GIRLS as young as 13 are undergoing rehab for alcohol addiction.
Esther Foundation executive director Patricia Lavater, a former Australian of the Year finalist, said the clientele at her drug and alcohol recovery program had changed in the past five years from drug users in their 20s to girls with alcohol problems aged just 13.
She said the issue had become so bad that primary school-aged children would soon have to be targeted by strategies promoting responsible drinking.
"The girls are getting younger, they are coming in at 13 or 14 and have been drinking for a couple of years already," Ms Lavater said.
"I don't find it shocking, I find it tragic; it mirrors where our society is heading. I don't really understand why they think it's getting better because we have parents ringing us every day with stories of their children drinking.
"Eventually we will need to start going out to primary schools if we want to prevent this.
"We would have to go back to eight and nine-year-olds and start working with them."
One girl in treatment at the foundation, Amber, told STM Magazine her first taste of alcohol was at age six when a whole bottle of Bacardi Cruiser was given to her by an adult.
Her heavy drinking started in year 7, fuelled by incessant bullying because of her dark Mauritian skin.
Her drinking also led to cannabis abuse and sometimes she would finish a whole bottle of vodka on her own.
Courtesy:perthnow.com.au
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