Thread: Binge drinking

IMHO a lot of the violence associated with "binge driinking" has been caused by the derestriction of liqour licences and trading hours. Prior to the introduction of 24 hour licences in the nineties the only places to have a drink after midnight was an expensive nightclub or at home. People planned to finish their socialising at the pub before midnight and were less drunk when they went home.
Many country towns in NSW have started a 1am lockout where if you leave a venue you can't get back in and this seems to be having a positive effect on the amount of violence.
But I guess restricting trading hours would get the Govt offside with the liquour industry and cut their take of the pokies rather than raise money like the alcopos tax.
Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by Tote

IMHO a lot of the violence associated with "binge driinking" has been caused by the derestriction of liqour licences and trading hours. Prior to the introduction of 24 hour licences in the nineties the only places to have a drink after midnight was an expensive nightclub or at home. People planned to finish their socialising at the pub before midnight and were less drunk when they went home.
Many country towns in NSW have started a 1am lockout where if you leave a venue you can't get back in and this seems to be having a positive effect on the amount of violence.
But I guess restricting trading hours would get the Govt offside with the liquour industry and cut their take of the pokies rather than raise money like the alcopos tax.
Regards,
Tote

Agree with the above. We have clubs and pubs in Qld. with 3.00am and 5.00am licences. I head off to swap meets in the wee hours of Sunday morning and never fail to be amazed by the number of totally paralytic sloppy drunks staggering around our inner city streets at those hours. Particularly the numbers of young women in their skimpy dance club gear and absolutely blind stumbling staggering drunk or affected by other chemicals. Lots of fights and assaults in and near these venues fuelled by excess booze. Usually arguments and fights at the taxi queues every early morning. People who work in these places tell me that the clientele is almost totally under thirty and they drink spirits and strong mixed drinks rather than beer. Also that the clientele go to pubs till 10.00 or midnight and have half a skinful when they arrive at the night clubs and dance clubs. I am not a wowser but I say close the joints at 1.00am. If you can't get enough grog into you by 1.00am then you have not been trying.

In the NT at different times, Alcohol Free Thursdays (pension day only) was introduced into some centres and the amount of patients for both the hospital and police dropped considerably. but some groups have then complained that it is racist as it mainly affects one group of people only. To combat binge drinking here (a lot lot more than 4 middies) restrictions on cask wine was introduced so the drinkers moved to beer in bottles and as a result there was a lot of broken glass lying around so long necks were to be banned in some areas. Also Green ginger wine was to be treated as fortified wine because that then became popular.
Then the Commonwealth decided that if you bought more than $99 worth of alcohol your name and address had to be entered into the big book for the police to check up on later. Didn't discriminate as whether it was one bottle of good wine or one person buying many cartons. But if you and 10 of your mates each bought $90 worth of booze separately that didn't have to be recorded. Somehow it was to stop the alcohol abuse in the communities. After the first week or so the police stopped checking the big book.
Latest rule is now certain areas where people may congregate are to be alcohol free, mainly around the fore shore but not Mindil beach. Trouble is there are not enough police to carry the rule out.
So whatever laws are passed it does not get to the root of the problem, people just adapt to the rules.
The only one they have not tried is to bring back the old 6 o'clock closing, I can remember that from Victoria from a long time ago.

its a failed social policy, look at the anti drink movement biggest success was WW1 where they got the pubs drinking hours restricted to support the war effort, liberal drinking laws took 60 years to recover and some areas in Melbourne still dry suburbs.

prohibition in USA failed

Educating people on dangers and educating them to be responsible being going last 30 years some people don't want to learn the lessons whether it be smoking alcohol or drugs.

Drink Driving well thats a issue from the 1970's what has worked is better car safety for occupants in reducing road toll and higher level of police detection and arrests, but still the drink drivers and unlicensed drivers persist.

So hitting the hip pocket only sure way to get people to stop or reduce intakes or frequency of nights in week they get ****ed as can't afford to drink smoke and pay rent to landlord.

In perfect world you could have policy options that took into account variable like age, maturity and purpose but we don't so we are stuck with broad based policy.

As for Govt scientific advisers a wowser politician will appoint a wowser scientist to provide the evidence to support their wowser views, as did Howard with his drug policy committee.

It would be interesting to see a study on alcohol consumption over the last 40 years or so and see whether it has increased or not. I'm betting this whole binge drinking thing is a political distraction anyway.
As an aside when my parents were married in the early sixties they agreed that dad could have no more than seven schooners a night with the boys after work......
Regards,
Tote

Until Krudd deemed most of the Aussie male population as alcaholics and binge drinkers the safe drink limit was recommended at 4 standard drinks for men 2 for women.Now those safe limits are BINGE levels.He puts up the tax on "alcopops",by 70% to try and control the kiddie BINGERS.Great move,ask any grog shop how many they are selling now compared to full bottles of spirits The kiddies now know how to get really smashed.Watch out spirit drinkers you are next.
Off to refill my pint
Andrew

Originally Posted by Numpty's Missus

What? you don't like the truth?
None of us do
But the truth it is....any more than a couple of drinks per day for a bloke is bad for you...affects your health

Consider while you are not liking what you hear that you should not complain about the country's poor health system when preventable diseases like those caused by smoking & drinking ( all the thinks people like to do) are chewing up the health dollar.

Yeah, but they are not talking about drinking 4 plus a day. It is any occurence where you drink more than 4 standard drinks in a session.
3 full strength middies, 4 middies mid strength beer, 2 1/2 cans of pre mix, 3 glasses of wine (not full glasses either). Alcoholism is completely different to binge drinking.
I do not drink for a week at all when I am at work, but on my week off may have more than that in one session, not all the time, some nights none, some one, some two and some more than 4.

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Crudz at it again.
Now he is saying if you have 4 middies of beer or 3 glasses of wine a day you are a binge drinker.
DONT LIKE THAT BLOKE
Andrew

I am in trouble then.
Mel is buggered.
And well Andy you are completely stuffed.