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We want stricter alcohol laws, say docs
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
According to the Beeb: "Doctors are calling for stricter alcohol laws in a bid to reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths. Over the last 15 years, alcohol deaths have more than doubled to over 8,000 a year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The British Medical Association conference is to debate calls for a ban on street drinking, and for the legal alcohol buying age to be raised to 21. The driving alcohol limit should also be cut, public health doctors say." Click here for more...
I'm never quite sure what to think when the BMA are having their annual conferences, but here goes. Firstly, I think that banning street drinking seems a largely cosmetic proposal. Aside from making a street look better for some, I fail to see what else it would do. Regarding the alcohol laws... I'd be in favour of pushing up the age limits on spirits and vodkas up to 21. These tend to be the most powerful alcoholic drinks. The problem is, enforcing the law is already a horrendously difficult job for retailers and bars, and they won't appreciate the extra pressures such a change would bring.
Reduce the driving alcohol limit? The EU is looking at trying to harmonise this policy across all member states. Britain's is one of the highest limits. I'd be all in favour of pushing that limit down. I find the Department of Transport's response to all this pathetically relaxed, but I would expect no better.
None of us are in doubt that deaths from alcohol, and also alcoholism is very worrying. But nobody seems to agree how to deal with it. What would you do? And what do you think of the BMA's suggestions?
I'm never quite sure what to think when the BMA are having their annual conferences, but here goes. Firstly, I think that banning street drinking seems a largely cosmetic proposal. Aside from making a street look better for some, I fail to see what else it would do. Regarding the alcohol laws... I'd be in favour of pushing up the age limits on spirits and vodkas up to 21. These tend to be the most powerful alcoholic drinks. The problem is, enforcing the law is already a horrendously difficult job for retailers and bars, and they won't appreciate the extra pressures such a change would bring.
Reduce the driving alcohol limit? The EU is looking at trying to harmonise this policy across all member states. Britain's is one of the highest limits. I'd be all in favour of pushing that limit down. I find the Department of Transport's response to all this pathetically relaxed, but I would expect no better.
None of us are in doubt that deaths from alcohol, and also alcoholism is very worrying. But nobody seems to agree how to deal with it. What would you do? And what do you think of the BMA's suggestions?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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Comments
Maybe encourage a greater range of (cheaper) non-alcoholic options in pubs and clubs. When a J2O or Pepsi costs the same amount as an alcoholic drink, no-one's gonna buy it. But then when a pub can serve 10 people and make £25 or serve 10 people are make £10, they're gonna encourage people to buy the first one. Discouraging promotions designed to make you drink more is another option, (cheap doubles etc.), but I'm not sure how you convince owners, and I'm not a fan of legislating how they run their business. Ultimately, it's the culture that needs to change, and that can't be done by law, or there would be no-one taking illegal drugs in Britain. I don't know how to do it, but I suspect increased working hours for Brits over Europeans is at least a factor. And I think that 24 hour drinking will help in the long term, but this "get it down" culture has been established over decades, so it won't change just like that.
Also anyone thought of banning smoking at the wheel? That's dangerous.
All cheap drinks promotions should be banned
All sports sponsorship should be stopped
I think there should be a complete ban on drinking and driving. It's hard to know if you are over the limit and too many people presume they are okay, when legally they possibly are not.
Could be difficult to implement though, I mean today I have drunk quite a bit of cough medicine, which contains 6% alcohol.
D'you think any of them would have an effect? You can't change attitude to drinking by making laws. All of those things are present in countries where alcohol isn't as much of a problem. And plus, I don't want us to lose Guinness adverts.
Nooo no no no no!!!
Not happy hour! (Although I don't know a pub locally that still does it!)
I know, I find it bizarre that people are wanting stricter legislation in a country that already has the highest rates of drug abuse despite them being illegal.
Its the very same reason - I want illegal drugs under strict control and the only way to do that is to make them legally sold.
The laws around alcohol are a farce, they dont in anyway control supply and the industry can actively encourage drinking - there are alcohol ad's before the watershed - how can you possibly say thats a good idea?
Just ban it outright. We obviously can't be trusted.
Do you want to respond reasonably to my proposals?
Why do we allow advertising for alcohol before the watershed?
