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A suggestion on teenage antisocial behaviour: let them drink in pubs
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Haven't found any reference online but it is being discussed on Radio 2 right now. Some people are proposing that we should change the law so under 16 year olds are allowed to be in pubs and drink alcohol in pubs unaccompanied by adults. Simply because while they are in the pub they will be contained and under the gaze of adults.
Apparently this approach has worked elsewhere in Europe. I must say it makes a lot of sense to me.
Any opponents?
Apparently this approach has worked elsewhere in Europe. I must say it makes a lot of sense to me.
Any opponents?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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Comments
I think restricted access to alcohol in pubs would be a good thing- let them in the pub to play a bit of pool but don't let them near the spirits. It's better than the current situation where they all go and stand in a bus shelter swigging vodka.
I think a lot of kids would have a quiet drink, tbh, particularly if nightclubs were not allowed to let under-18s in. Certainly I went to the pub with my friends to play pool (badly) and have a quiet drink after school when I was 15.
Seperating out teenage (especially late teenage) and adult drinking is somewhat pointless - a far more pressing issue is why so many people are drinking to excess.
The drinking culture is completely different in Spain and I don't think the same solutions would work here.
This was my initial reaction also. Although i'm not against the idea of younger people in pubs, it does feel a bit like treating the symptoms rather than the cause.
The be quite honest i'm also a little suspicious of just how out of control our drinking culture is. I appreciate that alcohol does appear to play a large part in people's lives, but how much of it is devastating, i'm still be be convinced on.
Seriously though, it would stop a lot of teens drinking on street corners so it can only be a good thing. However, we need to change our cultural attitude towards drink first to completely solve the problem.
I'll stick with the old idea that if parents actually act like parents, if the police enforce the law, and if schools educate children and instil in them a sense that they can actually make something of themselves through study and hard-work, they probably won't become yobs. Though I realise doing all of that would require effort, it isn't nearly as easy as saying 'let's give kids alcohol, alcohol makes everything better'.
Alcohol-related deaths:
Though it doesn't look like older people should be lecturing kids any time soon, because the biggest rise in deaths is for people between the ages of 35 and 74:
from here.
Then from this PDF File:
2.9 million people are dependent on the stuff (2001).
6000 deaths are directly attributable to it per year (2004) - illegal drugs combined account for 1565 deaths.
15,000-22,000 premature deaths are linked to alcohol misuse (2003).
150,000 hospital admissions a year for heavy drinking (2003).
£1.7bn a year in NHS costs (2003).
1/3 of all A+E admittances are alcohol related, rising to 70% at peak times (2003).
£7.3bn alcohol-related crime prevention, criminal damage, and basically everything relating to policing it, including prisons and victim support (2003).
Alcohol is present in 45% of assault arrests, and 48% of criminal damage arrests (2003).
560 road deaths due to drink driving accounting for 15% of road deaths (2002 - I hear it's gone up in the past few years too).
1/3 of domestic violence incidents occur during drinking (2003).
63% of sentenced male prisoners and 39% of sentenced female prisoners
were classed as hazardous drinkers in the year before coming into prison (1999).
£6.4bn in lost earnings and lost profits due to people not showing up to work because of alcohol use (2003).
Interpret them however you want. What seems clear to me is that adults are in no position to be lecturing kids on responsible drinking with some of those figures.
knowing fully well what these wee bastards can be like i don't think it would work :no:
Here, here
Its a great British tradition, I look back with fondness at drinking cheap cider on a bench and making a racket.
i got shitfaced at 16/17, my mate drank a 2L bottle of white 'cider' once (if you can say it has any relavance to real cider that is) - mainly because there wasn't much to do apart from that and cinema/video games, which tend to be an expensive hobby, the places that would let us in, we was cheap by taking our time on pints, arguing over which jukebox song to put on, and beating eachother at pool
as long as you can't serve them drink with a alcohol greater than say 6% and enforce the law of not serving drunks it would work on a sizeable amount of teenagers definetly, even if not all
Funnily enough you don't see that in Spanish bars, or in most other European countries.
The problem has more to do with culture here than the ability to hold a drink. Here it seem that people think that you cannot have fun without being shitfaced - you see threads on these boards talking about it. It seems that rather than the ability to hold a drink, ones inability is something which you should be proud of. That is what needs to be challenged.
Responsible drinking is part of that culture, moderation rather than obliteration. Kermit is right when he talks about landlords taking their responsibility to heart in not serving drunks for a start...
When you've got problems with curbing binge drinking, violence and disorder in the over 18's in city centre's, what makes anyone think the 16 year olds would act differently?
For the idea to work we need a culture change, not just a change in the law, which i can't see happening.
Perhaps if the law change brought with it stiff penalties for being drunk in public, or stiffer penalties for landlords who serve drunken people it might work.
Can't think of any pubs I frequent where people are rip roaring drunk.
I personally feel there's a lot to be said for the precedent as alcohol as part of an evening, rather than using alcohol to get drunk as the aim of an evening.