Alcohol expert fears for Bay youth | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

The death of Auckland teenager James Webster last weekend has sparked concerns  among the community that the tragedy could be repeated. Genevieve Helliwell looks at the teen binge-drinking culture in the Bay.

AN ALCOHOL expert is outraged at the availability of alcohol for youth and fears a young person in the Bay of Plenty will soon pay the ultimate price.

Mount Maunganui GP and head of the Tauranga branch of the Alcohol Action Group Dr Tony Farrell believes it is only a matter of time before a young person in the Bay would also pay the ultimate sacrifice, following the death of Auckland teenager James Webster last Saturday night.

He said  it was very likely a similar occurrence could happen here.

"I'm surprised that someone has not yet perished because it's alarming how many young people often drink more than a potential lethal dose and that concerns me greatly," he said.

He said if young people regularly drank high amounts of alcohol, they ran the risk of suffering from gastric issues, depression and anxiety attacks, as well as physical illnesses such as brain damage and even death.

According to Dr Farrell, excessive drinking is part of the "youth culture" where people binge drink (more than six standard drinks in one sitting) three to four times a week.

"I'm getting reports of young people drinking 24-30 drinks at one time and this is very dangerous," he said.

"This amount of alcohol could render a person unconscious, they could vomit then choke on their vomit, or stop breathing because their brain functions stop working. 

"Alcohol anaesthetises people and your respiratory drive can stop because you can't support your airway then it becomes blocked and you can become asphyxiated."

Dr Farrell said this was a serious problem that many people underestimated.

"Saying it's a shocking problem is an understatement because it's very possible in our society," he said.

In the past five years, Dr Farrell noticed an increasing trend in the number of youth being treated for alcohol-related ailments - the youngest was a 13-year-old girl.

He said this increasing trend could be put down to availability of alcohol but there was a way to help fix the problem.

"There really is quite clear evidence what can be done to help this problem and there are five steps," he said.

"These are to increase the drinking age, reduce the availability of alcohol, increase the price of alcohol, stop advertising of alcohol and increase drink-driving surveillance."

Dr Farrell said if these five steps were implemented, the problem of youth drinking would significantly decrease.

"Young people don't react to hard words, they need proper education about ways to keep safe around alcohol," he said.