Drunk 10-year-olds have been treated in NSW hospital emergency departments in the past year, Health Minister Reba Meagher said today as she launched a new alcohol awareness campaign.
Ms Meagher said health department figures also revealed 140 people aged under 19 were treated in the state's public hospital emergency departments as a result of excess alcohol consumption.
"I am disturbed so many young young people are presenting to our emergency departments with diagnoses such as alcohol intoxication, alcohol poisoning and dependence," Ms Meagher said.
"These figures should ring alarm bells for everyone in the community."
Ms Meagher said a new three-pronged alcohol awareness campaign would be rolled out from next month.
It will include advertisements targeting young people and those aged over 30, and also pocket guides for parents.
The ad targeting young people urges them to "Be part of it, not out of it", and shows a young woman slumped over a toilet as a party continues in the next room.
Ms Meagher also today announced a new clinic for cannabis users would be set up in Lismore, in northern NSW.
Similar clinics were already operating in western and southern Sydney, Orange and also on the Central Coast.
"An independent evaluation has confirmed clinics are working and are having a positive impact, with 50 per cent of patients giving up cannabis," she said.
