Tell us something we don't know...

Wertz

So it turns out that Irish teens (14-16) have the highest occurence of binge drinking in the 26 countries of the EU, Russia and the US.
Furthermore we also have the highest female rate for binge drinking and are well above the average for things like smoking, cannabis use, inhalants and mixing drink & drugs. This is all according to a report by ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs ).

Honestly this comes as little surprise to any of us, I'm sure, and polls can be vague and inaccurate at the best of times, but it should still be a source of major concern to anyone who's a parent or an older sibling. It should be of even more concern to the government and policy makers who have let this situation get as far as it has.

Now I'd been hearing about this on BBC R1 news bulletin headlines, throughout the day (the UK has the 2nd highest for almost everything, behind us) so I thought that RTÉ would have similar reports when I got in from work this evening (especially seeing as how we topped the poll).
But it turns out their "news" website is more concerned about bank takeovers and various tribunals than it is about such a damning report.


So is underage drinking and substance abuse so endemic in Irish society now as to be an item not worthy of news coverage?
Seems like we've accepted that that's just the way it is and want to simply ignore what is (and will become) a major social problem.

Here's a graph of how we "did" :rolleyes:



and links to the
ESPAD site ,
BBC's Report
and lastly the
RTÉ news frontpage.

Rabies

Oh well. Were they expecting that we drink in moderation?

90% of statistics are made up anyway

steveland?

g'wan the team...

so apparently only 12% of irish kids haven't drunk in the last 12 months?

Wertz

SteveD wrote:

g'wan the team...

so apparently only 12% of irish kids haven't drunk in the last 12 months?

Either that or they were just too blocked to remember it, when they were surveyed

Our man in Havana

Ireland drinks more tea per capitia than any other country in the world!

Lump

According to the News in England.... The Uk has the Higest number of binge drinkers.


John

Adam

Yeah but the english and irish have to fight over everything dont they?

Wertz

Lump wrote:

According to the News in England.... The Uk has the Higest number of binge drinkers.


John

BBC's own graph show's Ireland top for female binge drinking:

Tusky

I bet most of the 'adults' that moan about binge drinking did it themselfs. Its part of our growing up process ! Once its not done because of peer pressure I think its grand.

Wertz

Tusky wrote:

I bet most of the 'adults' that moan about binge drinking did it themselfs. Its part of our growing up process ! Once its not done because of peer pressure I think its grand.

I drank when I was a teen, sure, but it wasn't at the early ages that the kids are at it now, and it certainly wasn't in the amounts they seem to swallow now. None of my mates did either. Then again that was the late 80's, so maybe I'm behind the times.
Any evening of the w/e round where I live you see the usual blue-bag gangs headed for the back of the shops or wherever to drink their carry-outs; hours later you see em puking or fighting or all the other fun things binge drinking makes you do.
Drinking when you're young is a rite of passage; we can all recall our first drink, but it was never a f**king hobby like it seems to be now. Where will all these kids be 10-15 yrs down the line?

CuLT

I read this and this; "more women, easier, younger".

I feel bad inside ._.

maxheadroom

I remember reading somewhere that anything over 4 drinks (or that might even have been 4 units - just over 2.5 pints) in one sitting counts as binge drinking for statistical purposes.

Lump

That is correct. I am a binge drinker!

John

meditraitor

"New research shows that 58% of the drinking done by men in Ireland is binge drinking, the London Press Association reported. The study conducted for Ireland’s Health Promotion Unit further found that 48% of all men and 16% of women in Ireland binge drink at least once a week. Ireland is the highest of all European countries in terms of binge drinking. In the UK the percentage of men who binge drink is 40%, while in France it is 9%.
In addition, more problems, such as falls, unintentional sexand public order offences, were linked to drinkers in Ireland than any other European country. Irish Health Minister,"http://www.aim-digest.com/gateway/pages/binge/articles/ireland.htm

wtf is that, I want some

Blub2k4

Well at least we can win at something, that doesn't involve a doped up horse.

steveland?

unintentional sex

Like when you just fall on it/into it?

Dave

How do the government keep track of unintentional sex?

woosaysdan

unintentional sex

it slipped honest it did!!!

ixoy

In mmmyy dayyy, I never got involved in these shenanigans. I sat around with the old TeeVee and the old Amiga computer and I had fun. None of this alcohol abuse. 'Tis a terrible thing. Although apparently, if we do sit around playing games, that's also evil and wrong according to today's Indo...

Incidentally it seems I binge drinked last night. Oh well, I'm old I'm allowed. *goes to lie down*

Sleepy

No one else remember being passed the forms for surveys like this and answering that you did a gram of charlie a day just because it was anonymous and it seemed funny?

The_B_Man

Ireland, apparently is the only country in europe where alcoholism in on the increase. everywhere else, theres less and less every year.

Kingp35

in all honesty my friend, me and all of my mates were binge drinkers at 14 we dabbled in the world of canabis and all of us turned out fine. Everyone in college and doing great.

