Mal Fletcher comments

Let's remember that what one generation tolerates the next will usually treat as the norm. Young adults may be picking up their booze in supermarkets today; but they might get it from street vending machines tomorrow.

Treated well, alcohol is one of the pleasures of life. Failing to respect its chemical power, though, can lead to irreparable damage to various organs of the body, including the liver, the kidneys and the brain.

Liver disease alone has a long list of side-effects, ranging from extreme fatigue, painful joints, pain and bloating in the stomach, diarrhoea and memory loss.

Consistent alcohol abuse can lead to coma and death. And, of course, there's the damage people often do to their families and communities when under the influence of excess alcohol.

For all sorts of reasons, we need to stop pretending that alcohol is a harmless drug requiring very little in the way of self-control - or, where our kids are concerned, parental involvement and discipline.

We need to see abuse as a societal problem, rather than a problem for isolated individuals or even a specific generation.

What the NHS figures indicate is not just a bored, over-hyped or spoilt young generation, but a collective societal attitude to alcohol which is a little too lax, a little too careless.