AN Evening Telegraph investigation this week highlighted the devastating alcohol problem affecting East Lancashire's young people.

Our investigation found that 369 children, including more than 100 under 11, were taken to A&E departments in the last three years because they were acutely drunk and one in five of all admissions were aged 15 and under.

We visited Primet High School, Colne, to ask pupils what they thought about the problem.

OF THE six 13-year-olds we spoke to none said they had gone out and got drunk with their friends but they said they knew other people in their year drank regularly.

The three boys and three girls seemed well aware of the dangers of alcohol, but said they could understand why some felt compelled to drink at such an early age.

One said: "I see children drinking in the park and I think I could never do that'. It is not something I could ever see myself doing."

Another commented: "I have heard children in my year have gone out and got drunk. I have never personally. I have seen 17-year-old lads drinking on the street with people my age.

"If you are drinking one glass of wine at a wedding and someone is watching you that is OK, but not if you are going out every weekend, that is just wrong.

"A few people at school boast about drinking a lot, which I think is horrible.

"It is stupid they feel they have to tell us what they did because we don't want to know. I think they do it to try and get a reputation."

With drunkenness strongly linked to anti-social behaviour, the youngsters said they were wary of the consequences of boozing.

One said: "The next morning I think people who have gone out drinking might not realise what they have done, such as criminal damage, because they can't remember."

The pupils said young people did not see alcohol as unobtainable.

One said: "I have heard a couple of stories about where you can go and buy alcohol and some will wait outside until someone older comes and then asks them to buy it. I think they also get older brothers and sisters to buy it for them. The education we had at school has helped us a lot to make the right decisions."

On why their classmates were beginning to experiment with drink, one said: "You look at your parents as role models. If they are drinking and smoking you are going to want to be like that. Some are brought up in that world and can't help it.

"I think they do it because there is nothing to do.

"I don't think people should put pressure on their friends to drink. I would find other friends to talk to and hang around with."

One girl said: "If they asked you then you should just say I am going to my grandma's."

But a school mate said pupils should be forthright with their views on under-age boozing.

She said: "You have to be assertive. You have to say no' and have your own barriers and when people are trying to push you to do something, like drinking, you have to say I don't need to do this, it won't do anything for me'."

She went on: "They are so desperate for you to join in. I think it's because they want people to drink with."

Another boy added: "While you are under the influence, you might try something you would never try sober, such as smoking."

One of the girls said: "I think people who grow up and drink too much throw their lives away."

Year nine, when children are 13 and 14, is a crunch turning point for young people's attitudes to alcohol, said headteacher Janet Walsh.

At this age children take their first steps towards independence and this could mean experimenting with alcohol.

She said: "Year nine is an interesting one for us as young people start to establish their own identities and for some of them growing up means indulging in alcohol.

"We are aware that some children drink at evenings and it is important to discuss the issue with their parents.

"If children are regularly out and about drinking they are not going to come into school to learn.

"We are fairly confident those who do drink keep it to weekends."