SINGAPORE - Every weekend, she puts on her best party outfit and leaves the house with her make-up perfectly done. But when she returns home, Ann's eyeliner is smudged. Her lipstick has all but disappeared and her hair is dishevelled. Her dress is stained with spilled drinks and her vomit.
That's how the marketing executive, 23, returns from a night of revelry, which always involves binge drinking.
Binge drinking refers to excessive consumption of alcohol over a short time.
Binge drinking is categorised by the Health Ministry as having six or more drinks on a single occasion. All too often, binge drinkers like Ann can be seen passed out and sprawled on the ground at the end of a clubbing night.
Other nightclub patrons are concerned when they see the after effects.
"You have all these young girls, just lying there. Once, I had to tell one young woman's friends to try to cover her up because she was wearing too short a skirt. Another person was vomiting all over her long hair," says a resident of Robertson Quay, which is near the popular Zouk nightclub.
"Then there are young men sprawled all over, too drunk to even get home."
When approached for this story, a Zouk spokesman says that staff are alert for people who have had too much and will offer them water instead.
If you walk past the drinking outlets dotting the banks of the Singapore River or in the Marina Bay area after clubbing hours on a Friday, you will see party-goers who have passed out.
As Ann shockingly admits, it is her goal to get tanked. She hardly remembers what happens when she's out partying. It usually ends in the same way: Her passing out drunk outside the club.
Lawrence, 20, is in national service and requested that we don't use his full name to avoid trouble. He admits that he stays clean all week, then goes overboard on the one weekend night out.
So much so that he blacks out from the amount of alcohol consumed.
"This is just my way of letting off some steam. Everyone else gets wasted, so it's not fun when you're the only one left to take care of the others," says Lawrence, who says he has at least eight drinks each night he parties.
Ann's parents have tried to stop her from going out at night because of her drinking habits but she does not heed their advice.
"They can't really stop me from doing what I want to do," she says.
Ann is aware of the effects binge drinking can have on her health, but says: "I'm young, so I just want to enjoy my life first." She adds: "I'll stop partying so hard eventually. I still have control over what I do. "Besides, it's not like I'm addicted to alcohol."
1 per cent of Singaporeans aged between 18 and 29 drink regularly, according to a 2010 National Health Survey
16 per cent of these drinkers binge drink
12.2 per cent of women between the ages of 18 and 29 binge drink
2x The Institute of Mental Health, in a study released in March, found that those aged 18 to 34 are twice as likely to drink excessively compared with those in other age groups."
This issue has been reported in the past with even one episode of 'Get Real!' devoted to it. There was some MP or MOS involved with a site visit to the famous or infamous Clark Quay drunkards corner/bridge to boot.
Lessons for me are:
1. Since the alleged binge drunkards interviewed or featured in this report are above 21 years old, it is really their choice on how they want to treat their bodies, brains and over health. There is really nothing anyone should interfere with their independent choices. Having said that it is fair to say that if they ever get involved with 'drink driving', they will be severely dealt with and no mercy will be given as they are putting the lives of others at risks. This crime MUST be punished publicly and strictly.
2. Another question to ponder is: is it criminal to do NOTHING knowing that someone is going to ruin his or her life with this destructive binge drinking habit?
Can the laws be enacted such that if the person were found to have been drunk for the 3rd time, he or she will be haul to the court of laws and put under 'mandatory treatment'?
Also those who were sober MUST report the drunk to the patrolling police, failing which it is considered an offense of 'irresponsibly hiding/condoning binge drinking drunk'.
I wonder if such measures will be helpful?
3. It is unreasonable to try to reason with a binge drinking drunk for the 3rd time to say: 'Hey baby/boy, you are slowly but surely killing, or in their parlor 'wasting', yourself!'
Alas, maybe I have jumped the gun. Maybe we need to understand WHAT is the % of the 'young population' doing this? WHY do they do what they did? Is 'letting off steam that bad'? Is 'enjoying' life while young not ok?
