10 of your ideas for dealing with binge drinking

Tim says:

02:44pm | 28/08/09

Suck it up.
I’m off to the pub to drink 20 schooners right now.

Anthony says:

03:34pm | 28/08/09

Ha ha.  Binge drinking makes huesik.

Jasper says:

03:54pm | 28/08/09

Can anyone spell “moral panic”

I’m still not convinced that binge drinking or alcohol related violence is actually “worse” that it “used to be”. Sure we here from plenty of cops about what they have to deal with but that isn’t a very objective viewpoint is it? After all, if someone isn’t causing a problem when drunk they’re not going to come into contact with the police.

No politician or health expert has offered any statistics to back up their assertions. Does Australia consume more measues of alcohol per head of population that it did 10 or 20 years ago? What is the number of assults per head of population compared to 20 years ago? And how de these stats compare to other countires. If these figures are being put out there I certainly haven’t seen the media report on them.

But then, when it comes to law and order reporting I have never seen a report written on the big picture - always whatever the most sensationalist violent drama occurred that day. Think of it this way, there are approximately 20 million Australians, lets assume that only 5% of them are going out on a Friday or Saturday night, that’s 1 million people in licenced venues around Australia. In the most violent weekends we’ll hear reports of about 5 violent altercations in the entertainment districts. Even if we assume that both parties in such a fight are in the wrong and both are drunk, that is still only 10 people (in each capital city) who are involved in an alcohol related fight that requires police intervention.

It was also amazing to hear how many people thought that drunkedness still washed with the courts as a mitigating circumstance, none of the lawyers I know have ever heard of this having any mitigating effect whatsoever, sometimes the opposite is true.

Zeta says:

04:03pm | 28/08/09

When watching the goings on in Parliament, it’s hard not to look at my well appointed liquor cabinet. I’ve compiled a list of things I feel like drinking when ever I see a member of Rudd’s cabinet:

Rudd - Pimm’s Cocktail, 2 parts Pimm’s, 1 part Lemonade, 1 part Ginger Ale, with a few slices of lebanese cucumber. The kind of thing your nan would enjoy, excellent in warm weather, plain horrible in winter. Would never want to be seen with one. Addition of lebanese cucumber just makes it slightly weird.

Gillard - The Scarlet O’Hara, Southern Comfort, Cranberry Juice and fresh lime. Red on the outside, red on the inside, sweet from a distance but unpredictably bitter. Punters often confuse Southern Comfort for a whiskey, when in fact it’s a liqueur, much like Gillard.

Wayne Swan - Crown Lager. Boring, the kind of thing you’d drink at a cousin’s wedding, or at a taxpayer funded junket. Uninspiring, but not unpleasant, until you realise you’re just drinking the old Carlton Lager in a nicer bottle.

Chris Evans - Methylated Spirits, strained through a slice of bread. Invisible, odourless, colorless, but utterly lethal. The kind of thing you only turn to when it’s time to cash in the chips, but you’re still a ways of injecting melted batteries.

John Faulkner - Dirty Martini, a decent gin (anything but Vickers) with a nice dry vermouth, salted with brine water. Powerful, and intellectual, for the man who’s not afraid of anything.

Simon Crean - The Gay Old Time, 60mls Mount Gay Rum with a splash of Dry Ginger, Lime, and the glass topped up with Red Bull. Aggressive, but not quite as aggressive as his cousin from Bundaberg, wears out its welcome quickly, but just never seems to go to sleep.

Stephen Smith - The Kremlin Colonel, a mint julep with vodka in place of whiskey, sophisticated, but authoritarian. The addition of sugar does nothing to lend sweetness. Cool under pressure.

Nicola Roxon - Pernod on ice, sickly sweet, and prone to causing visions. Consumed in vast quantities by fantasists, futurists and marxists. Easily chilled. Makes one vomit blood at 4am.

Jenny Macklin - Flirtini, vodka, champagne and pineapple juice. Self congratulatory, family friendly with a hint of malice. The kind of thing impressionable young girls look up too as the pinnacle of adolescent boozing.

Lindsay Tanner - A long neck of VB, hard to break in the gutter and quintessentially Victorian. Bitter, as the name suggests, but immovable. When used, makes an excellent weapon in a scrap on Lygon Street.