Wouldn't limiting adverts til after the watershed just make it even more appealing to kids who, let's face it, all watch TV after the watershed (at least the ones that are likely to be drinking). I reckon Europe shows that the lesser the taboo surrounding it, the less young people want it.
Surely the whole point of advertising is to sell more product, selling alcohol to those under age surely isnt a good way forward.
Of course, and if we could import continental drinking paterns I'd be all for it, except we'd see a big rise in liver problems like the French.
I'm not suggesting anything which would greatly impact on most drinkers.
People seem to have a more responsible attitude all round. The night we arrived at our apartment (a lovely little flat in Barceloneta, overlooking the beach), it was the midsummer celebration. People out in the bars and on the beach until the early morning, drinking and setting off fireworks. We saw no fights, no aggro, hardly any police. How come the Spanish appear to be able to behave like adults more than the British can?
Well, it's not a bad idea. I've probably met at least 500 people since I started drinking underage who also drank underage. You went out with your friends on a Friday night and drank because it was what was socially commonplace, not because you seen an advert for alcohol pre-watershed. If that was the case, we'd all be drinking John Smiths, Southern Comfort and Smirnoff, not Mad Dog 20/20, Buckfast and the cheapest cider we could find.
Besides, the kids start drinking underage at what, 12 - 16? Since when did they stop watching TV at 9pm?
France prohibits the advertisement of alcohol to the extent that spraying champagne after a Grand Prix is not allowed, and they don't have the booze culture.
That's completely specious reasoning, though. The problem lies in what the common social attitudes are towards the subject in question. Take a look at illegal drugs. When was the last time you seen a TV advert glamourising ecstasy? Or heroin? Never, but they're still a major happening in the UK.
I can't remember the last time I've seen a smoking brand advertised either. Still a problem with our youth taking it up? Completely.
A whole social and cultural shift would be needed, but that won't happen whilst you have the traditional whingers complaining that drink and druigs are always bad.
Just drink at home like they do in Norway?
It isn't the be all and end all. I've seen some pretty horriffic violent incidents involving booze. Tbh, if it were more expensive, it wouldn't bother me that much.
Cheap beer isn't as important to me as being able to walk home at night safe without somebody starting on me.
In here alcohol has always been treated a lot more seriously and gravely, which when considering human nature is only going to make it more attractive and 'naughty' to consume to kids and adults alike.
the nordic countries are pretty hot on binge drinking, despite having to pay around £8 for a beer.
where i live now(romford) people have been getting trashed for generations, was a programme on TV about it a few month. People have been doing narcotics for generations since the victorians... like anything though it gets relatively cheaper over time
i'd blame the overstressed culture in this country, where people are expected to work stupid hours unproductively, so the little time they do get - they'd rather forget all about it and get trashed, i know i do subconsciously
you can't expect people to have effective working days of 8-6 and continual 'reviews' without wanting to let off steam
pity there's no olympic sport for drinking, actually there is: darts
Yup. We have all the same discussions in Iceland. Only, our alcohol is insanely expensive, only able to be bought from bars (even more expensive) or government alcohol stores, we don't allow advertisements either... and still we have problems with binge drinking.
Although I'm not sure what legislation can do because this kind of thing seems cultural more than anything.
Jaloux's point that even in Iceland, where strict laws on where you alcohol and the price you can buy it at makes no difference either, demonstrates further the futility of tightening up laws.
The issue seems to me to be more cultural. Perhaps the comparatively long hours we work in the UK pushes people to demand excessive escapism during their limited free time. I'd be interested to see if the binge drinking culture was disproportionately represented in a certain class also.
Interesting topic this one! I hope we can learn from this thread and not have it descend into the usual insults and intellectual one-upmanship!
I'm quite convinced that this is one of the main causes (developed over years of longer work hours though). A lot of the other countries with similar problems, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Poland, even Spain (where apparently it's rising), have a higher average number of hours worked than countries like France and Holland. I'd be interested to know what Iceland's working hours were like. I'd also be interested to know what the drinking habits of Japan and South Korea are (now that South Koreans work more hours than any other country).
And does anyone else find the article a bit wierd, as if doctor's medical knowledge gives them some sort of authority on solutions to social problems?