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The demon drink still lives

AUSTRALIA has always been a nation of heavy drinkers, but a new study has finally attached a dollar value to our thirst for alcohol - about $80 out of a family's budget every week.

The research by Victorian drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre Odyssey House claims a family of four - two parents in their 40s, a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl - would spend an average of $4135 buying the equivalent of 37 litres of pure alcohol every year.

The consumption equals 883 stubbies of medium/full strength beer, 171 stubbies of low alcohol beer, 77 bottles of wine, 311 bottles of pre-mixed spirits, 8.4 casks of wine and 13.9 bottles of neat spirits.

The study's author, Odyssey CEO David Crosbie, said alcohol was not necessarily a problem if it was drunk at moderate levels but Australians had a dangerous habit of concentrated drinking bouts.

He said the safer habit of having a "quiet" drink or two, four times a week was still in the minority.

The research highlighted the role that alcohol played in people's lives, Mr Crosbie said.

"Alcohol has become a routine part of people's lives, people often shop for it as part of their weekly grocery shopping," he said.

Other trends to emerge from the study include:

• Drinkers imbibe more at home, with only 20 per cent of beer being drunk on licensed premises.

• Younger women, particularly professional women, are drinking an increasing amount of alcohol.

• Two-thirds of men's alcohol consumption is beer, while almost half of women's is wine.

• Teenagers are more likely to drink pre-mixed spirit drinks than the average Australian.

• Young women are more likely to drink "ready to drink" products than beer.

• Teenagers are spending more on alcohol.