.....I’ve run out of ideas.

Kate says:

04:23pm | 28/08/09

Tougher penalties and harsher laws! I live in Dubai in the UAE. Here, you have to have a licence to purchase alcohol. And your licence is linked to your income, ie you can spend x percentage of your income only each month on buying booze. Once it’s spent, no more for the month. The legal limit for driving is 0 and if caught, the penalities are mandatory jail time. Sounds tough but there is almost no alcohol related violence here, it’s just not done because a) it is too hard and b) the penalties are too severe.

Yankee says:

04:27pm | 28/08/09

How about what the Yanks do? If you’re intoxicated in a public place, your under arrest because you’re a danger to yourself and others! Simple.

Billy Pilgrim says:

04:28pm | 28/08/09

‘It was also amazing to hear how many people thought that drunkedness still washed with the courts as a mitigating circumstance’
Really, if someone’s going to front this an an excuse they should be barred from drinking ever again. If you can’t control yourself when you’re drunk, you shouldn’t drink.

Lynxi says:

04:34pm | 28/08/09

I agree with number 10. Raising the drinking age to 24 is only going to punish law abiding citizen like my husband and myself. Neither of us has ever felt the need to get off our faces and I think it’s because of education.

I was raised in a German household here in Australia and while all the kids I went to high school with were sneaking booze and getting into alcohol fuelled fights, I was taught to respect alcohol. I was allowed to have a small glass of wine or beer from a very young age (younger than my peers) and so for me alcohol is just another drink. By the time I could buy my own I knew my limits and I knew what I liked (not alcopops).

Raising the age limit will only encourage under-age drinking. The reason there seems to be less problems in Europe is because of the drinking culture there. Kids learn from example so maybe it should be parents and teachers who could be helping Australia with our binge drinking problem not excessive laws and regulations.

GA says:

04:36pm | 28/08/09

I love some of these ideas…let’s try a few on for size.

Raise legel drinking age to 30 - that’s gotta work, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone binge drinking before they turned 18. ROFLMAO.  It’s hard enough to police the limit at 18, how many police would it take to enforce 30 or even 24.

Earlier closing times - ever heard of take-aways?

Pre-paid alcohol cards - mine’s run out of credit, think I might go steal that guys card.

Politicians setting a better example - Yep, I blindly follow my local member and their habits.

Recharge the booze industry - sorry, when I have finished laughing I might post a response.

So Paul, I’m really hoping these were the more unusual ones you mentioned. 

Education has to be a reasonable FIRST step, and not by teachers, but by parents.  Take your children out to see what can happen, let them see the ugly side of it for themselves, don’t demonstrate the worst of it yourself.  Give police the numbers and funding to properly patrol and control licensed premises and make the licensees more responsible for the service of alcohol.

Why do people get plastered in the first place - far too many reasons to list in one endless blog.  Personally I have many reasons for drinking, though I don’t binge like I used to, I’d probably be dead by now if I had of continued at the rate I used to go.

Good luck all…oh yeah, and bottoms up.

Malcom Irving says:

04:37pm | 28/08/09

As usual the do-gooders are out with their “harsher fines fixes everything” crap. People who are drunk are mostly irrational, which is why they get into touble in the first place. Do you honestly think drunk people are going to all of the sudden think about the consequences more? (or at all?) How about providing youth with alternates to drinking. Traditional hangouts have all gone, nowhere to be a safe car hoon etc etc. So yeah drinking may seem like the only thing to do on a Saturday night.

Betty French says:

04:37pm | 28/08/09

Bars should stop selling alcohol at a certain time and then be only allowed to sell softdrink. The bottle shops could be open later so people would have to go home if they wanted to keep drinking.
Or make alcohol more expensive after a certain time. And don’t have atm’s in the bar.

steve says:

04:40pm | 28/08/09

“6. Make drinking ugly. Imogen, a 20-year-old who doesn’t drink, suggested an ad campaign based on what it does to your appearance, on the basis that much alcohol marketing is currently associated with being sexy”

I believe its actually illegal (or atleast against the advertising code of conduct) to associate drinking with sex(iness)  in advertising.  So the basis here is incorrect.

