Call To Lift Drinking Age & Double Price Drinks...

[petesbrew]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/call-to-lif...91021-h92i.html


Geez, this would make drinks at the Belgian pricey. :angry:

 

[.DJ.]

more reason to brew...

 

[technocat]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/call-to-lif...91021-h92i.htm
Geez, this would make drinks at the Belgian pricey. :angry:

Yeah Pete I read the article and while raising the drinking age may in part solve some of the problem raising the price of drinks is a flawed arguement as many are well primed on cheaper packaged drink before arriving at a venue. In young society where the blade seems to rule making it a first offence a mandatory jail term might deter some from carrying knives. As for the sport of cowards like gang bashing that seems a harder nut to crack.

 

[MarkBastard]

**** I hate this country sometimes.

 

[schooey]

Prepare for the tween onslaught to AHB and Homedistiller.org...

The problem of underage drinking will always be a problem whether the legal drinking age is 18, 21 or 35. What does a 16 year old that drinks regularly now care if it goes to 21? If the price does indeed get doubled, it's just going to make more people look for cheaper ways to get it...

 

[Frag_Dog]

The drinking age should be raised to 21. Not because its going to stop the 18-21 crowd from drinking, but it will stop them drinking in pubs and clubs.

I remember going out in the states 2 years ago, and it feels alot safer and more mature then Fortitude Valley.

 

[geoffi]

Some 'expert' makes an outlandish statement and the media are all over it. Sensationalism 'R' Us.

This is not going to happen. It doesn't have the proverbial snowball's.

Yes, there is and always has been a problem in Australia with unruly drunken morons. But the problem in this country is not what is in people's drinks. It's what they have (or don't have) between their ears. Unfortunately the English-speaking world seems particularly afflicted by an idiot yob subculture. An abnormally large percentage of our population has it hard wired into their brains that if you have a couple of drinks it gives you a license to act like an idiot. Go to any community event in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal etc etc and there will be beer and/or wine and/or spirits drunk in considerable quantities. But violence? Antisocial behaviour? Highly unlikely. Now imagine Oktoberfest in Australia or the UK. It would be a bloodbath.

But back to the original point, I don't believe any government would ever dare raise the drinking age to 21, or suddenly increase the general cost of booze. (Alcopop debate notwithstanding.) Stay calm people. This too shall pass.

 

[DiscoStu]

Yet another example of the academics and government wanting to punish the majority for the idiocy of the few.

Why should I have to pay $10 a schooner because a small number of dickheads cause trouble when they've had a few too many. Instead they try enforcing the existing law. Don't serve them when they are shitfaced, actually catching and prosecuting those who do commit assaults etc whether they be alcohol related or not.

But no that would be too hard, better to kill off the pubs altogether by doubling the price of a drink, what a crock of shit. :angry:

 

[svyturys]

Some 'expert' makes an outlandish statement and the media are all over it. Sensationalism 'R' Us.

This is not going to happen. It doesn't have the proverbial snowball's.

Yes, there is and always has been a problem in Australia with unruly drunken morons. But the problem in this country is not what is in people's drinks. It's what they have (or don't have) between their ears. Unfortunately the English-speaking world seems particularly afflicted by an idiot yob subculture. An abnormally large percentage of our population has it hard wired into their brains that if you have a couple of drinks it gives you a license to act like an idiot. Go to any community event in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal etc etc and there will be beer and/or wine and/or spirits drunk in considerable quantities. But violence? Antisocial behaviour? Highly unlikely. Now imagine Oktoberfest in Australia or the UK. It would be a bloodbath.

I have been to many festivals in Europe which were awash with beer. Not spirits or wine but beer stand after beer stand, metres apart and have yet to witness any violence.
The closest it came to violence was an incident where I was talking to the organisers at 2 am. and someone tackled another guy. The guy on the bottom yelled, "yes I have your wallet." and promptly handed it over to the tackler who let the ''crim" go and said, "Don't you ever go and do that again." Not a punch or kick was exchanged.
The organisers turned to me and said, " We are very sorry that you had to see that. We assure you it is rare but now you will go back to Australia with a negative view of our festival."

Cheers

 

[schooey]

Not because its going to stop the 18-21 crowd from drinking, but it will stop them drinking in pubs and clubs.

Pffft....It might stop them drinking in clubs, but they'll just do what they did when the alcopop tax hit; Get shit faced at home and hit the clubs and pubs for the music. The underagers will still do what the underagers do now; Go to the local gathering place and get hammered andthen walk the streets, hit the local Maccas, hang around the front of the Pubs.

 

[~MikE]

So it's only the under 21 crowd and those that don't like drinking enough to pay twice as much for drinks that are causing all the alcohol related violence? somehow i find this hard to believe if only we had another western country with a legal drinking age of 21 that we could use as a model for alcohol related dramas :lol:

 

[komodo]

*yawn*

 

[jonocarroll]

I'm fairly sure that people will pay whatever the standard cost of alcoholic drinks is - if a [insert typical regional glass size] of beer is $8 everywhere, then that's what people will pay. It's only a rip-off to people if they can get it elsewhere, cheaper.

