Objectives

In the UK, adolescents are drinking more frequently and in greater quantities than in the past *. Drinking to drunkenness (also known as 'binge drinking') is a problem among young people.

Talk About Alcohol has been developed by EdComs, an educational consultancy, at the request of the European Forum for Responsible Drinking 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 the choice not to drink 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. 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]