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2008-12-17 08:52:07
By David Chazan
BBC News, Paris
Long considered a public problem in Britain, binge drinking is now on the rise
among young people in France.
Until a few years ago, many French people were convinced that their cafe
society and laissez-faire approach to alcohol made them immune to binge
drinking.
But times, and drinking habits, have changed. The government recognises the
problem and plans to raise the legal age for buying alcohol from 16 to 18 next
year.
In some parts of Paris, municipal authorities have already targeted teenage
drunkenness by declaring "dry areas" where drinking on the streets is banned at
night.
These measures mark a major shift in a society which used to take pride in
initiating children into the art of sipping wine with their parents from an
early age.
The consensus was that this approach bred a moderate, mature attitude to
alcohol.
A glass or two of wine at home over dinner, it used to be thought, protected
the French from the need to indulge in a British-style Saturday night booze-up
at the pub.
'Bad habit'
But these days it does not seem to work like that any more.
"Our societies resemble each other more and more, and binge drinking,
especially at weekends, has developed in recent years in France," says Patrick
Bloche, mayor of the 11th Arrondissement, or district, of Paris.
Mr Bloche has just initiated an extension of the "dry area" in his district.
"We have to fight this bad habit, this growing trend for some Parisians,
especially teenagers, to gather outdoors, in public, and drink for hours until
they're drunk," he explains.
The health ministry says the number of children under 15 admitted to hospital
for drunkenness has increased by 50% in the past four years.
The number of people under 24 treated in hospital in connection with alcohol
rose by the same percentage.
Dr Philippe Nuss, who treats people with alcohol-related problems at the St
Antoine hospital in Paris, says one factor in the growth of binge drinking is
that teenagers are now starting to drink at a younger age.
"They start drinking earlier because the family is less cohesive," he says.
"They used to be more strictly controlled by their parents but now they tend to
go out and start drinking in groups from the age of about 13 to 16."
In France, 16- and 17-year-olds are now allowed to buy alcohol of any kind in
shops, and they can order wine and beer, but not spirits, in cafes and
restaurants.
The government has proposed to raise the legal age for all alcohol to 18, but
some doubt whether this, or the introduction of dry areas, will be effective.
Opposition
Pierre, a 28-year-old post-graduate student who says he started drinking at 16,
says it is the wrong approach.
"If you ban drinking in one area, they'll just go somewhere else," he says.
"Even if you raise the legal age limit, teenagers will still find a way."
Pierre says adolescents need to be more aware of the dangers of alcohol, and
they need to keep busy.
"When I was 16, every weekend I was drunk with my friends because we didn't
have so many things to do and so it was funny to drink," he told me.
Despite changing attitudes to alcohol in France, the government's new, tougher
stance has run into some opposition.
Wine-makers in Bordeaux have organised demonstrations to protest against what
they see as a threat to their livelihoods at a time when the industry is
struggling.
Binge drinking continues to spread in France but the consumption of wine per
capita has fallen substantially over the last few decades.
Pierre says many French teenagers prefer hard liquor or beer because they
associate wine with their parents' generation.
"I never thought it would be a real problem," says Pierre of his own drinking.
"But now, I always need to drink, and that is a problem."