English booze shocker: 3-year-old treated for alcoholism

(CBS/AP) Talk about underage drinking.

Authorities in England say a 3-year-old there was recently treated for alcoholism. The unnamed child had been given alcohol regularly, a trust that runs three hospitals in central England confirmed on Tuesday.

The case highlights a new low in Britain's struggle to control a binge-drinking culture. which has seen alcohol-related deaths double in the past two decades.

Of course, England isn't the only country to struggle with an underage drinking problem.

In the U.S., alcohol is the most commonly abused drug. And while drinking by people under age 21 is illegal, boys and girls 12 to 20 years of age drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Underage drinking is no joke. It causes all sorts of health problems, from changes in brain development to higher rates of physical and sexual assault and homicide and suicide.