The UK's drink problem....

[Finding My Self]

....on our TV's just now....a whole programme about the UK's rising drink problem...
I've turned over just now as there is just too much puking going on for me (!) but the programme started with this,

"An incredibly high 53% of people believe that drinking is their own responsibility. 47% think it is the fault of the drinks companies, advertising and the government..."

WHAT?? "inredibly high....53%" - um, no wonder we have a 'drink problem' anywhere! Thank Dog we have a somewhat majorly higher figure here! And consequently more sober people!

Plus, I am getting email after email from business and women's and community networks telling me just how to manage to drink at Christmas.....in not one of them does it suggest that you can enjoy Crimbo sober!!!!! (Even telling me to drink at home rather than go out to parties......?!?!)

Oh crikey.....scary!

[Finding My Self]

The UK's drink problem....

....average wine strengths have increased from 9% in 1978 to 12.5% in 2007.

[Cinders]

The UK's drink problem....

FMS,

What is so sad about me is I have often thought, "man if they only made wine like they used to, about half the alcohol."

My husband gently reminded me, I would just be drinking twice the amount and he is so dead on....

We can blame it on "them" if we want to. "They" do want to make money and push this stuff at us. We, however, bring it to our lips and swallow and many of us here do that to an obscene amount.

My husband, on the otherhand, ONCE in the last three years actually drank TWO beers in an entire night!!!

At Bradford, they called someone like him and "earthling" and someone like me a drunk...

Cindi

[Finding My Self]

The UK's drink problem....

Yea, I know Cindi - but don't be too tough on yourself....the point is that if wine had stayed at 9% etc. we might just not have reached a point of getting used to higher and higher levels of alcohol in our systems....we might have doubled the intake but we might not...

...and yes, no matter what...about anything....no-one puts drink in our mouths, cigs or chocoloate. No one makes us do anything.... anything at all - it is all our own choice - but this current world seems to be getting worse at knowing that. Just knowing that - even if it is hard to change habits and addictions we're one big step nearer if we know it. And 47% don't??

[hippie37]

The UK's drink problem....

Funny you should start a thread on this FMS I've just commented about our nation of binge drinkers in trixies thread!!

I think the government in this country needs a good kick up the backside (and that is being VERY polite for me). They are still living in 1973 with James Blunt as far as I'm concerned. They have no real conception of just how dangerous and out of hand this binge drinking is becoming and they of course will profess otherwise. But! they are a load of old fuddy duddies who now nothing about this youth culture and as far as I am concerned they are willing to trade peoples lives for benefits and cash rewards from large drink companies while putting on a serious face to joe public pretending they give a shit about our youth and the binge drinking culture.:soapbox:

nuff said anyway as I could rant for hours about this as it really does piss me off something rotten.

Yours the Anarchist Hippie xxx

[Cinders]

The UK's drink problem....

FMS and Hippie,

I have lived a significant portion of my life in the south of the USA. The mountain I currently live on in Alabama has many older "homesteads" on it. You can find stills everywhere. All you need is a good metal detector.

One of my best friend's daddy growing up was a Revenuer (looked for people making and selling alcohol on the sly, no taxes, etc.)

Also, prohibition in the USA gave rise to Al Capone.

Government or no, people are gonna go down this path. Where governments should step in is with education and whatever means is available to help those who want to quit.

Geez. I guess what I am trying to say in my roundabout way is that we cannot just lay blame on the government for the whole issue. The government is turning a blind eye, sure, they want the taxes, just like with cigarettes. That is heinous, I agree.

But even if the government did the "right" thing and abolished or tried to tightly control alcohol, I do not think it would help. Remember, I just spent a few weeks in rehab with people addicted to opiates, that is a very TIGHTLY controlled substance here.

I am not saying I know the answer, but I am not sure that is a governmental function and if it is, the government can't do it anyway (that has been proven throughout history.)

I do think that turning alcohol into the anathema that they are doing with cigarettes in the USA, from grade school up, is a good idea. At least some of the kids will "get it" but there will always be alcoholics and drug addicts.

Okay, I wish I wasn't one of them, but I am. I simply have to take responsibility for it and know that it is ultimately my responsibility and my fight to make.

I hate to be political. I usually don't engage in this kind of thing, but history should teach us some lessons and we need to think "out of the box" if we want to help our younger generation and BELIEVE ME, I want to figure out a way to help them. I have three youngun's that I want to protect, myself.

Cindi

ps Hippie, if you truly are an anarchist, then you must think that the government has no business in this issue either way, since the government should not exist.

[Cinders]

The UK's drink problem....

One other thing.

Please understand this is truly a political debate I am making and in no way is an attack on either of you.

I truly have been considering ways to help younger kids grow up without thinking that drugs and alcohol are just "okay" especially considering the damage is does to them.

