22% of 10th graders, and 26% of 12th graders report having had five or more drinks at least once in the past two weeks. The same survey also found that alcohol was considered somewhat easier to obtain than cigarettes for 8th and 10th graders, even though the minimum age to purchase alcohol is 21 in all 50 states, while for cigarettes it is 18. The following table represents the percentage of those age 12–20 who illegally binge drink in the United States. American Indians and First Nations Binge drinking is a common pattern among Native Americans in both Canada and the United States. Anastasia M. Shkilnyk, who conducted an observational study of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation of Northwestern Ontario in the late 1970s when they were demoralized by Ontario Minamata disease, has observed that heavy Native American drinkers may not be physiologically dependent on alcohol, but abuse it by engaging in binge drinking, a practice associated with child neglect, violence, and impoverishment. After binges during which entire families and their friends drink until they are unconscious and their funds are exhausted, they go about their business without drinking. Oceania Australia In 2004–2005, statistics from the National Health Survey<ref name=ABS2004>{{cite web|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/9C513A3DB275E740CA257A0100135A89?opendocument |title=Alcohol Consumption in Australia: A Snapshot, 2004–05 |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics |date=25 August 2006 |id=4832.0.55.001}}</ref> show that among the general population over 18, 88% of males and 60% of females engaged in binge drinking at least once in the past year, with 12% and 4%, respectively, doing so at least once a week. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, 49% of males and 21% of females did so at least once a week. At the time, the definition for "binge drinking" corresponded to 7 or more standard Australian drinks per occasion for males and 5 or more for females, roughly equivalent to (but slightly less than) the 5/4 (standard American) drinks definition. In March 2008, the Australian government earmarked A$53 million towards a campaign against binge drinking, citing two studies done in the past eight years which showed that binge drinking in Australia was at what Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called "epidemic levels". On June 15, the Australian Medical Association released new guidelines defining binge drinking as four standard Australian drinks a night. The last survey of drinking habits by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found there was an increase in drinking outside the home. In 1999, 34 percent of spending on