War On Alcohol A Failure

[icyfroth]

THE state government is handing out a record number of liquor licences, yet there are more police fighting the war on alcohol than there are troops left fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan.   

that's a pretty sobering statistic!

The Police Association also made a submission to the Liquor Act review that asked the government to put in a maximum closing time of 3am and 1am lockouts for every hotel across the state, and to trial the Newcastle model in every pub in NSW.

● THE government is refusing to trial the Newcastle solution of lockouts and earlier closing times, despite strong warnings from the Police Association and the Australian Medical Association - and the fact these measures resulted in a 37 per cent fall in violent assaults;

The government has, to date, steadfastly refused to act. But Hospitality Minister George Souris said the government would consider all of the 91 recommendations in the Liquor Act review, and would provide a response next month.

AMA NSW head Brian Owler said in the submission  there was no excuse for not trialling the Newcastle solution on a statewide level, given the big drop in assaults.

"This is a staggering figure. If a new medical treatment were shown to reduce harm by more than 35 per cent, it would be adopted as best practice,'' Dr Owler said,

The government has, to date, steadfastly refused to act. But Hospitality Minister George Souris said the government would consider all of the 91 recommendations in the Liquor Act review, and would provide a response next month.

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Wonder who's keeping Mr. Souris in beer and skittles?

[spotweldersfriend]

Well tax increases are the reason given to cut down cigarette smoking,so how about putting a $30 tax on a carton of beer or a bottle of spirits? I'm reasonably sure that's how they tackled the alcohol problem in Sweden.

[icyfroth]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

But why close early when the vast majority are people like me going out with friends until the early hours? Why should I be penalised because some yobbos haven't been taught how to drink properly?

And how does closing early stop anyone anyway? Thomas Kelly was king hit at 10pm. Daniel Christie was king hit at 9pm. How early do you want to close?

We seriously need to look at the underlying cause and resolve that rather than bandaid fixes.

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I see your point, Martini, the problem needs to be looked at from several angles.

I think people like Shaun McNeil (Daniels attacker) are too far gone to be "taught how to drink properly".

And how do you teach people how to drink properly before the become too far gone? In schools? But then they graduate from school and what do they do? Go and get themselves **bleep**-faced in schoolies week. Because,hey, time to let your hair down and have a bit of FUN!

These days a lot of kids see drinking in the home and in the community and grow up believing that there's no fun to be had unless you get a belt of grog into you.

[icyfroth]

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@spotweldersfriend wrote:
Well tax increases are the reason given to cut down cigarette smoking,so how about putting a $30 tax on a carton of beer or a bottle of spirits? I'm reasonably sure that's how they tackled the alcohol problem in Sweden.

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That would be a good start, Spot.

Cigarettes are taxed to the hilt and come in plain packaging or with disgusting pictures. It's not allowed to be advertised, in fact, giving up smoking is heavily advertised. Gross pictures of tarred lungs and people dying of cancer are shown on television.

Yet alcohol is cheap and easy, and the advertising makes it look like fun, savvy, glamorous, relaxing to drink. Which in moderation, it is. But you only ever see the dark side in the news, never in the advertising.

[icyfroth]

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@*mrgrizz* wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

Fair enough comment, Martini, but if licensed venues weren't open til the early hours of the morning, if they closed at, say midnight, there'd be less time to get drunk before they leave home, and less opportunity to try entry into said venues if they closed earlier.

There'd be less half-bleeped people milling about in the early hours of the morning to pick fights with, too.

A smart education program would be great, but how do you educate stupid?

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how do you educate stupid?

stocks in the city centre, with big barrel's of rotting fruit

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Sounds like a good plan, Grizz!

[nevillesdaughter]

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@spotweldersfriend wrote:
Well tax increases are the reason given to cut down cigarette smoking,so how about putting a $30 tax on a carton of beer or a bottle of spirits? I'm reasonably sure that's how they tackled the alcohol problem in Sweden.

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The problem with raising the prices of store-bought alcohol is that it can force people to look for alternatives - especially young people.

Already, young people often get half-tanked at home, before going out, because of the expense (I also have issues about the aim of an evening out being to get drink, as opposed to having a good time, but that's another issue).

A young man of my acquaintance tells me he brews his own whiskey with a still he bought at a home brew shop and buys the mix kits from the same shop. When I pointed out that it is illegal to distill spirits in Australia without a license, he said "No it's not because they sell the stills and ingredients from a shop!"

It took quite a while and a trip to Google for me to prove my point, (not that the knowledge will affect his behaviour) but it makes me wonder how many others are misguidedly risking prosecution as well as their health/life (I can't imagine the guy I know following a recipe too closely), in the interests of having cheap booze.

I really believe the problem is about attitudes to drink, and its place in our lives/society, that need addressing, rather than trying to price a problem (violence etc) out of the market. Prohibition didn't solve any problems - just created new ones.

I don't know the answer, but I hope someone works it out.

Marina.

[icyfroth]

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@nevillesdaughter wrote:

I really believe the problem is about attitudes to drink, and its place in our lives/society, that need addressing, rather than trying to price a problem (violence etc) out of the market. Prohibition didn't solve any problems - just created new ones.

I don't know the answer, but I hope someone works it out.

Marina.

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Wer'e not talking about prohibition, Nev. We all say what a failure that was.

Major Retailers like Coles and Woolworths, Aldi, need to stop squeezing distillers and breweries so they can dump disount liquor into the market with bottle shops at every corner and conveniently next to every major supermarket.

They're the only winner in this alcohol epidemic without taking any responibility for it.

I agree, people need to learn to drink responsibly, but sadly, responibility is not a strong suit of young people, who seem to be the most affected, and responsibility diminishes in ratio to the amount of liquor consumed, I find.

[nevillesdaughter]

My point was that banning alcohol created another set of crimes - just like continually increasing the price is maybe encouraging young people to illegally make their own, especially when all the equipment and ingredients can be conveniently bought in a one-stop home brew shop, or on line - despite the fact that to make your own spirits is illegal in this country.

We had those 3 deaths this year in Qld, from home made grappa. The defense I hear from my young friends for both getting tanked up before going out, and making their own spirits was cost. For an outlay of about $300 for a still, these kids can make spirits for around $8 per 750ml bottle! That scares the stuffing out of me.

Here in Qld we don't have supermarkets selling alcohol direct, but these retail giants own everything anyway and while ever market forces and laws allow them to operate this way, an occassional "Drink Responsibly" sign is all we'll get from them.

These big companies are pleasing their shareholders with profit no matter where it comes from (Woollies are the biggest owners of poker machines in the country), and until people invest with a social conscience rather than a profit motive, this is what we get.

Personal responsibility needs to be learnt from day one, and I sometimes feel that what seems to be lacking in (some) of today's youth is any sense of personal shame (old-fashioned I know) for bad personal behaviour. I'll be the first to admit that I have a few cringe-worthy memories that I can try to blame on over-indulgence, but they are only a few, a long time ago (I learnt my lessons), and nobody died, or was even hurt.

I'm trying with my own kids (3 teenagers), and so far so good but I worry about them just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Marina.