Nearly everyone in Ireland does this when they are young most of the people on here did and nearly all turn out fine. Irish people have always been binge drinkers so its not gonna change. IF its always been happenning and people turn out fine then why the big fuss over it now??

Blown way out of proportion IMO

Lump

Most other countries have gone down in alcoholism... that may be true. But what are the numbers of drub addiction/drug use in those countries. At least being an alcoholic is lawful.... any use of drugs is against the law

john

Blisterman

Well alcohol's worse than a lot of drugs.

seamus

Blisterman wrote:

Well alcohol's worse than a lot of drugs.

That's a handy throwaway statement. By which measure?
I'm more likely to be killed walking down the street than from doing heroin. Ergo, walking is worse than most drugs.

It's a bit of a fluff survey. We're close to the average on having drank in the last 12 months. Oh no :rolleyes:

I have trouble looking at results like this without seeing the actual survey. Inhalants? How many Irish teenagers included cigarettes? There's just far too little information there that could easily have been "derived" (read: mutated) from the original survey.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I'm more likely to be killed walking down the street than from doing heroin. Ergo, walking is worse than most drugs.

slightly more dangerous, perhaps

Wertz

Just to point out from my first post in this thread that I'm not "tsk-tsking" or playing the spolisport or old codger. I know we've always had the drink problem we have now in this country. I know we probably always will and that maybe it's not the "problem" other nations might think it is...

What my original post was getting at more was that RTÉ seemed to decide that such a report isn't even newsworthy whereas the UK media were all over it even though they came behind us (in the survey).
My point being that we seem to have lost interest in topics like this and are far more concerned about crap like bank takeovers et al.
Are we becoming jaded with "scaremongering" like this report?
Do we just want to get down the pub ourselves and forget that stuff like this is even a potential problem?
As already stated these surveys can be inaccurate and misleading but they do have some truth to them. No-one can say that alcohol/drug abuse in school-going kids ISN'T a problem regardless of how they turned out after doing it themselves.

simu

Wertz wrote:

Are we becoming jaded with "scaremongering" like this report?

Yes, I certainly am, anyway.

Kingp35

Wertz wrote:

What my original post was getting at more was that RTÉ seemed to decide that such a report isn't even newsworthy whereas the UK media were all over it even though they came behind us (in the survey).
My point being that we seem to have lost interest in topics like this and are far more concerned about crap like bank takeovers et al.
Are we becoming jaded with "scaremongering" like this report?
Do we just want to get down the pub ourselves and forget that stuff like this is even a potential problem?
As already stated these surveys can be inaccurate and misleading but they do have some truth to them. No-one can say that alcohol/drug abuse in school-going kids ISN'T a problem regardless of how they turned out after doing it themselves.

the reason is that we have heard it all before and know about it so no it isnt newsworthy anymore and also the fact that it has ALWAYS been like this has alot to do with it and yet in general the people of ireland are one of the nicest and successfull race of people you will meet.

And it is only a proble if you want it to be, IMO the drug problem should be dealt with but when it comes to drink its blown way outa proportion. We all did we all live to tell the tale.

I just want you to tell me exactly what the problem is in that what do you think will happen to these kids now that didnt happen to us when we did it??

I think nothing different will happen but interested to hear what you have to say

fragile

For the love of god would somebody please think of the parents, paying for all this teen binge drinking, at Irish prices :eek: oh wait, maybe thats the idea :mad:

Adam

Wertz wrote:

Do we just want to get down the pub ourselves and forget that stuff like this is even a potential problem?

Yes.

Wertz

Kingp35 wrote:

the reason is that we have heard it all before and know about it so no it isnt newsworthy anymore and also the fact that it has ALWAYS been like this has alot to do with it and yet in general the people of ireland are one of the nicest and successfull race of people you will meet.

And it is only a proble if you want it to be, IMO the drug problem should be dealt with but when it comes to drink its blown way outa proportion. We all did we all live to tell the tale.

I just want you to tell me exactly what the problem is in that what do you think will happen to these kids now that didnt happen to us when we did it??

I think nothing different will happen but interested to hear what you have to say

Well it's not so much what I think as what the "experts" in these things are trying to get across to us.
Usual stuff; more widespread alcoholism, more young single mothers(and fathers), more liver/heart/kidney problems to be dealt with by our already groaning health system, more drink/drug induced crime, more family break-up , reduced life expectancy/quality of life and all the other usual stuff.

But what do I know? I'm just some guy trying to get on with his life.
These experts could be wrong and everything could just work out the same as it always has, or they could be right and we could be headed for a breakdown in society in future years.
Honestly it falls in there with the icecaps melting and muslims taking over the world; there's probably not a lot we can do to stop it but simply ignoring it (whether you consider it a problem or not) doesn't mean it's all going to end up smelling of roses either.

I dunno, I posted this thinking it was an issue. The fact that so many consider it otherwise probably means I'm getting old...

Wertz

fade_to_grey wrote:

Yes.

Did I mention that it's your round ?

Adam

Seamus! *nods curtly at the barman*

simu

With all those surveys "now we've sometin' to tawk about"