Experts have warned parents across Tasmania against allowing their teenage children to drink alcohol, after a survey by national health insurers of about 1200 adults conducted earlier this year, which revealed that over 50% of the parents think it is alright for 15-17 year olds to occasionally drink at home, while under parental supervision.

"The evidence seems to be in the opposite direction. The younger you start drinking at home, the more likely you are to run into trouble, particularly outside the home, so the two worlds are not really connected", said Ian Hickie, the Director of the Brain and Mind Institute in Sydney, who firmly believes that parents mostly are living under a myth that if they let their children drink a little at home, they would be able to "moderate their behavior with their peers".

The survey also revealed that the degree of people's acceptance of underage drinking of alcohol was closely linked their earnings. While about 63% of people earning over $100,000 thought it was alright to support supervised drinking, the number reduced to 48% in those who earned less than $70,000.

Professor Hickie is of the opinion that having the money to buy more alcohol actually results in increased usage.

According to new state laws introduced last months, the supply of alcohol to people under 18 is prohibited on private property without permission of their parent or guardian.