http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23269191-2862,00.html
ONE in six young Victorians have gone to school or work drunk, and almost one in eight aged 16-24 regularly drink-drive.
And according to a major report highlighting Australia's chronic youth binge-drinking culture, about 67,000 high school students have had amphetamines in the past year.
The latest findings from the Australian National Council on Drugs showed Australian families were under increasing stress from alcohol abuse, many struggling to cope with their kids' problem drinking.
Feeling ashamed, guilty, confused and isolated, many parents do not know where to get information about dealing with teenagers' binge drinking.
"Drug and alcohol use by young people has become normalised and is often seen as a rite of passage to adulthood," said council chairman Dr John Herron.
"Adolescents are less likely to drink and engage in binge drinking if parents actively disapprove."
In any given week:
168,000, or about one-10th, of 12-to-17-year-olds drink at levels where boys have more than seven drinks in a day and girls have more than five.
ONE in 10, or 31,325, 15-year-olds binge-drink weekly.
ONE in five, 16 and 17-year-olds binge-drink weekly.
451,000 children live in homes where one adult binges.
ONE in seven, or 237,000, high school students have used cannabis in the past year.
78,000 children live in houses where at least one adult uses cannabis daily.
27,000 live in homes where an adult uses methamphetamines monthly.
The report found youth binge drinking was Australian families' biggest substance misuse problem, often creating financial and emotional trauma for family members.
"Evidence suggests sibling drug use may increase the likelihood of initial use by another child," the report found.
The council, a Federal Government advisory body formed in 2006, called for intensive support and intervention programs for the families of young problem drinkers.
"Funding bodies are short-sighted if they do not provide for this broader focus as it can alleviate significant stress and reduce other problems in the community, beyond just the person with the problematic alcohol or drug use," council member Prof Margaret Hamilton said.
"We simply cannot underestimate the harms that occur for all family members, including siblings, when a young person is in trouble with alcohol or drugs."
Drug and alcohol counsellor Brian Cox, who runs the non-profit Melbourne Alcohol Recovery Centre, said calls from distraught parents of teen binge drinkers had risen by about 50 per cent in the past 12 months.
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