Martin says:

04:53pm | 28/08/09

Alcohol is unfairly maligned, it’s not the alcohol but all the other cocktail of drugs that people take these days have causes the violence you see in Perth’s Northbridge area. Probably the same for other capital cities too.

Laucian says:

04:56pm | 28/08/09

Kate I hate to say you are living in denial there. I lived in the UAE for 2.5 years and we didn’t buy alcohol there, we brewed it. Have you ever herd of the Hashes? About 100 expats would get together and head out into the desert to go running, get loaded and have a BBQ. It was at a different location each week known only to a select few ahead of time so we wouldn’t get caught. There is literally nothing to do over there other than break the law and have a laugh doing it.

I would also see more car accidents over there that were unrelated to alcohol than anywhere else due to the fact that they have absolutly no concern for road safety. Loading up a car with 10 people and then tearing off down the road at 150 is in no way smart or safe. so please dont tell me the policing of alcohol is the solution, it will just cause different problems as people find another way to get their jollies.

rob says:

05:08pm | 28/08/09

Cut tax on booze that way people will drink more and get bigger hangovers then won’t feel like drinking.

Gavin Hudson says:

05:10pm | 28/08/09

Considering violence was here before ALCOHOL, maybe its just a HUMAN THING.  Has a war ever been started due to ALCOHOL, no human differences mostly, or GREED, which I’m sorry but is the main reason why TAXES keep increasing on items such as ALCOHOL and TOBACCO.  Yesterday someone from the government said a $5.00 increase to cigarette packets, was for out health.  If our health was what they are worried about, they would make em ILLEGAL.

George V says:

05:16pm | 28/08/09

How about a pre-paid alcohol card that only gets activated by a breathalyser at point of sale?

Billy Pilgrim says:

05:26pm | 28/08/09

the fact that many things that are not especially harmful are illegal shows it most certainly is not about our health

Dan says:

05:27pm | 28/08/09

I agree with Kate of Dubai.  I live in Abu Dhabi, which is governed by the same laws as Dubai, and think that the stance toward alcohol here is spot on.  Although, primarily, the laws here have been implemented for different reasons, we along with fellow Australian expats often discuss how well the laws would work in Australia to curb the alcohol issues currently being experienced down there.

A much tougher stance needs to be taken in Australia.  Something as simple as implementing a licensing system I think would work with tremendous effect.  I think we are now that some people just aren’t sensible enough to make the call ‘enough is enough’, so someone needs to step in and make that call for them. 

I often visit Melbourne and am now wary about walking the streets after dark as I always worry if I am going to be the next victim of an unprovoked alcohol fuelled attack.  It is a horrible feeling to have in my home town.

michael says:

05:36pm | 28/08/09

most of the suggestions put forward are utter crap!
fielding is a goose, so why would anybody listen to him anyway.
the majority of people are responsible with alcohol, yet we are punished for the idiocy of the minority. A lot of people can go out, get drunk, and go home and not get violent.
raising the drinking age will do nothing, increasing prices will affect the wrong people.
we need to make people responsible for their own actions!!

Adrienne says:

05:40pm | 28/08/09

I agree with Gavin ...

Peter says:

05:47pm | 28/08/09

I’m going to turn this list into a drinking game.

nick says:

05:53pm | 28/08/09

haha whingers

off to the pub then city to get blind

davido says:

06:11pm | 28/08/09

I think reducing the availability of the big A actually increases Binging.

Look at France and Germany where the stuff flows like hot air from a polly’s mouth.

Jackie says:

06:24pm | 28/08/09

Do we have the obligation, or even the moral right, to attempt to change the way people think or experience activities? We already have laws in place to handle people who are not following their social responsibilities, how about we just enforce them?

Bob H says:

06:26pm | 28/08/09

It’s just the same as its always been.  Alcohol rounds off lifes sharp edges and some people do not know when to stop and become violent.  If a binge drinker commits a crime we have laws which should be upheld by police.  If the police do not want to deal with these crimes, this is a policing issue.

