UK: Binge drinking among women doubles

UK: The number of girls and young women drinking to excess has risen dramatically in a decade, National Health Service (NHS) statistics released yesterday confirm.

The figures chart the rise of the "ladette" culture, which emerged in the 1990s. In 1993 only nine per cent of women aged 16 to 24 drank more than 21 units of alcohol a week, according to the Health Survey for England trend tables from the NHS Information Centre. By 2002, this had leapt to 21 per cent.

Prof Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the college's alcohol committee, said: "This situation will become worse rather than better unless we find ways of reversing the 'ladette' culture." Source.