Boy, 4, among 8,300 children in drink rehab

A Sunday Express investigation has revealed as many as 8,227 under-18s are in alcohol rehab. This is almost double the number five years ago, when the number of children in treatment programmes was 4,781.

The statistics, from the Government’s National Treatment Agency, reveal a devastating picture of ­Britain’s young people and children suffering from alcohol-related illness and self-destruction.

More than 300 of the children in programmes are 13 or under and many of these also have drug problems including cannabis, ecstasy and solvent abuse. One boy being treated for alcohol poisoning was only four years old.

Professor Neil McKeganey, a ­specialist in drug misuse at Glasgow University, said: “We are seeing increasing numbers of children and younger children with alcohol problems. Despite the robust rhetoric the Government seems completely unable to reduce rates of drinking in young people.”

Health professionals also blame poor role models such as Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Wayne Rooney, combined with the sheer availability of cheap booze for influencing vulnerable youngsters.

Professor Moira Plant, specialist in alcohol misuse at the University of the West of England, said: “They are not the role models you would want young children to have.”

Our investigation follows last week’s report by Government think tank Demos, which revealed British teenage girls are the worst binge drinkers in the western world. One in three girls aged 13 has been drunk at least twice, higher than the rate in any other developed country in Europe and north America.

Our inquiries found children not yet 10 are spending up to three years in treatment, ranging from residential rehabilitation to specialist counselling, while thousands of other youngsters are admitted to hospital each year for serious illnesses previously only seen in alcoholic adults.

We discovered hospital doctors in Hull have treated escalating numbers of drunk children. As many as 133 children had to be admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary with drink-related problems last year. One girl had alcohol withdrawal symptoms, two boys were diagnosed with alcoholism, and one boy treated for alcohol poisoning was four years old. In Swindon, eight primary school pupils were found drunk during a police operation involving 70 officers scouring the streets in search of vulnerable children.

In Wales, children as young as 10 are being referred to alcohol treatment services. In North Yorkshire, booze-fuelled anti-social behaviour is being targeted by police. In the Lothians, 14 children under 12 have been treated for alcohol abuse.

Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, warned that underage drinking was becoming a health timebomb.

“There is clearly a pattern emerging where children who do drink are drinking at an earlier age, and on the whole they are drinking more alcohol now than ever before,” he said.