13 per cent engage in binge drinking

Thirteen per cent of University students binge drink regularly and more than a quarter do so occasionally, according to a study on their health.

Although the majority of respondents never drive when they drink heavily, almost eight per cent frequently do so under the influence of alcohol, having had at least five drinks, the 2009 Healthy Students Healthy Lives report shows.

The alcohol limit in Malta, the UK and Ireland is 80mg/ml, typically reached after three units of alcohol, or two glasses of wine and anything above that meant the risks were more than double, Lyndsay Wilson, a Scottish neuropsychologist from the University of Stirling, pointed out.

"Driving becomes a suicide mission with 100-149mg/ml," he said, referring to the findings of the report by psychology lecturer Carmel Cefai and statistics lecturer Liberato Camilleri.

It shows that more than 38 per cent of those who consume alcohol have more than six alcoholic drinks when they socialise, 12 per cent of alcohol drinkers engage in heavy drinking at least twice weekly and 17 per cent once a week.

Over 17 per cent of the alcohol-drinking population said less stress would help them reduce their habit.

Prof. Wilson was speaking at a talk on Alcohol And Substance Use: Reducing The Harm at Mater Dei Hospital's Medical School Auditorium yesterday. It was organised by the KSU Health Policy Committee, the Malta Medical Students' Association and the European Centre for Educational Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health.

He said Malta was presenting similar patterns in alcohol consumption to the UK and northern Europe, where it was a major problem, particularly in terms of binge drinking among youths.

The situation may not be as clearly established as in the UK but Malta was showing the beginnings, he said. Local adolescents were drinking to get drunk to a similar degree.

Prof. Lyndsay defined binge drinking as more than twice the safe alcohol levels, which are four and three units daily for men and women respectively, a unit being equivalent to half a pint of beer.

The consequences in the UK were violence in the streets for men and sexual problems for women, who were also often victims of crime, Prof. Lyndsay warned. In particular, problems included alcohol-related accidents and social disorder, he said.

In the UK, alcohol was the cause of 71 per cent of drivers killed on a Saturday night, 60 per cent of apparent suicide attempts, 54 per cent of fire fatalities and 42 per cent of serious head injuries, he said.

To counter these problems, the Scottish government was proposing increasing the cost of alcohol, which was becoming cheaper, and banning special offers, as well as raising the minimum age for the purchase of alcohol to 21.

It was also proposing substance misuse education in schools and community action to tackle violence as well as the introduction of random breath testing, Prof. Lyndsay said.