houses and drink whatever we could get hold of. Someone's older brother or sister would buy it, and I remember getting really drunk, a lot – much worse than I am now. At fifteen, we started going to clubs. I didn't have much money so couldn't really buy all that many drinks – maybe 3 or 4 in a night – but I did get served at the bar.'

In 2005, 21,700 people had to be admitted for emergency treatment after they'd turned up at A&E with alcohol poisoning. More than a thousand of those were under 15. Young people experience coma at much lower blood alcohol saturation levels than adults, and
suffer from low blood sugar, hypothermia and breathing difficulties more readily too.
80% of all deaths on Friday and Saturday nights are drink-related.
'I woke up once with a massive swollen chin where I'd banged it cos I'd fallen over drunk, and I've lost shoes and stuff before... oh, and I've been sick quite a few times. The worst was at a festival a couple of years ago... me and my mate dressed up as pirates and were drinking straight rum. I was so out of it, and ended up being sick all inside someone else's tent. It was so embarrassing, and I felt really awful cos my mum had to help me get undressed...wash my hair and everything... I haven't been sick since Xmas now.'

16-17 year-olds are much more open and adult about their drinking. No longer experimenting, they see drinking as validating their maturity – it's about image, and peer identity, with peak consumption for males being 16-24, whilst for females it's during their late teens. Drinking alcohol, although still illegal, has become the accepted norm.

'Now, we sometimes meet up for cocktails at Wetherspoons before going out on the town. Having a drink is more a social thing...it's not about getting drunk. Besides, we're kind of more careful now cos of drinks getting spiked. Last week my mate Becky ended up in hospital overnight – she collapsed...couldn't move...when she was trying to walk home. Luckily she had her phone on her and was able to call for help before falling unconscious.'

Aaron, aged eighteen and also in Penzance, had a similar experience last year:
'One minute I was feeling a bit dizzy and sick, and the next thing I was on the ground, unable to move. I rang my mate to come and pick me up, and he got me home. I should've gone to casualty really, but at the time I didn't really know what was happening. Now I'm pretty sure that my drink was spiked.'

Being administered substances unknowingly whilst out in clubs, pubs, bars an at private parties, is a recent phenomena that today's teens find themselves having to contend with (and certainly wasn't encountered by Julian, Dick, or Anne on their 1950's adventures). The two most commonly used drugs are GHB and Ketamine, both of which are colourless, tasteless and odourless, and so impossible to detect without chemical testing. Side effects include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, feeling inhibited, memory loss and coma, and more disturbingly, can leave the victim totally vulnerable.

Rosie says she chose to drink bottles of VK, an alcopop, for the first time at the weekend to try and reduce the risk of her drink being tampered with. Using 'Alcotops', special plastic covers designed to prevent spiking, can help, but the only real way to stop it from happening is to be vigilant, and never leave your drink unattended.

But the whole alcopop industry is in itself questionable, when it comes to promoting a 'safe drinking' message. Alcopop sales were £1.2 billion last year. Stephen J Garcia Perez, founder of Global Brands Limited International, launched VK Vodka Kick (a range of pre-mixed, fruity vodka drinks) in 1999. One of the fastest growing market leaders, over 3.5million bottles are now sold in the UK each week. Exported to 30 other countries worldwide, with a £70million annual turn-over, the stakes are high.

And higher still for the young people who buy them. Alcopops have been around since
1996 when alcoholic lemonade was first sold in Australia. They tend to be sweet, served in small bottles (200-275mls) and between 4-7% in strength – stronger than your average beer. Producers say that they're aiming at the 18-25 year-old market, but studies show it's

the 13-16 year-olds who are drinking them. Young people tend to find traditional alcoholic drinks unpalatable, but with today's fruit-flavoured concoctions, you can't actually taste the alcohol in them.

Girls, in particular, are attracted to alcopops, with boys preferring the more macho lager or beer options. Their marketing and packaging, which uses vibrant colours, sexy names and cartoony graphics, is very appealing to a young female audience. They're also relatively cheap, trendy, and easy to drink. So it looks as if it's lashings of alcopops all round then –
a modern day version of Blyton's iconic ginger beer.

Alcohol plays an important economic and cultural role in our society, with teenagers testing the fizzy waters at an increasingly early age. Fortunately, for most, experimenting with alcohol is a phase that they'll go through – coming out the other side without any long-lasting, detrimental effects. For others, the consequences can be life-threatening, even fatal. By the time young people reach early adulthood, the responsibilities of work, relationships and becoming parents themselves, usually has quite a sobering impact. We, as adults, need to help safeguard young people though this rite of passage; encouraging a healthy attitude towards looking after themselves, and drinking in moderation.

Those halcyon days of childhood innocence may be long gone, but that doesn't mean that our children need end up in the gutter. Although underage drinking may leave a sour taste in our mouths, information and support are key to combating the problem – we can't, as parents, expect them to go it alone. We also need to be showing by example. Perhaps it's high time then that we all raised a glass of good old-fashioned, non-alcoholic, ginger beer:
to our health.

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Alcohol Concern is the national agency working to reduce alcohol mis-use, and provides support for individuals, and the families of those, affected by problem drinking.
Their telephone information line is open:
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 1pm – 5pm 020 7922 8667

Visit www.drinkspikedetector.com for information about a handy testcard that can be safely used to instantly determine whether your drink has been spiked or not.