Adolescent alcohol problems: whose responsibility is it anyway?

Experimentation with alcohol is a normal part of teenage psychosocial development. Society's approach to adolescent alcohol consumption is ambiguous and sends young people mixed messages. Epidemiological data demonstrate disturbing trends in patterns of alcohol use by young people, including widespread early-onset, regular binge drinking. The acute harms of excess adolescent alcohol consumption are well documented, and data on long-term harms are now also emerging. As alcohol is an integral part of our culture, we urgently need to manage teenage drinking appropriately and comprehensively, and to guide young people to a "healthy norm" for adolescent alcohol consumption.