Kids aged 9 target of anti-booze site

School children as young as nine are being warned about the dangers of binge drinking.

They're the targeted of anti-booze campaigners in Glasgow's East End who have launched a quiz-based interactive website to promote alcohol awareness.

The drive to curb excessive boozing among youngsters comes at a time when binge drinking has become a national epidemic in towns and cities across Britain.

Older primary school pupils in the East End are regularly told of the dangers by the Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness Project.

Now project officials have decided to spread their anti-binge drinking message across Scotland by launching an online quiz on the young booze busters website.

Evelyn Lang, the project's head of prevention and education, said some kids in P6 and P7 had already been targeted in schools.

She said: "That's usually when children change their attitude towards alcohol. They're aged nine to 11 and before that they think drinking is all bad.

"All we try to do is give them as many facts as we can so they are able to make informed choices when they are older.

"We also dispel some of the myths surrounding alcohol."

The website challenges children between the ages of nine and 17 to participate in a series of quizzes on alcohol awareness with four games at the end of each one.

Players compete against each other and the 10 highest scorers for each game will go into a top 10. There's a monthly prize draw with the winner receiving an iPod.

Project manager Stewart McKay said: "GEAAP is known for delivering factual, fun alcohol awareness programmes.

"Our intention with this site is to enable young people across the country to access clear, factual information about alcohol in a fun, interactive way, enabling them to make a safer, more informed, choice about their own alcohol use."

The site also intends to dispel popular myths.

Evelyn said: "A lot of children think that sleep sobers you up.

"In fact, your body simply needs time to clean itself up whether you're asleep or not. And contrary to belief, alcohol does not heat you up - your temperature drops."

Evening Times