Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

BERLIN (Reuters) - Consumption of "alcopops" by German young people has almost halved since the imposition of a special tax on the fizzy alcoholic drinks last year, a German government drug commission said on Tuesday.

A report published by the commission showed the percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 who drink alcopops - typically a mixture of sweet soft drinks and spirits - once a month dropped to 16 percent from 28 percent since last August.

One third of the surveyed teenagers who consumed alcopops last year had since quit.

The commission also reported that teenagers cited the tax, which added 80-90 cents to the price of a bottle, as the main reason why they cut back or stopped consumption of alcopops.

The government imposed the special tax in August 2004 to deter youth consumption of alcopops after it determined that the popularity of the drinks was encouraging alcoholism among teenagers.

"What is especially pleasing is that there was no substitution with other alcoholic drinks," said government drug commissioner Marion Caspers-Merk.

"We have reached our goal of better protecting children and teenagers from the dangers of alcoholism."