Robert says:

06:35pm | 28/08/09

Those ideas are ridiculous. Why do the people who have done nothing wrong have to be punished with the inconvenience of drinking cards, earlier closing times and raising the drinking age? It is a small minority of people who are violent. Harsher punishment is not preventative so don’t bother. Why are people suggesting the US system is good? They have a cocaine problem, maybe reducing their drinking age would help with that as 18 year olds can get cocaine easier and cheaper than alcohol. Same deal for pills in Europe. Making it more expensive or raising the drinking age or just making it more difficult to buy alcohol would just cause more people to turn to other drugs, I don’t see how that helps the situation. As for the people in UAE, you must know that the alcohol restriction is a religious thing as the majority of the population doesn’t drink. That could explain the reduced rate of alcohol fuelled violence. Maybe we should take it one step further than UAE and adopt a model more like Iran and just ban alcohol. Although the lack of alcohol doesn’t seem to stop their violence. They also have one of the highest rates of road fatalities in the world despite the lack of drink drivers. So maybe alcohol doesn’t cause all the world’s problems.

How about things like having a tub of free water bottles at the door as you leave and at the bar. People won’t line up to get a glass of water, so everyone should have access to FREE bottles of water. Free food should also be available after a certain time or at least subsidised and available right up to closing time, or subsidise existing late night food places. Something like chips, they cost next to nothing and don’t require much space for preparation, just need a deep fryer and a lot of places would already have one. Free lollipops as you leave has been shown to reduce noise, maybe try that first before closing earlier.

Now I don’t claim to be from a medical background so I don’t know about the scientific basis of this argument, but alcohol is a diuretic, diuretics dehydrate you. So drinking more makes you dehydrated and want to drink more to quench your thirst. So if water is more easily accessible maybe more people will have water to quench their thirst while drinking. Regardless of whether or not drinking can actually make you more thirsty (if anyone actually knows and can back it up with science I’d love to know) water definitely helps as does food. So maybe these should be looked at as preventative measure which would be popular among people who are out drinking. I think that would be better than making decisions which are popular amongst the people who don’t go out.

At many festivals there is the red cross guys there who are always giving out water and people actually like those guys because they are there for a good time too, and they’re also really good looking (although I might be a bit bias). Maybe the government should throw some money their way to get out on the streets too. Has anyone asked them about this stuff because they are the ones actually out there trying to do something people who party too hard.

Steven Yeates says:

10:56pm | 28/08/09

Suffice to say that we are living in a much more regulated and morally conservative environment than previous generations. It seems now freedom as an end in itself has given way to regulate all things unpleasant and unfortunate our of existence by ever increasing penalties and restrictions. Leave me alone, for no other reason than that, just leave me alone.

Louise says:

11:08pm | 28/08/09

Spot on Jasper. Talk about concocting an issue. Now that the Government has probably hit the nexus where further taxes on cigarettes may actually reduce their tax revenue by pricing out enough smokers (ie the increase in tax revenue is negated by the number of people who will stop smoking), they want to mount a moral argument to increase tax on another evil. Increasing taxes on Alcopops has apparently sorted out teenage binge drinking (NOT), so let’s start taxing every other drinker. If price was the issue all the violent drunks would be a home drinking Stanley cask wine. They wouldn’t be in late night venues in the cities that charge $10 a drink.

Ahdia says:

01:39am | 29/08/09

I agree with Kate….

Tamerlane says:

11:45am | 29/08/09

The UAE is built on slavery, mysogyny and religious fanaticism.  All you wanting to export these Ideas to Australia can bloody well stay in your desetr hell hole where you like it so much.

Keith says:

