FRENCH teenagers are adopting the British habit of binge-drinking, with a craze for alcopops among girls and pupils turning up drunk in class, according to a state report and accounts from teachers.

Until recently, France had prided itself on its civilised approach to drinking and viewed with incomprehension the excesses across the Channel and the notorious behaviour of some British tourists in Europe. But the British model was cited by the Interministerial Mission Against Drugs and Dependency when it sounded the alarm in its annual survey of 17-year-olds across France.

French teenagers are drinking on average less than before, but the number who said they had been drunk at least ten times in the last year went up from 6.6 per cent to 9.6 per cent, said the Government agency.

“Nearly one young person in two — 46 per cent — says that they drank more than five glasses of alcohol on a single occasion in the last 30 days: this type of consumption corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon notion of binge-drinking,” the report said.

French levels are still well below those of Britain and northern Europe, but drunkenness among the young is beginning to become a concern, say educators. “More and more kids are drinking strong alcohol and they have increasingly abusive conduct,” said Dr Audrey Schmidt, an alcoholism specialist at the Clermont Ferrand teaching hospital. “When you ask them about it, they are not aware that they have a problem. They have no idea of abuse and dependence. Usually, they are drawn into drinking with others because it’s fun and against the rules,” she told The Times.

A lycée at Montauban, in the southwest, said that teenagers were increasingly getting drunk during the week. Teachers are finding students inebriated in class. There are those who are either high and talking too much or “slumped on their desks, sleeping it off,” Laurence Pages, the school nurse, told Le Figaro. Mayors in several towns have imposed curfews on the young in city centres to curb rowdiness.

Julie, 16, who attends a north-central Paris lycée, said: “It’s true, everyone’s getting smashed more often, especially at weekends. The girls are boozing like the boys, though they prefer alcopops and wine while the boys are more into spirits.”

Antoine Lassarat, a 20-year-old Paris university student, said: “There are quite a lot of guys who are drinking a lot — to the point of vomiting. The girls usually just get happy. The boys drink Martini, La Manzana, Vodka-Apple. The girls tend to go for the alcopops.” The report said that beer and alcopops were the most popular drink for 17-year-olds, followed by spirits, sparkling wine, cocktails and wine. “The strong presence of premixed alcopops in this list suggests a close look at that these products and their marketing,” said the report. The pre-mixed products, largely British in origin, appeared in France in the mid-1990s and were withdrawn from the market in 1997 after a special tax was levied on them. They reappeared in 2002.

Most of the binge-boozing takes place at weekend parties, but teenagers also point to the ease with which they can order drinks in cafés and bars. Open all hours, French establishments are allowed to serve wine and beer to 16-year-olds and spirits to 18-year-olds.

OUT ON THE TOWN

Proportion of 16-year-olds binge drinking* three or more times in past month

28% Germany

27% Britain

13% Italy

16% Sweden

Source: European School Survey Project on Alcohol & Drugs, 2003

*Five drinks or more in a row