WA young in binge drinking crisis

Young Australians aim to get drunk every time they go on a night out, creating a new health crisis fuelled by binge drinking, a leading Perth drug researcher warns. And young women are leading the charge -- especially in WA.

"Young people typically drink to get drunk,'' according to associate professor Wendy Loxley, of the Shenton Park-based National Drug Research Institute.

Prof Loxley was speaking on the eve of being inducted into the prestigious honour roll of the National Drug and Alcohol Awards in Sydney on Friday night.

She named binge drinking by youngsters as the country's No.1 drug and alcohol problem.

"What you find is that young people are moving away from the tradition in which their parents and grandparents drank, and moving towards a drinking environment in which getting drunk is the point,'' she said.

"Not having a nice time, not going out to be sociable, not going out to parties and having fun with your friends -- just getting drunk.''

According to a recent survey of drinking habits by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, more WA women drink than in any other state or territory.

The latest National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 41.8 per cent of WA females aged over 14 drank weekly, compared with the national average of 35 per cent.

The WA Australian Medical Association's emergency medicine spokesman David Mountain said hospitals were treating more drunk young women than before.

"I don't think there's any doubt that very significant numbers of very young people are getting very drunk,'' he said.

"We're seeing equal numbers of boys and girls who are seriously inebriated, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

"Girls tend to pass out and are comatose. They lose consciousness and are unable to be woken up, so their friends put them in a taxi or bring them to emergency.''

He said young women often woke up with a patchy recollection of events and were worried
"something could have happened to them''.

They were advised about the danger they had put themselves in, and offered tests for sexually transmitted diseases and emergency contraception, if appropriate, he said. Prof Loxley said binge drinking affected far more young people than the much-feared party drug methamphetamine (ice).

"It is a major problem because severe intoxication causes a whole range of problems -- violence, assault and other severe injuries, from falling over and hitting your head.''

But the biggest danger for young women was falling prey to sexual predators, she said.

"One of the big side-effects of severe intoxication is non-consensual sex,'' she said.

"Girls waking up in the morning and realising that someone has had sex with them and they don't know whether they said yes, or no.''

One 19-year-old Perth woman told The Sunday Times her friends typically drank a bottle of wine each before going out, and then another four drinks of champagne or vodka at a pub or club.

Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks.

The woman, a Curtin University student and a former pupil of a prestigious Perth College, admitted she and her friends were heavily intoxicated before they left the house.

"We know how much we can drink and keep standing,'' she said.

"It's definitely a big part of the going-out culture, to get drunk.

"It's a way to unwind. Everyone has a better night when they're drunk. It's definitely the norm.''

A WA Police spokesman said the trend raised concerns about the welfare of women.

"Women are particularly vulnerable when they're that intoxicated, especially when it comes to sexual offences,'' he said.

"This is a much bigger problem than drink spiking, which is really fairly rare.''

Other Australian surveys have shown a steady increase in teenage drinking since the 1990s, with one in three young Australians now being binge drinkers.

Prof Loxley said binge drinking had to be tackled through prevention, harm reduction, supply reduction and taxation.

"The Federal Government could increase the tax on full-strength drinks, making it higher than for low and mid-strength drinks,'' she said. "That would be a very, very good start.''

Perth Now