PARENTS in Blackburn with Darwen are being warned against giving their teenage children booze.

A new campaign, both online and printed posters, was this week launched to highlight the dangers of parents giving alcohol to 13 to 16-year-olds.

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It follows medical evidence drinking underage can affect development and encourage heavier drinking later.

The campaign urges parents to ‘Stop the Supply’ of alcohol to children aged 13 to 16, highlighting various ways in which it can damage a young person’s future.

It follows up 2014’s ‘Totally Wasted’ campaign highlighting to teenagers how alcohol can ruin more than ruin your profile but also ‘mess with your life’. In designing ‘Stop The Supply’, parents from across Blackburn with Darwen were spoken to, to gauge their awareness attitudes towards giving alcohol to their children at a young age.

These conversations helped to inform the campaign’s visuals and typical circumstances when alcohol might be given by parents to their children.

The campaign was produced by the borough council in partnership with local substance misuse provider Inspire/GO2 and local design agency TPW.

Council health boss Mustafa Desai said: “We wanted to put together a campaign that would be influenced by and aimed at parents of 13 to 16 year olds to let them see that, if they are enabling their children to drink alcohol too early in life, it can really impact on their future .”

Mark Murray, from TPW, said: “’Stop the Supply’ is the message to parents because we found that’s how a lot of teenagers get alcohol.”