Young Italians and alcohol, dangerous love

Recently, Italian newspapers have reported two cases of very young people, aged 14 and 15, that required medical assistance after falling in an alcoholic coma. Unfortunately, these are not isolated cases.Italy is the land of wine and good drinking, so it's not strange seeing Italian enjoying a glass of wine or a finely prepared cocktail. But a recent report released by the Italian institute for statistics, ISTAT, painted a dire picture of the situation.

The great majority of Italians consume alcohol during meals or on social occasions, but over 8 and half millions of Italians drink on daily basis amounts of alcohol deemed dangerous for health. The numbers regarding young and very young drinkers are particularly harrowing. The 16.1% of Italians aged over 11 years have a drinking problem. Among the youngs aged between 11 to 15, both males and ( see linked article) females, 13.6% consume alcohol and some of those drink in excessive quantities. Even those who do not exceed, drink alcohol in an age critical for their development. In Italy the minimum age for drinking is 16, this means that we are seeing also a public order problem: someone is infringing the law, selling alcohol to minors.

Things aren't better among adults. Among the over-65, 43.5% of men and 10.6% of women consume way more alcohol than the daily recommended intake.

This increased consume of alcohol - not only wine, but also beer, cocktails, vodka, whisky - is responsible for many social and health problems.

Italians drinking habits are changing, especially among the younger generations. Excess drinking used to be a week-end problem. Now binge drinking happens during the whole week. Italians meet right after school or work and indulge in the ritual of aperitivo. For many, this means just light drinking, but for some it's the beginning of an evening of heavy drinking. Alcohol consumption begins as early as 5pm during week days and goes on until late at night.

According to a (see linked article) news press released from ISS, the Italian Public Health Service to Ansa, "The new problem drinkers were more likely to be from the north of Italy, have a high-school or even university education, and no money worries, at least for the moment." And added "14.4% of hospital admissions for excessive alcohol consumption regarded under-14s and 25.4% regarded 15-to-35-year-olds." A portrait much different from the typical problem drinker. In October, the ISS released a report that said one in three Italians aged 16-24 risks serious health problems because of the potentially dangerous way they drink.

Some consumer groups have called on the government to raise the legal drinking age from 16 to 18 following the alarming results of previous studies, but to many it's clear that this can't be a solution, since there already are massive violations of the legal drinking age law and people as young as 13 already has ways of purchasing alcohol.

Italians have their first contact with alcohol at about 12 and a half, two years earlier the European average. Often this happens within the family, during some kind of celebration. But considering this an entirely and solely Italian problem would be wrong: within Europe, both Anglosaxon and Scandinavian countries have been battling with the same issue for even longer than Italy and the numbers of young teenagers with a drinking problem are truly alarming all over the world.