I do think we need to think "out of the box" and figure out a new way to attack this problem.

Cindi

[Finding My Self]

The UK's drink problem....

Spot on too, Hippie... going to contradict myself a bit here....woooman!....but it is true. Yes, what we put in our mouths is our responsibility but when you're young and,well, young!, it does seem very wrong that so much is allowed to happen (advertising etc) that flies in the face of 'the caring government'..... who seem more worried about things not so beneficial to their finance department...

You put it much more eloquently than me, Hippie....rant away! Give me the words!

[Finding My Self]

The UK's drink problem....

Cindi - co-posting! Oh I absolutely agree that it is education.....the first thing in everything....and not, "This is how you should think" but, "Tell me what you think...discuss...talk about..." Yes, outside the box!! Teach through awareness and personal responsibility and 'all-options' choice'...not fear tactics and bans. (Just cut out the advertising...can't be good...)

This world of 'blame and claim' - it's taking responsibility away from people...if we gave responsibility and choice back....expected it of people......so I agree, no bans. Just no advertising either. (Don't like it anyway; I makes my own choices thank you! The ads are just so transparent...aagh!)

Sorry, soooh tired...can't type anything more useful tonight....

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
FMS xx

[dexterhead]

The UK's drink problem....

Hi Finding Myself, DB2, Hippie: ! good thread..
I lived in England for a few months in the 1980s, and the pubs had to close at 11 .. think I've heard that's been changed ... is that when bingeing got worse? or is it more complicated than that?
I've often thought about the role of alcohol in different cultures. I lived in Germany and have good friends from Italy. There, wine or beer is a part of daily life but it seemed it was really frowned on to binge and get drunk. My mom grew up in a German-American household and alcohol was simply part of life but not something you abused. She says tthat when they would go sledding as kids, they'd be given a bit of schnaps afterward .. that would be so shocking here now, yet she grew up thinking you could have one or two but that overindulging simply isn't done!! Here in the States, it's what you do as a teen and young adult and it's seen as hilarious! I always thought maybe it was part of our Puritan heritage, seeing it as in some ways a "forbidden fruit," the whole way of thinking that led to Prohibition, that so many Americans either don't drink at all or binge drink. I don't know ..

[Cinders]

The UK's drink problem....

Dexterhead,

Good thought. The "all or nothing" thing.

I do not know but having grown up with a mom who was so afraid of any alcohol ingestion, perhaps!!

I do think that those of us here can think of ways to save many youngsters from this pain, who better?

Of course, if it is a "born with" kind of issue, maybe not. But then again, maybe so.

I think we should all think about it and figure out how to save our young. They sure are worth saving!! I love those little ones more than anything else on this earth and will do whatever it takes to protect them from this hell.

Cindi

[ratana]

The UK's drink problem....

Regarding the average wine strength, I would love to even see 12%! I just pulled put six bottles of California red in my cabinet, they range from 13.5% to a whopping 16.1%. The lone French red is 13%. It's a common complaint among Cali wine consumers.

No, I would not just drink more if it were lower AC.

[KateH1]

The UK's drink problem....

OK.....I''ll put in my 2cents....If we as adults, care about the youth of our country, the only way to curb the problem of drinking, drugs, unwanted pregnancy etc. is to raise our children responsibly. Teach them young about the problems that all of the above bring to their lives.

I also must say that I agree with Cindi about proabition, it curbed drinking only to a point. In the long run, it brought more crime and drug abuse into the US than had previously existed. I just do not think that we can blame the government for our abuses. We have to take that responsibility ourselves.

[Cinders]

The UK's drink problem....

Ratana,

That is the sad difference between a problem drinker and a true alcoholic.

You would not drink more.

I would drink whatever it takes to make me go into blackout mode.

I hate to say that about myself, but been there done that.

Cindi

[Finding My Self]

The UK's drink problem....

Just a PS....

It does seem there is something in the fact that, in countries where to be rolling drunk or abuse/over-indulge in any way is a big no-no, there isn't the level of problem that there is in countries where it's considered funny, 'big' and 'the-thing-to-do'...... (And when I say' no-no', I don't mean rules, regulations and even prohibition, just an 'it's not the way we do things' type of thinking....)

Edit - as in, is it for nothing that most of us here are from the US, Canada, Australia and the UK - or originated from those places wherever we are?....!)

I've seen countless situations where booze is/was suggested (like the schnapps) for 'anything-but-get-drunk-reasons' and there isn't a problem. Or one that follows later in life.

So, a big point would seem to be how we learn about the role of alcohol early on?

Not a sweeping statement - the gene thing is a major point.... And we still all carry the ultimate resonsibility as to whether or not we put too many glasses to our lips!

Thanks for all the feedback!

FMS xxx