Alcohol Disorders Set to Rise if Drinking Laws Relaxed – Leading Addiction Expert

University of Ulster Online~ 25 October 2005

Twenty-four hour licensing will only exacerbate the culture of binge drinking here – a leading addiction expert warned today.

Professor Martin Plant was speaking at the first in a series of Science and Society lectures, organised by the University of Ulster, which aim to make science more accessible to everyday life.

Professor Plant warned that research in countries including Iceland, Australia and the Republic of Ireland has revealed extended bar opening hours lead to a marked increase in alcohol-related deaths such as from liver disease as well as other problems like on-street fighting and violent crime.

Recent research undertaken by Professor Plant, who is based at the University of the West of England, also shows teenagers in the UK and Ireland are among the heaviest drinkers in Europe and that teenage girls are binge drinking more than boys.

“The UK and Ireland are among a number of countries with a centuries-old culture of drinking heavily in a short space of time,” said Professor Plant.

“In other countries, like France and Italy, drinking alcohol is spaced throughout the week and often accompanied by a meal. This means young people learn to drink in a more civilised way.

“There is also an increase in the amount of girls and young women who binge drink. The figures show that 29 percent of 15-16 year-old girls admit to routinely drinking five or more drinks in a single session, compared to 26 percent of boys. The ladette culture had lost its stigma and women are quite happy to go out drinking together. The rise of the ladette has produced a new, powerful spending group for advertisers to target and a disproportionate amount of alcohol advertising is spent trying to get women to drink.

“Irresponsible pub promotions should be banned and the government’s plan to liberalise licensing hours is extremely ill-advised.”

Professor Plant said the Government was keen to set targets in other areas of health but shied away from setting ones to cut unhealthy drinking.