Under age drinking

There's an interesting article about under age drinking on the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25047079

The general gist of it is that some group is campaigning for tougher penalties for those who enable under age people to get a drink.

Just picking it apart, here's my thoughts on it.

I can't really argue with that, except to say that anyone determined enough will get what they want one way or another. I personally would rather someone bought it than someone stealing it.

Don't even ask why people are doing it, just push the prices up so that less gets spent on food and other essentials by those that really are determined. Make them more skint, make them need a crutch more and more, and push the problem underground all while penalising the responsible drinker who (like me and wife) have a few tinnies at the weekend.

I.e. advertise to the local kids who will buy them alcohol from the next shop.

off to a good start but then....

The bigger issues are nothing to do with pricing. If it cost a tenner for a can of bitter, someone who really wants a can of bitter would pay it, or steal it.

The bigger issue is that certain sections of society are outcast, often through no fault of their own. In Britain, we seem to hate kids. They are always in the news for being naughty, and nobody seems to trust them even if they've done no wrong. That's not a new thing. I recall being a youngster myself. It seemed I could hardly go anywhere at any time without being stopped by the coppers who just wanted to harass me just for being around. Nearly every open space in every town has a sign on it saying "no ball games" or more recently "the police can disperse groups of two or more..", ie "go away". Go where, to the shopping area? http://www.abcfireandsecurity.co.uk/Teenager Dispersal.htm?gclid=COzXzvTn-boCFUmWtAodkEwAyQ

Try taking a pushchair onto public transport. I get so infuriated when wife tells me she failed to go wherever she intended to because she gave up after several buses had passed, refusing to let her on with the pushchair.

Nobody ever asks why people want to get so drunk that they can't even remember their own name.

When I was a teenager, I was (mostly) a good lad. I hated it that while I wanted to get into engineering, I couldn't afford decent training, while convicted car thieves went to 'rehabilitation programs' where they worked with top mechanics to build racing cars. Nowt's changed. There's a teenager I know currently who has been expelled from school, and now 'has to' attend a college where they are learning mechanical engineering and the sciences.

Sorry, a bit of a rant there Any thoughts?

 

It seems that we get told we're doing bad by drinking & smoking, so we have to pay more for both.

No one ever says well done, by spending your already taxed income on something that is raising even more tax for the government, you are being socially responsable, have a pat on the back.

No, we just get ostracized for giving the government thousands of pounds extra.

 

Under age drinking is a sign of the times, nobody stops it and kids are scared of nothing these days.
How do you control it if there is no discipline from day one.

 

And of course when you're a teenager, if you're parents say its cool, it probably isn't, so less incentive to do it. How do you rebel if you're allowed to do it

 

Not covering underage drinking per se, but the comment made about increasing prices on alcohol... When we went to Oslo a couple of years back, there were no drunken idiots staggering around at night, etc. Most likely the really high booze prices had an effect! Tax is higher on alcohol there than on other items, and it sure discourages over-drinking. We could certainly learn a lesson, rather than the cheap deals places like some bars and supermarkets push...

 

We were always allowed an advocaat & lemonade on Christmas Day, even when I was around 12 years old. My parents never discouraged drinking, regardless of age, but it was only in the house. My friends & I were never those down at the park at night with bottles of nasty cider! I used to go out on Thursday nights (student night) when I was 15 years old onwards, but I never got drunk, it was more a social outing. Bearing in mind I'm only 34, the culture seems to have taken a massive shift in what 15 year olds do today than what I used to do! I still sometimes get asked for ID for alcohol, but a 15 year old dressed up to the nines won't.

 

Very true, I can't argue with that

 

No one has ever asked me for my ID when I buy booze.

 

Why's that then Pete?

 

I dunno, obviously they dont look that close.
That is a crazy photo Zigs

 

I didn't take it Honest

 

Neither did I.
Ok if I copy it??

 

Thought it was yours in the first place Pete, only dragged it from another thread

Wonder who took it then, was is @ClaraLou ?