IT is a horrifying to learn that each week three or four young teenagers are admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital unconscious from drinking alcohol.
Some are as young as 13, and A & E consultant Dr Chris Moulton says that there is a noticeable rise in the numbers of children coming in unconscious, or injured while drunk.
Although there have been no deaths yet -- from blockage of the airway while unconscious, for example -- Dr Moulton points out that they are regularly putting their lives at risk.
What is equally worrying is the lack of official recognition of child alcohol abuse and its results.
Not only is there an absence of any mechanism for collating relevant facts and figures, but there is a distinct lack of suitable support systems.
Only Project 360 appears to be directly tackling the situation locally. Bolton Council has recognised the problem and is including it in its future general alcohol strategy.
But, it looks like the adverse results of under-age drinking are already completely outstripping the limited resources available.
There is no doubt that parental influence -- or the lack of it -- must come into play here.
The amounts of pocket money we give our children, the time and interest we offer them, the role models we present are all major factors in how children behave.
Add to that daily peer pressure and the social habits of the time, particularly among pop luminaries who exert real power over the young, and you have a complex cocktail of influence that children readily absorb.
Youngsters, from pre-teens upwards, can be notoriously difficult when it comes to communication. They are not always good at articulating their feelings, especially to their parents.
Drink -- and drugs, of course -- may offer them a temporary way out of responsibility for the way they feel and act. A route to feeling better, quickly.
But, we must keep talking to our children, even when they are rude, unhelpful and lack respect. And the Government must recognise, right now, that there is a big problem here and tackle it with immediate policy and resources.
Without action, child alcohol abuse will simply spiral out of control. What then for the next generation?
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