Binge-Drinking

Binge-drinking is a major problem in modern day Britain. We have grown accustomed to our city centres being over-run with young people pissed off their faces every weekend (I'm one of them by the way!) and with seeing many of them bundled off into police vans to spend the night in a cell.

Why does Britain have this problem of going out with the intention of getting as bladdered as possible? "Because it's fun."

It is fun, that's why we do it. We love the idea of going for a night on the town with a group of close friends, everyone having a drink and making fools of themselves, having all those drunken photographs posted on Facebook.com the very next morning and having everyone comment on how pissed you all were and what a great night it was.

There's nothing wrong with that at all - it's only to be expected of us students, right? But when people start getting violent because of the unimaginable amount of alcohol they have consumed, or when women get so drunk that a complete stranger takes advantage of them, or even seizes the opportunity to date-rape them, that's when things start to get a little out of control, to say the least.

I believe that if we were more like other European countries such as France, Spain or Portugal, then we wouldn't have a binge-drinking culture. I have a Portugese friend who I've known for many years and she told me about how in Portugal children are introduced to alcohol from a very young age. My friend was drinking red wine with her supper since the age of 6. By doing this, her parents removed the 'mystery' about alcohol and taught her how she could enjoy alcohol in moderation, so that when she grew older she wouldn't feel the need to rebel and go out on massive drinking sessions.

Yet, in Britain we use alcohol not only as a social thing, but to "drown our sorrows". It is a depressant and always makes you feel ten times worse afterwards. I've lost count of the times when I've woken up in the morning to what feels like a little angry man with a hammer inside my head...and every time I utter the words "I'm never drinking again", we've all been there but we continue to go out and do the same thing again. Is it really worth it? Is it worth liver and kidney damage? Is it worth putting your life at risk when you get so drunk you can't walk or even remember your own name? Here is a link to a website that can inform you in more detail of the dangers of binge-drinking http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1930417.stm

Here are some statistics on female binge-drinking http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1704167.stm