Teenage drinkers are fewer but they’re downing more in a session

THERE might be less of them, but our Aussie teens that are still binge-drinking are knocking back more than ever before.

One in five teens has reported blacking out after a drinking binge.

AUSTRALIAN teenagers are knocking back an average of 13 alcoholic drinks per session with one in five experiencing blackouts, a report says.

New research from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre also revealed almost half of the country’s psychostimulant drug users reported mental health problems and one in five had taken unknown drugs.

National Drug Research Institute research fellow Tina Lam said while there was an overall downward trend in young people drinking, those who did were drinking much larger quantities.

The survey of 3500 of the heaviest drinking teens aged 14-19 found they were drinking a median of 13 standard drinks with males knocking back 15 beverages and females consuming 11.

“Slowly more and more young people are choosing not to drink but the young ones who are still drinking are drinking higher amounts,” Dr Lam said.

“We’re really concerned about the harms associated with this drinking … which can include blackouts, the risk of injury, vomiting, regretted sexual behaviour and regretted social behaviours such as arguments.”

Australian National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre past director Richard Mattick said the study also found teens who were given alcohol by their parents, even small sips at home, were more likely to binge drink and show dependence on alcohol.

“What we did find is there is no benefit from parents giving alcohol to kids at home,” Prof Mattick said.

“They are not doing them any service.”

Prof Mattick said much of the increase in teen drinking could be linked to better tasting alcohol on the market such as sweet mixed drinks and ciders.

“The industry has done very well at changing the taste – alcohol used to be quite unpleasant and bitter,” he said.

“This (increase) may be because alcohol is more palatable now.”

The research, which will be released at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre symposium on Tuesday, will also look at drug trends in Australia.

“For those who regularly use ecstasy and those who inject (drugs), about half reported mental health problems which is of concern,” National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre Drug Policy Modelling Program director Alison Ritter said.

“Some of these people use drugs in order to manage depression or anxiety and some develop mental health issues as a result of drug use.”

Prof Ritter said while no drug user could ever be sure of what they were taking, one in five users had reported taking completely unknown substances.

“About 20 per cent of them said they deliberately took tablets of unknown contents,” she said.

“This could be extremely high-risk behaviour.

“We also know a quarter (of drug users) have experienced an adverse event and that classifies anything that is not wanted or expected such as vomiting, paranoia, tremors, nausea and an increased heart rate.”