Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

A Third of Victorians regularly indulge in risky binge drinking, an alarming snapshot of the state's drinking habits shows.

Males often indulge in risky binge drinking, downing more than seven standard drinks at a sitting.

And females aren't much better, putting away five or more standard drinks - more than 50g of pure alcohol - in a session.

The new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures put one third of Victorians at short-term risk of alcohol abuse because of their binge drinking.

In addition, one in 10 Victorians are deemed to be at long-term risk by drinking more than 29 standard drinks a week (for men) or more than 15 standard drinks a week (for women).

As the silly season begins, marked by the AFL Grand Final and the Spring Racing Carnival, VicHealth has warned that risky drinking is marked not only by how often you drink but by how much you regularly drink in one sitting.

"Most Victorians drink in moderation most of the time, but many go overboard occasionally - and that's when most of the damage is done," VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper said.

"It's time to stop making excuses and start to take some serious steps towards changing our drinking culture."

The figures show one in 10 Victorians drink daily, nearly half drink weekly, a third drink less than weekly, one in 20 are former drinkers, and nearly one in 10 don't ever drink.

And Mr Harper said Australians continued to believe myths about how to minimise the effects of alcohol.

"Cold showers, fresh air or hot coffee don't help you sober up," Mr Harper said. "Only time will remove alcohol from the system. It takes the body approximately one hour to eliminate the alcohol in one drink.

"As the old saying goes, 'Give a drunk a cup of coffee, and all you have is a wide awake drunk'."

He said none of the supposed hangover cures worked.

"Prevention is better than a cure," Mr Harper said.

"If you drink within a safe limit, you reduce the risk of a hangover."

The AIHW figures show that when it comes to long-term heavy drinking, Victorians are actually among Australia's more moderate drinkers: 9.1 per cent of Victorians drink at a risk or high risk of harm in the long term, compared with a national average of 10.3 per cent.

But when it comes to binge drinking, we don't do as well: 14.5 per cent of Victorians binge drink at least once a year, compared with the national average of 14.2 per cent.

However, we're not apathetic about the problem. When compared with the national average, Victorians report more support for various alcohol policy reforms, including:

Stricter laws against serving the drunk (83.4 per cent).

Strict monitoring of late-night licensed premises (77 per cent).

Limiting TV advertising until after 9.30pm (72.5 per cent).

Increasing the size of standard drink labels on alcohol containers (67.0 per cent).

Restricting late-night alcohol trading (59.1 per cent).

Reducing trading hours for pubs and clubs (41.4 per cent).

Increasing alcohol taxes to pay for health and education and for the treatment of alcohol-related problems (41.4 per cent).

Herald Sun