First, why do young people drink? More importantly, from the point of view of harm, why do young people get drunk? Because most of the problems related to young people's drinking are from intoxication, not just from taking a sip or one drink.

Though all of us were teenagers once, and thus know something about the experience of being young, formal empirical knowledge about what impels children and teenagers to get drunk, and what meaning it holds for them, is rather limited. The experience of intoxication is eventually spread widely enough among teenagers that it has to be seen and interpreted not only in pathological but also in normalizing terms -- as part of the process of growing up.

In this framing, adolescence is seen as a period of experimentation and identity formation. Part of this developmental process includes seeking new sensations and taking at least some risks, with a particular focus on behaviours which are supposed to be for adults and thus serve as markers of adulthood. Thus adolescents learn about and experiment with new behaviours as various as sexuality and driving an automobile, including experimenting near or at the edge of the various dangers that may accompany these "adult" behaviours. Motives for experimenting with drinking and intoxication -- as also with other psychoactive substances -- vary. Motives which are commonly mentioned in the literature include rebellion, sensation-seeking, providing pleasure, alleviating boredom, satisfying curiosity, facilitating social bonding, attaining peer status, or as an escape/coping mechanism (Amos et al., 1997; Arnett, 1992; Banwell & Young, 1993; Franzkowiak, 1987; Igra & Irwin, 1996; Wilks, 1992). In terms of some of these motivations, drinking is thus a functional behaviour.

However, drinking is also a behaviour heavily weighted with symbolic significance. Youthful drinking is often a performance in front of an audience of associates and others, staking a claim to a valued identity, and expressing solidarity in a group or marking off social boundaries (Room, 1994). Choices about drinking B which type of beverage and which brand-name, as well as when and how much to drink --- are potent ways of identifying with a cultural style (Polhemus, 1994), of marking a symbolic distinction from those who are outside the circle or "too young", and of performing for an audience of other youth

The prevention literature pays too little attention to the collective and symbolic aspects of drinking and intoxication. Drinking is predominantly done in groups, and is often incidental to another social activity, such as dancing, clubbing, partying, or following a particular style of music (Thornton, 1995). "Peer influence" is often more a matter of the attraction of a particular social group for the teenager than it is a matter of pressure from anyone specifically to drink or become intoxicated.

During the slow transition into adulthood, then, drinking at all and drinking to intoxication can symbolize freedom and autonomy, providing youth with a seemingly adult status (Jessor, 1992; Jessor & Jessor, 1977). Positive lifestyle advertisements and sponsorships contribute to general favourable associations and expectancies (Wyllie et al., 1998b). Messages about not drinking "until you are old enough" have a double edge, reinforcing the status of drinking or smoking as claims on adult status. In the context of the social acceptance of drinking among adults, youth see messages that they should behave differently as hypocritical and, thus, are likely to reject them (D=Emidio-Caston & Brown, 1998).

Though it may be normative, youthful drinking nevertheless carries with it considerable social, health and casualty problems. These may include a start on patterns which lead later in life to alcohol dependence or to chronic physical and mental health problems. But foremost among the problems are the relatively immediate consequences, particularly, as we have noted, adverse consequences of intoxication. These include substantial numbers of deaths and permanent disabilities among youth due to accidents or violence related to drinking. In the WHO estimates of the global burden of disease and disability, alcohol accounts for 5.1% of the years of life prematurely lost and 15.6% of the burden of disability (years lived with disability) in the Established Market Economies (Murray and Lopez, 1996:313). Much of this devastation results from casualties among youth. Though we do not have equivalent estimates of the burden in these areas, youthful intoxication can also leave behind a trail of personal suffering and interpersonal and social problems.