I agree that raising the drinking age won't stop underage drinkers - how could it? They're underage already, you just make more of them. When the city speed limit here was reduced from 60 km/h to 50 km/h, the general response was 'well, now I'll be going 20 km/h over the limit rather than 10.'

If anyone was actually serious about changing the attitude towards alcohol in our society, they'd look at having, oh, I don't know any form of education before people start drinking. More than the vague health warnings that the youth will surely ignore, and the 'drinking = evil, don't do it' spin. At least in my experience, the introduction is 'adults drink. they enjoy it. find out from some mates what the cheapest/fastest way to achieve that is, then do that lots.'

I'd like to think that a slow, guided introduction to alcohol and it's effects by someone responsible would teach people 'this is how alcohol affects you', 'this is what is considered an acceptable level of inebriation for social gatherings', 'this is how to appreciate what you are consuming' and 'this is when you stop drinking for the night'. But I guess that would involve some parenting... stuff it - let the schools/government teach the kids. That works. <_<

 

[Fourstar]

Why should I have to pay $10 a schooner because a small number of dickheads cause trouble when they've had a few too many.

Funny thing is, most of those knobs who cause trouble already pay $10 for less than a schooner of some lightstruck Eurotrash at their Electronic dance wankfest every weekend. Its ok though, they offset the cost of beer by purchasing drugs instead!

 

[geoffi]

Now I come to think of it, drinking in many countries is closely bound up with eating. Oktoberfest is a huge pig out as well as a booze up. (And maybe I'm really onto something here when you consider the sophisticated food cultures in many continental European countries compared to English-speaking countries.)

Maybe a large part of the problem of 'binge' drinking and idiotic behaviour stemming from it comes from drinking on an empty stomach. A litre of full-stength beer on top of a large amount of food makes a huge difference to the effects.

How's this for an idea? Instead of raising ages or prices, we have an awareness campaign to encourage eating before or during drinking?

Uh oh. I can see the headline now...

"Obesity expert slams 'eat-before-you-drink' campaign"

 

[MarkBastard]

Yeah that's another good point, I'm sure there will be a lot of zombie looking people ordering water from the bar now.

I think there is a sensible limit as far as beer prices go, and once over that limit drugs because a genuine alternative that people will flock to.

I think we're already nearing the limit. Prices are already an absolute joke in this country.

 

[dannybzr]

They should really be focusing on education from a young age rather then blaming the masses for the stupidity of a few..

 

[Pollux]

Oh great, another hyped up story....

I agree with others here, the key is education. Let kids have a glass of wine with dinner on a Friday night from the age of 15. Some expert will rave on about it leading to developmental issues, but if that simple act stops that child from seeing alcohol purely as a way of getting smashed and more as a drink to be enjoyed and savoured, the long term outcome may well be better....

As for the drink vs drug arguement, back when my wife and I used to go out clubbing (2004/2005) it was a known fact that a night on pills was cheaper than a night on club priced beer/spirits.

 

[Digger11]

Australia is often blinded by its myopic views.

We do some things very well, like free Hospitals and continuing unemployment benefits, but are shocking at other things.

You do not discover this unless you travel (and preferably live) in other countries.

I'll give you some examples.

The USA splits the driving and drinking age by 5 years.
In Australia they occur on the same day.
Who do you think is correct ????


In Italy, if there are no cars around, you can pretty much drive at any speed as long as you have a safe car and are not too stupid.
In Australia, you will get caught by a speed camera for doing 5 kmh's per hour over the psoted limit no matter what the conditions and what type of car you are driving.
Who do you think is correct ????

In the USA they have about 10 times as many scientists analysing drugs for approval.
In Australia we have 1/10th the resource and duplicate the US's effort and knock back drugs that the US deems safe.
Who is right ???

and all of Malaysia (from the Prime Minister down), just think we are a total backwater hick country (a bit like we think of New Zealand).

It's great to be a proud Aussie (which I 100% am) but we have many many restrictions placed on us that other countries residents would just laugh at.
It is still the best in the world to live (just), despite the integration (or lack thereof) problems of recent very high immigration has caused.

 

[reVoxAHB]

I was living in Colorado (US) when the legal drinking age changed from 18 to 21. I was 17 years and 11 months of age. The cutoff date (when the law was enforced) meant if you were 18 years and 1 day, it did not affect you, where if you were just 1 day shy of 18, sorry kid.. gotta wait 3 more years to buy a beer .

It didn't really matter to myself and friends. The guys who were just a little older bought beer for us. It just meant we couldn't drink beers at a bar sort of thing.. and back then, and maybe it was just the Denver scene at the time, night clubbing was lame so again, didn't bother us. Point is, we drank and had access to drink.. the law didn't make a difference.

I find it sad that a, presumably influential, young'un can be poached between classes at high-school, or in a WalMart parking lot to go fight another man's war.. sign his/her life away at 18, but isn't regarded "adult" enough to responsibly have a beer until the age of 21 (in the US).

reVox