- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

How dare we pretend booze is a youth issue



We are such a delusional country in utter denial of our nationwide alcoholism. How dare intelligent citizens accept the position that booze is a youth issue when the facts scream otherwise?

From yesterdays Roy Morgan poll...

In the twelve months to January 2012, Kiwi men aged 50+ accounted for 28% of the alcohol market, well ahead of the next biggest group, Men 35-49 with 22%

Our addiction to booze is across the country, we are awash in the bloody stuff, alcohol liberalization has been a complete failure. We need to regulate this product far beyond the weak watered down response this Government is currently mouthing.

We need to raise the drinking age to 20, not because it's young people who have failed but because it's adults who have failed them by creating an environment drowning in cheap booze, we need to get this stuff out of our supermarkets and clamp down on advertising, we need to lower the blood-booze level and we need to set minimum prices.

We need to stop blaming young people for the booze drenched community we have created and we need to stop seeing raising the age as the cure all. It isn't, it's only one part of the equation needed to clamp down on the social damage this product creates.

FACEBOOK TWITTER

9 Comments:

At 4/7/12 11:45 am, Blogger Will de Cleene said...

Spoke to a venue operator in Auckland last year. He commented that the 21sts aren't half as badly behaved as the 65ths.

 
At 4/7/12 12:18 pm, Blogger Blair Anderson said...

Alcohol and other Drugs.....

Until we treat drug policy as an ALL DRUG issue rather than on legal vs illegal we will never fix either.

And we cannot fix alcohol without first fixing the neighbouring intoxicant, cannabis.

The prosecution of cannabis use, possession and cultivation drives people to drink just as the curtailment of alcohol access drives people to cannabis and its prohibition related harms.

Are we to pretend otherwise?

For to do so is to maintian systemic and chronic problems that could be fixed by a drug peace solution.

It is time to adopt Ottawa Charter principles as formulated into our National Drug Strategy circa 1996.(yes, alcohol and other drugs. treat as a health issue)

Put Alcohol and Nicotine alongside cannabis into Class D regulatory models. For drug policy to be realistic it has to recognise USE and create NORMATIVE rules, the social norms that imbue society with self governance, self identity, and self will. Anything else treats adults as children and expects children to behave like adults.

 
At 4/7/12 12:54 pm, Blogger CameronWBrowne said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 4/7/12 12:54 pm, Blogger CameronWBrowne said...

So we should be restricting alcohol sales, restricting advertising, and allowing police to brutalize young people caught drinking on Queen Street?

You awful statist.

For someone who acts so critical of the government, and the first to cry "Big Brother;" you want to place a lot of our civil liberties and economic power in the hands of government.

Since you hate all our politicians (except for homophobe Hone Harawira) so much - why would you trust them with the entirety of our country's wealth, as well as all our liberties?

Your logic seems to be that we should have crap public television at everyone's expense, while beating and jailing a 19 year old drinking a beer. Disgusting...

 
At 4/7/12 2:40 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

Very well said Blair Anderson and yes Will, I have heard the same things.

As for Cameron.

So we should be restricting alcohol sales, restricting advertising,
1000% yes. Let's stop the hold these booze barons have over our culture.

and allowing police to brutalize young people caught drinking on Queen Street?
Ummm, no. Where did I say that, quote please would be good. I specifically said that type of pushy shovey style of Policing is not what we want. I called for presence, not brutalizing. Where did I say I wanted Police to brutalize young people? I think if you do a quick search of this site, you'll see blog after blog of me criticizing the Police for those tactics.

You awful statist.
Ohhh. You pit up a straw man argument and now intend to damn me for words you've put in my mouth.

Gotcha. BTW - if you're wanting to box me into a stereotype, at least get the right one. I'm not so much a Statist as a post-arnichst Marxist Keynesian Socialist Environmentalist underpinned by a fierce Nietzschean sense of individual freedom.

For someone who acts so critical of the government, and the first to cry "Big Brother;" you want to place a lot of our civil liberties and economic power in the hands of government.
I have never shied away from the role of an active state to protect society from corporate machinations, like those of the ever advertising, ever damaging booze industry. If you have missed that point while reading Tumeke I think you may have comprehension issues.

