Supermarkets should be banned from selling beer and other alcoholic drinks at a discount and the legal drinking age should be raised to 18, according to the regional health board chief in Thursday’s Metro.

Laurent de Vries says a minimum price for alcohol and higher drinking age would cut back on teenage alcohol abuse. His comments follow supermarket group C1000’s decision to offer three crates of beer for the price of two.
Coma
‘In the Netherlands, there is a lot of teenage alcohol abuse,’ a spokeswoman for the GGD told news agency ANP. ‘In addition, it is easy for youngsters to get hold of alcohol.’
Earlier this week, the senate passed legislation making it a criminal offence for the under-16s to be in possession of alcohol. While 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to drink beer and wine, you must be 18 or older to buy spirits.
Last year, the number of young teenagers taken to hospital because they had drunk so much alcohol they were unconscious soared by 37% last year to 68. On average, the teenagers are 15 years old and are unconscious for three hours. Twenty-seven children were just 13.