Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol abuse among German youths more than sobering

Recent cases of teen and even child alcohol binges are indications of increasing abuse by younger Germans, as an alarming new report published by a German health insurance company reveals.

Just last week, three children aged 11, 12 and 13 were found passed out at a playground in the city of Paderborn after drinking vodka. The most recent cases of alcohol abuse by minors highlight a steady and alarming increase of binge drinking by German youths.

“We are observing with concern that people being brought into hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning are getting younger and younger. Even kids under the age of 15 are coming to hospitals completely drunk,” Norbert Klusen, CEO of the TK health insurance company, told this weekend’s edition of the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

TK statistics revealed that between 2007 and 2008 considerably more children under the age of 15 had been taken to hospital because of presumed alcohol poisoning. If extrapolated to all children in that age group this would add up to nearly 2,400 cases of alcohol abuse.

The figures for adolescents under the age of 18 were equally sobering.

A hand reaches to take an alcopop from a supermarket shelfBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: When consumed in excess, alcopops can be just as harmful as other alcoholic drinksAccording to TK’s figures, the number of hospitalizations rose by 174 to 1,765 year-on-year. If projected to all youths in that age bracket, this adds up to some 20,000 so-called “coma bingers.”

Klusen warned that supermarkets, gas stations and restaurant and pub owners had to take on more responsibility in checking the ages of their customers. He said it was a problem “if a bottle of beer, a glass of wine and a cigarette while watching television with the family were always present.”

The health expert of the Social Democrats (SPD), Karl Lauterbach, demanded in the same newspaper that alcohol sales laws be tightened. He said that all adolescents who want to purchase alcohol be required to show proper proof of age. Lauterbach also called for stiffer penalties for retailers and restaurant owners who illegally sell alcohol to minors.

source: Deutsche Welle

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Underage drinking problem highlighted

A few days before April, a young man, just 18 years old and a student at Waimea High School, was killed when he lost control of his pickup truck in the wee hours of a Sunday morning in Kekaha. His girlfriend was seriously injured and medivaced to O‘ahu for treatment. A press release from the….

Voices of hope for alcoholics

When I attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, I speak of my “experience, strength and hope.” As an alcoholic in recovery, I carry that message to others as part of the 12-step program I work in AA. This week, I listened to other voices, both younger and older, carry the message, too, from as near as….

What Makes Drug Treatment Centers Effective?

Not all drug treatment centers are effective at treating all types of addictions. Some people require a special approach to drug treatment and will even attempt multiple drug treatment programs before finally finding one that truly works for them and their addiction. Sometimes, no matter how hard an individual ties, a drug treatment center may….

Al-Anon 12-Step Recovery Program: Love It Or Leave It

For those who don’t know or have never heard of Al-anon, it is a 12-step recovery program that is the counter-part to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step recovery program. It was initiated by Lois Wilson (the wife of Bill Wilson; one of the original founders of Alcoholics Anonymous) as a safe haven and support group for….

Charles Lieber, pioneer in alcoholism research

Dr. Charles S. Lieber, who overturned conventional wisdom by demonstrating that alcohol is a toxin that can damage the liver and that alcoholism is a disease that can be treated, died March 1 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 78 and had been battling stomach cancer. Before his work in the 1970s, researchers….