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Binge Drinking

Closer campaigns against binge drinking

Tuesday 11 March 2008


Closer has launched our Binge Drinking Campaign, which aims to inform you about the dangers of excessive drinking and get you to share your stories and comments on the issue.

Binge drinking is one of the greatest problems facing UK society today and we seem to be one of the few countries with such an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

The facts behind binge drinking

There are shockingly few reports about the cost of binge drinking in the UK, to society and the economy. A report in 2003 gave these ‘conservative’ estimates:

There are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence a year.

Around 40% of A&E admissions are alcohol-related. Between midnight and 5am that figure rises to 70%.

Alcohol-related accidents and illnesses land around 150,000 people in hospital each year.

Up to 1.3 million children are affected by parents with drink problems, the report said.

The annual cost to employers is estimated to be £6.4 billion while the cost to the NHS is in the region of £1.7bn.

17 million working days are lost to hangovers and drink-related illness each year.

One in three men and one in five women fail to drink sensibly (binge drinking)

In addition, alcohol-related problems are responsible for 22,000 premature deaths each year.


Bearing in mind this survey was undertaken five years ago and the problems are widely considered to have escalated, something has to be done.



Closer Campaign


This week, Closer launches a campaign to tackle the problem. We want to see:

    * Police crackdowns and prosecutions on drunk and disorderly offenders.

    * Health warnings on labels about the dangers of drinking too much and recommended daily allowances.

    * Better education about the effects of alcohol and binge drinking in schools.


Have you or your family been affected by teenage drinking? What do you want to see done to tackle it? Email your views to closer.letters@emap.com

Or write your thoughts below...

Click here to read our shocking report on Samantha Madgin, who was stabbed to death by a 15-year-old drunk on vodka and high on coke.



Recommended alcohol limits
Men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week
Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week
One unit of alcohol is half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine
Binge drinking is classed as consuming more than 10 units of alcohol in a single session for men and seven units for women

Posted by intothebleach

RE: Closer campaigns against binge drinking

As a Publican I take my responabilities on serving alcohol very seriously. I make sure that any of my Customers who seem to have had 'One to Many' are refused any more drink. They are given water and a Taxi is called. Females are not allowed to walk home on their own, I always ensure a Taxi has been booked for them.
I personally blame Supermarkets. They can Pile em high and sell em cheap without any come back. If I get caught serving somebody under 18 I run the risk of being shut down, losing my license and a spell in jail. Anybody can go in and buy alcohol for under 18's. Pubs can not advertise 'Happy Hours' and we cannot advertise cheap drink deals in fear that it will result in binge drinking. oth the local Police and Council take a very dim view on this and will push Licensees to stop these kind of sales. Supermarkets, however, can sell 2 x 24 cans of beer or alcopos for £16. That's just crazy. Recently one major Supermarket was selling cans of Lager at 22p per can.No pub can do this, infact I have had to put my prices up twice this year due to bad Crops last year and now the Budget. If the Government wants to stop binge drinking they need to tell the Supermarkets that their responsibilties are the same as any Pub in the country. If they continue on this path then Pubs will shut down and the Binge drinking will increase? Who is going to stop you drinking at home? No one.. because nobody cares if you get wasted at home.
The best solution is to stop Off sales in Supermarkets and go back to the Pubs. After all, you can only buy alcohol when the pub is open and at pub prices. Kids arent going to buy Alcopops at £2.50 a bottle are they?
Sam Hill
Newbrige Arms
N. Wales

Posted 12/03/2008 15:41:59

Posted by stefani6938

RE: Closer campaigns against binge drinking

problem drinking has been goin on for years, and no one did anythin about it, thats why it is so out of hand now.
these arent the only problems the uk has to face, and everyone is acting like its the main thing to sort out and all will be fine and dandy... sorry to disappoint people but i fink that country is beyond help now. keep tryin and i will support, but i as well as thousands of british have moved out of the country to get away from the troubles...

Posted 28/03/2008 14:20:46

Posted by kim85

RE: Closer campaigns against binge drinking

i think alot of this is taken out of context, i drink every other weekend, and i certainly drink more than the recommended limit. But i never have fights, abuse people or anything beyond drunk txting and calling!
It is about the person attitude in general. If they have a tendancy to fight or be abusive then the alcohol will heighten this, but they r like this anyway with or without it!!
Not all people who ''binge drink'' are a risk to society! they may be affecting their health,but thats up to the individual to sort out!
The real crack down should be on the use of drugs in society! i dont no many people now who can go out without having a line of coke 2 keep them going! when u go on a night out its not very often that u can go out and not be offered a this! until this is stopped then it can only get worse

Posted 29/03/2008 13:05:17

Posted by xkailzx

RE: Closer campaigns against binge drinking

Why is all the blame in the supermarkets and pub owners. What ever happened to people being blamed for their own actions! I myself am classed technically as a binge drinker because I only drink at the weekends. However I think if i drank everynight my boss might have something to say about it. So yeah okay I might have a few more than is good for me in one night however that is my decision and it is my body. I don't do it every night of the week! We need to turn into a culture where we are responsable for what we do. I as the above person do not cause any conflict with others whom I do not know and I myself am a young person. Why are we all punished for what a minority do??

Posted 22/04/2008 21:44:21

Posted by *lainey*

RE: Closer campaigns against binge drinking

It's the same as everything else in life - there's always one stupid bugger who ruins it for everyone else.

If there was a crack down on all the "stupid buggers" out there, it would certainly make for an easier, and undoubtedly, quieter life for the rest of us. Only hitch is, they've got to catch them first!

Posted 08/05/2008 19:14:24



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