The Armadale experiment may yet go down in history as a turning point in Scotland's battle with booze. In any event, it will be difficult to ignore the statistics from the West Lothian town where, for the past six weeks, no-one under 21 has been able to buy alcohol from off-licences between 5pm and 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. As the pilot period draws to a close, the interim report shows the number of calls to the police reporting assaults or vandalism by youths has more than halved.

The Armadale experiment may yet go down in history as a turning point in Scotland's battle with booze. In any event, it will be difficult to ignore the statistics from the West Lothian town where, for the past six weeks, no-one under 21 has been able to buy alcohol from off-licences between 5pm and 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. As the pilot period draws to a close, the interim report shows the number of calls to the police reporting assaults or vandalism by youths has more than halved.

The caveat, of course, is that this experiment was on a small scale, but when it was extended to the neighbouring villages of Blackridge and Westfield, they showed similar results. This follows the shocking statistics earlier this week that more than 100 children a week are treated for alcohol-related problems in Scottish hospitals. On average they had drunk 13 units, or six pints, in the 24 hours before they needed treatment. It is particularly alarming that one in 10 had previous incidents with alcohol recorded in their past medical history, suggesting that intoxication or alcohol-related accidents were not merely the result of experimentation, but indicative of a pattern.

There is no reason why Armadale and its neighbouring villages should be significantly different from the rest of the country, but one factor there is said to be that the schools close at noon on Fridays, resulting in boredom. It is good news, therefore, that the council is considering free swimming for youngsters on Friday afternoons, but that should be part of a coherent, wider strategy which encourages a positive lifestyle as well as taking steps to prevent underage drinking. Medical staff, the police and the general public are all unhappy about the damage to health and the general mayhem resulting from the binge-drinking culture among young people. The growing evidence that this is creeping into a younger age-group can no longer be ignored.

The Scottish Government's consultation on its strategy on alcohol is to be launched in the next few weeks. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has already proposed tougher fines for parents of children found suffering from the effects of alcohol and many people will favour stricter enforcement of the law, so that shops selling alcohol to under-18s will lose their licences. Raising the minimum age is likely to be part of the debate and the initiative in Armadale would appear to confirm that young adults over 18 buying alcohol for younger teenagers is a significant part of the problem. The West Lothian solution should at least be extended to other parts of the country on a trial basis to allow policy-makers to consider whether it should be part of the strategy against alcohol abuse.