AdultPornMasta

Fixing the "Drunks Everywhere" part.

"Drunks Everywhere":

http://open.salon.com/blog/herascie/...tion_of_drunks

"MAY 9, 2011 2:55AM
Australia - nation of drunks"

"Australia, land of social engineering, is now (finally) focusing on 'alcohol abuse' as a social ill. We have huge problems with binge-drinking, alcohol-induced violence and anti-social behaviour. Further, the combination of alcohol and stimulants is exacerbating the problem.

I grew up in Australia, but I never noticed how much Aussies drink until I lived overseas for 20 years, then returned. Everything in Australia revolves around the consumption of alcohol. Culturally, it is just a 'given' that people drink.

Although the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol in a licensed premises is 18, there isn't any restriction on consumption of alcohol on private property. Parents often give their under-18 children alcohol to drink at home - or to take to parties. The rationale is usuallly something like: I'd rather they drink at home where I can control it and watch them OR, I'd rather they learn to drink at home in a safe/controlled environment. The assumption is that all persons will automatically drink. Even in the face of much research that shows: the younger people start drinking, the more likely they are to become problem drinkers and use other controlled substances, parents still defend this notion.

So, we are all aware of the problem, but what to do about it?

Adding taxes to alcohol consumed in licensed premises, doesn't help. Only 15% of the alcohol consumed in Australia is consumed on licensed premises (according to the Hotel owner's assoc). In fact, since prices of drinks in clubs went up, the incidence of 'preloading' (getting intoxicated at home before going out) has increased.
Since the added tax on 'alco-pops' (drinks that are sweet and purportedly marketed to young people) the consumption of straight spirits, which are cheaper and more intoxicating, has increased.

Despite the government spending millions on advertising/health promotional material, the incidence of binge-drinking and public drunkeness has not decreased.

In my opinion, the only way to make an impact on this behaviour is to attack it from several points that all emphasize a change in public opinion.

First, we need to stop giving alcohol as gifts.
I went to a state conference for an organization, which had a lengthy presentation on peer support, employee counseling etc., to help for those in our profession - who, as a profession, are at high risk for substance abuse. The guest speaker was thanked and given a bottle of wine - I kid you not.

Further, through the two days of the conference, there were door prizes, spot prizes, gifts for guest speakers etc.; nearly all of them alcohol. In fact, whenever our organization has guest speakers, we thank them with alcohol. How rude and presumptuous is it to automatically assume that someone drinks? What if you are giving it to someone who has just joined AA? Or is Muslim? Or otherwise finds drinking offensive/problematic?
How about we start giving people pens, thumb-drives, plants, flowers, first aid kits - there's so many alternatives that are appropriate to any gender/religion/political persuasion/age.

Second, parents need to strictly stick to the notion that you simply cannot drink until you are 18. We need to send the message that alcohol consumption is not a given, it is a special privelege that is available, once a person is of the age to consume it responsibly.

Third, a licensed premises should be prevented from selling anything containing caffeine (or other stimulants) other than coffee. One of the main reasons that alcohol-fueled violence is increasing is the combination of stimulants (caffeine drinks, amphetamines) and alcohol. Whereas a person who was intoxicated used to pass out, now they remain conscious and active - hence the increase in the 'agro' behaviour and the ability to enact same.

Next: how about addressing one of the main underlying issues with respect to young kids (under 25) drinking so much - boredom. Kids in WA are bored to death. There is so little for youngsters to do here unless they are involved in organized sport or belong to cadets or other 'youth' organizations...which takes parental commitment that is so often lacking. Of the few places there are for young people to congregate, many of them are unsafe and unwelcoming unless the kids are consuming drugs or acting anti-socially. There are thousands of kids who are off school for nearly three months during the summer, whose working parents simply leave them to their own devices, day in and day out. There's something to be said for a culture of 'summer camp'.

Finally, we need to send the message to kids that when they drink or use drugs, they make themselves vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. I am often in a position of caring for these kids. Do you know what happens to young girls at rock concerts? Have you ever let your teenage daughter go to a concert with a 'mosh pit ticket'? Do you realize how many young girls are sexually assaulted at these concerts, especially in the mosh pit? I do - I see them nearly every week. There are young men who specifically wait in the mosh pit for the young girls who are wasted, so they can rape or otherwise assault them. The girls are too wasted to even know what is happening to them - until they see me and realize they have blood running down their legs. You know why you don't know about this? Because they are too scared to report it, not wanting their parents to know that they were wasted. The cops and the security guards know it is going on, but they can't do anything without a co-operative victim. If you saw what I see, you would never let your daughter go to a concert unescorted again.
So how about a comprehensive initiative to emphasize the personal consequences of intoxicants?

These are just a few things - there's more. Generally, however, you cannot legislate drunkeness out of existence - it has to be a multifaceted approach that changes attitudes. It begins with people casting aside their preconceived assumptions and looking realistically at facts.

Cheers

Hera Scie"

__________________
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."