Objectives
In many countries across Europe, adolescents are drinking more frequently and in greater quantities than in the past *. Drinking to drunkenness (also known in some countries as 'binge drinking') is a problem among young people faced by several European countries.
This European Schools Alcohol Awareness Programme - Talk About Alcohol - has been developed by The Amsterdam Group in partnership with other European and national stakeholders. The specific objectives of the website are to:
- improve young people's understanding of alcohol, and its effect on the immature body
- increase knowledge and awareness of the risks associated with alcohol consumption by those who are under age
- raise awareness among young people of the laws restricting the consumption of alcohol, and why these exist
- raise awareness of abstinence as a choice in relation to alcohol.
Over the longer term the Talk About Alcohol programme, together with the efforts of many different people and organisations, should contribute to a sustainable change in behaviour by young people. Depending on the specific situation in the country, this might include: reducing the prevalence of 'binge drinking'; ensuring that alcohol is consumed in moderate and safe quantities; or delaying the onset of regular drinking behaviour among those who are under the legal drinking age.
[* Source: European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) study, 2003 report, p65]
