Kids offered free iPods to stop booze culture

Drinkers as young as nine are being offered free iPods in the latest battle to curb Glasgow's binge drinking culture.

A pioneering East End project has launched a website warning them about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

The new site, which will be used in schools across the city, allows young people to play games after they have correctly answered alcohol-related questions.

And as an incentive to learn, the project is giving away one free iPod each month to the player with the highest score.

Bosses at the award-winning Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness project hope the new site - youngboozebusters.com - will help widen access to information for young people aged nine to 17.

Youngsters are posed a series of questions on alcohol-related issues including the reasons people drink to excess, how alcohol affects the body and how it can adversely affect lives.

The site also features advice for parents on educating kids about the dangers of binge drinking.

Scotland has one of the worst records in Europe for binge drinking among 15 and 16-year-olds.

A new study has shown children who were binge drinkers at the age of 16 are 60% more likely to be alcoholic at 30 and 70% more likely to regularly drink heavily than those who were not.

Evelyn Lang, head of prevention and education at GEAAP, said: "We see their new website as a way of widening access to good information on alcohol awareness.

"We hope this will help them make safer choices about alcohol now and in the future."

The project is the most extensive programme of its kind in Scots primary schools.

It has been held up as a UK model for educating children about dangerous drinking.

Last year it won praise in the Mentor UK Alcohol Misuse Awards Scheme and £20,000 in funding.

Project bosses say the secret of their success is that pupils are not lectured about alcohol.

Children aged 10 to 12 are encouraged to explore their own feelings about alcohol through art, discussion and role play.

Evening Times