Since you hate all our politicians
I like the Labour and Green ones a lot. I've even had pleasant conversations with NZ First MP's and can sit down for a coffee with Nikki Kaye.

(except for homophobe Hone Harawira)
MANA's internal dialogue on that issue will decide it and I'll wait until I've seen what that dialogue casts up as policy before I judge it.

so much - why would you trust them with the entirety of our country's wealth, as well as all our liberties?
I'm sorry, what? Where did I say I wanted the state to have all our country's wealth and liberties???

Seriously, where on earth did I say that? You're going to need to quote it because that sounds like an absurdity? Is this still the first strawman argument or is this a new one?

Your logic seems to be that we should have crap public television at everyone's expense,
Well TVNZ7 gained 1.6million cumulative viewers within 4 years with zero promotion from TVNZ, that's actually quite impressive to be honest. Your comment suggests you don't know much about the topic perhaps?

while beating and jailing a 19 year old drinking a beer
I'm sorry what? Where have I asked for 19 year olds to be beaten and imprisoned? Are you a real person or a PR hack for the booze industry?

Disgusting...
What's disgusting is that you haven't posted earlier, I've forgotten how much I enjoy dissecting commentary as dumb as this.

 
At 4/7/12 4:51 pm, Blogger Tim said...

Where'd you get that pic - is is Rosemary McCleod and Jim Mora's dad?. Oops - I meant Rosie's mum (or did I)

 
At 4/7/12 9:54 pm, Blogger Phil said...

Alcohol and drug policy is a complex issue if you want it to be. It's clearly too difficult for our politicians to handle rationally. For that matter, most serious issues seem beyond the Govt. Maybe it's because Government has become a shonkey facade for commercial/ business interests. This explains why its not working for the people. I suppose we could just wait longer for the trickle down.
Phil

 
At 4/7/12 11:54 pm, Blogger countryboy said...

These are fertile days for addictions . Fear , anxiety , paranoia and insecurities . Wait ! That sounds like me ! Ethyl alcohol is a schmuks drug . When drunk , you look like a dick , sound like dick and behave like a dick and you might wake up with a dick , feeling like a dick , wondering why your dicks just turned a green/black colour or you ask yourself who's that dick head guy/girl passed out in your bed and where the fucks my car ? No matter how careful you are . See the wise youth of Queen street or the dopy old coots of any grubby public bar . No class darling . The enduring problem with all recreational drugs is that they're great ! At the time , they are lovely . Unfortunately , as is typical of drug addictions , the tiger you thought you had by the throat is now the nightmare you have by the tail . Booze is perhaps the worst of all . It's subtle , alluring pernicious and peddled by the best in the business . Now , imagine if P had that kind of PR . Jesus ! Society makes drugs dangerous . Not the other way around . The late and dubiously great Barry Crump once said " There's no such thing as dangerous drugs , just dangerous drug users ". I hear on the news tonight that kids are dying huffing LPG . WTF ? Our society , that's WTF . Some people would set their heads in concrete if they thought it'd get them high enough to escape their crappy realities . Fix society and the drug problem will quietly disappear I reckon . Or in the immortal words of Kim Hill, " Then why don't people just shut up about it ? " When talking to a woman who wrote a book about the dubious effects of anti - smoking advertizing . The Author claimed that anti-smoking advertizing was as effective at promoting smoking as pro-smoking advertizing . Richard Nixons War on Drugs certainly seems to bear that out . Ask any Mexican .

 
At 5/7/12 4:44 pm, Blogger Nic said...

The booze barons don't have a hold on our culture. Our culture is booze.

Small town NZ has nothing but a Warehouse on the outskirts and a pub in the heart. We work like dogs all day, so why cant we enjoy a beer at the end of it? How else are we going to get home, walk 10km?

There is no successful way to nanny New Zealanders out of this attitude. If you want to change the culture, first you need to build a better culture.

The best and most civil alcohol cultures in NZ (and the world) are not those that shut away drinking behind closed doors. Compare areas of the city that have adults (and their families) seated on the streets, enjoying meals and alcohol, to the booze barns of suburban Auckland, and almost every small town in the country, where the only people you see on the street are drunk.

Restrictive licensing plays right into the hands of the breweries. It is all too tempting to let the breweries consolidate the 'problem' into large secure licensed premises.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home