06:46pm | 30/08/09

Not a long explanation , and no history wars, or rum rebellions, etc, although commentators have rights to be heard.  Our British ancestors were planted here, an inhospitable place, with few pleasures, hence grog distilleries and beer fermenters were quickly organised. We found this to be such a success that in time, successive governments thought it was a good idea to legalise them, of course with an excise, even highly acceptable to the generally miserable public. We weren’t about to give up this concession, however much governments taxed us. You can see the historical significance. Of course nowdays, we have a different society, and governments seem “duty” bound to increasingly regulate the proletariat, for ill-conceived political advantage. Tougher laws nationwide, these days, particularly with vehicle total confiscation,  violence intolerance, fine maximisation measures, could be the answer, but alas, it won’t. Why? Because some parents are disadvantaged or stupid, in that order,  their fault by not choosing the the right parents, a domino effect . Hence we have a younger population some of whom have little concept of personal responsibility . The answer?  We need a judicial system adopted by all states, to have law offenders serve a remedial term in an external program outside the penal system of “punishment”, to give young offenders a better chance of re-habilitating themselves in life values, rather than have them going down the slippery slope of jail terms. Why? Because it’s the answer to get rid of these pests. The other scenario, is that Australia has a vast area mostly unpopulated by virtue of it’s arid areas an hence it’s lack of opportunity for it’s rural sector population, but mostly in capital cities,  to find reasonable and meaningful, or otherwise, work. Most human beings find a sense of worth by work. Perhaps the theme of Paul’s piece ought to be extrapolated, to give further insight to the social effects, most notably crime and violence, in an ever increasing population of ethnic, including caucasean people. Until this happens, the theme of binge drinking either to anesthise boredom, or of outright criminal intent , is in limbo. For myself, boredom is a given at age 70, and I’ve read somewhere, most men live their lives in quiet frustration. Who said that!!

Jolanda Challita says:

07:59pm | 30/08/09

I personally think that the reason people are binge drinking is because that is what they have been taught. When we were told that three drinks in the first hour puts you over the limit it is automatically assumed that 3 drinks each hour is a normal amount of drinks to have.  What should be promoted is drinking a glass of water between each alcoholic drink so as to slow down the drinking and so as to be kind to your liver and kidneys as they have to support you for the rest of your life.

stealthpooch says:

01:12am | 31/08/09

I agree with Lynxie.  All my friends who were introduced to alcohol by their parents from an early age, as something to be appreciated and enjoyed rather than binged on, tend to have a healthy attitude towards alcohol.  A good wine or an icy beer on a hot day are amazing things, and I think a lot of the arguments about cutting down on alcohol-fuelled violence by proposing such ridiculous measures such as raising the drinking age etc. focus too much on the few people who ruin it for the rest of us. 

Most people do not turn into violent idiots when we’re drunk.  We may giggle, dance stupidly, or fall asleep in inappropriate places, but those people who do have a tendency towards violence when under the influence have got to take personal responsibility.  That means that if you bash someone in Elizabeth Street, North Hobart, to the point where they end up in rehab for months, then turn around and say you can’t remember because you were under the influence of alcohol, then you shouldn’t expect to walk away lightly.  Don’t blame it on the bartender, your mates, the grog, the government - it’s personal responsibility. If you know that you can’t control your temper when you drink, then don’t.  It’s that simple.

mandy says:

05:16pm | 13/10/09

The problem with binge drinking is that society has made it exceptible and the thing to do. You ask anyone who is going out on friday night or going to a party what they will be doing ! i can garantee they will say “getting smashed”.  Alcohol is not the problem it is the attitude towards alcohol that is the problem. By promoting safe drinking limits and the health facts the same as they have with smoking you may find a reduce in the problem. Parents are the biggests influences in a childs life, so while they are worring if their child is going to take “hard” drugs they are not realising that alcolhol is a drug and the biggest killer of teenagers by far. That is what they have to be worried about.  Alcohol is just the tip of an ice berg if you have ever seen a fight or anyone getting violent from alcohol you have a good hard look at the real problem. Most of the time there is something going on or has happened in that p[ersons life that is the problem. Alcohol just brings that out and makes it 10 times worse. people express there feeling with anger especially men and when you have got a gut full of alcohol its going to get ugly. If we can change the attitude towards drinking with education just pumping it into people the risks and the real facts you may see a change. But at the end of the day teenagers are risk takes and do what they want. If it isn’t alcohol they will find something else.

acker says:

05:44pm | 13/10/09

I like option “8”

8. Recharge the booze industry for the cost

But I also think that a 2am to 10am TOTAL BOOZE SALE BAN should be looked at and 24 hour Casinos such as Crown should also be forced to shut between 2am - 10am

If you want to be a shift worker…well drink at home or get another job if it upsets you that much.

And include a non refundable $15 Cab component into that $100 Card mentioned also.