Or maybe the older people like Ann's parents and me are just not 'in'!
That's how the marketing executive, 23, returns from a night of revelry, which always involves binge drinking.
Binge drinking refers to excessive consumption of alcohol over a short time.
Binge drinking is categorised by the Health Ministry as having six or more drinks on a single occasion. All too often, binge drinkers like Ann can be seen passed out and sprawled on the ground at the end of a clubbing night.
Other nightclub patrons are concerned when they see the after effects.
"You have all these young girls, just lying there. Once, I had to tell one young woman's friends to try to cover her up because she was wearing too short a skirt. Another person was vomiting all over her long hair," says a resident of Robertson Quay, which is near the popular Zouk nightclub.
"Then there are young men sprawled all over, too drunk to even get home."
When approached for this story, a Zouk spokesman says that staff are alert for people who have had too much and will offer them water instead.
If you walk past the drinking outlets dotting the banks of the Singapore River or in the Marina Bay area after clubbing hours on a Friday, you will see party-goers who have passed out.
As Ann shockingly admits, it is her goal to get tanked. She hardly remembers what happens when she's out partying. It usually ends in the same way: Her passing out drunk outside the club.
Lawrence, 20, is in national service and requested that we don't use his full name to avoid trouble. He admits that he stays clean all week, then goes overboard on the one weekend night out.
So much so that he blacks out from the amount of alcohol consumed.
"This is just my way of letting off some steam. Everyone else gets wasted, so it's not fun when you're the only one left to take care of the others," says Lawrence, who says he has at least eight drinks each night he parties.
Ann's parents have tried to stop her from going out at night because of her drinking habits but she does not heed their advice.
"They can't really stop me from doing what I want to do," she says.
Ann is aware of the effects binge drinking can have on her health, but says: "I'm young, so I just want to enjoy my life first." She adds: "I'll stop partying so hard eventually. I still have control over what I do. "Besides, it's not like I'm addicted to alcohol."
1 per cent of Singaporeans aged between 18 and 29 drink regularly, according to a 2010 National Health Survey
16 per cent of these drinkers binge drink
12.2 per cent of women between the ages of 18 and 29 binge drink
2x The Institute of Mental Health, in a study released in March, found that those aged 18 to 34 are twice as likely to drink excessively compared with those in other age groups."
This issue has been reported in the past with even one episode of 'Get Real!' devoted to it. There was some MP or MOS involved with a site visit to the famous or infamous Clark Quay drunkards corner/bridge to boot.
Lessons for me are:
1. Since the alleged binge drunkards interviewed or featured in this report are above 21 years old, it is really their choice on how they want to treat their bodies, brains and over health. There is really nothing anyone should interfere with their independent choices. Having said that it is fair to say that if they ever get involved with 'drink driving', they will be severely dealt with and no mercy will be given as they are putting the lives of others at risks. This crime MUST be punished publicly and strictly.
2. Another question to ponder is: is it criminal to do NOTHING knowing that someone is going to ruin his or her life with this destructive binge drinking habit?
Can the laws be enacted such that if the person were found to have been drunk for the 3rd time, he or she will be haul to the court of laws and put under 'mandatory treatment'?
Also those who were sober MUST report the drunk to the patrolling police, failing which it is considered an offense of 'irresponsibly hiding/condoning binge drinking drunk'.
I wonder if such measures will be helpful?
3. It is unreasonable to try to reason with a binge drinking drunk for the 3rd time to say: 'Hey baby/boy, you are slowly but surely killing, or in their parlor 'wasting', yourself!'
Alas, maybe I have jumped the gun. Maybe we need to understand WHAT is the % of the 'young population' doing this? WHY do they do what they did? Is 'letting off steam that bad'? Is 'enjoying' life while young not ok?
Or maybe the older people like Ann's parents and me are just not 'in'!
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