Boy, 13, suffers drink poisoning

Alcohol groups are seeing more and more young people drinking

Alcohol experts have warned that a 13-year-old could have died after drinking so much he had to be taken to hospital.

The boy was discovered being violently sick in the Whitfield area of Dundee on Saturday night.

A child concern report will be issued because he was not being supervised.

One alcohol worker said she was "saddened but not surprised" by the incident as drinkers had been getting younger and younger.

Frankie Claridge, from Tayside Council on Alcohol, said: "It may not be a lot of young people that are being taken to accident and emergency, but as a society one person is one person too many at that age.

"Your 10, 12, 13-year-olds - if they get hooked into a habit of heavy drinking at that age then at the age of 20 they will be admitted to hospital for all sorts of alcohol-related diseases and that's very concerning.

We're never going to stop underage drinking, never, but it's a duty for every human being to take responsibility Frankie Claridge Tayside Council on Alcohol

Ms Claridge wants to see the price of alcohol increased and people employed to go into primary schools to educate children about the dangers of drinking.

She also believes parents should do more.

"As adults we're not very good mentors, we're not very good role models, we're not very good teachers," Ms Claridge said.

"Young children at the age of five, and there has been research done, they know that mummy's juice and daddy's juice is different and it makes them act differently.

"Then at the age of 10, 12, 13, they think, 'let's get out and try some of this stuff' and it's very, very available for them too and it's extremely cheap.

"We're never going to stop underage drinking, never, but it's a duty for every human being to take responsibility for making sure that information is given to young people about what it can do them and how to respect the stuff."

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