The UK government is becoming alarmed at the spiralling costs of binge-drinking. The health bill for the NHS (national health service) is becoming a serious concern. The social costs - crime and the disruption to family life are rising dramatically.
The government is going to propose having wardens at taxi ranks at weekends at night. They said they are also going to bear down on pubs that serve alcohol to under 18s.
The problem is a cultural one, say many experts. Many of Britain's youth go out on Friday and Saturday nights with just one aim - to get blind drunk.
Two groups of people in the UK are beginning to become a serious problem to themselves and those around them.
The first group consists of people aged 18-25. They go out just to get as drunk as they can. Their behaviour causes serious problems of crime, disorder and the clogging up of emergency rooms in hospitals (A&E Departments).
The second group consists of older people who are chronic drinkers. They are drinking more often and more heavily. The NHS is seeing a rise in cases of cirrhosis and heart disease among this older group.
The government says it would like to see more of a continental European cafe-bar culture. Britons are the biggest binge-drinkers in Europe. Binge-drinking basically means going out on the town to get blind drunk.
The government's new plan called Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England involves voluntary action by alcohol producers and retailers, and action on the part of the government, police and councils. The actions include:
-- A plan to target pubs and shops suspected of selling alcohol to under-18s; including police sting operations
-- Greater use of exclusion orders and fixed-penalty fines for alcohol-related anti-social behaviour
-- Police urged to use more community wardens to patrol areas such as taxi ranks at night
-- Simpler 'sensible drinking' messages from the government and better alcohol education in schools
-- Review of the code of practice for TV advertising to ensure it does not target young drinkers or glamorise drinking
-- 'Social responsibility charter' for drinks producers which includes providing clear product information and health warnings
-- 'Code of good conduct' schemes for shops, pubs and clubs, again including providing information on alcohol
-- National audit of alcohol treatment services; better training for medical staff
A government spokesman said that if these actions do not work they will bring in legislation to make sure it does. This could include forcing pubs to pay for policing costs.
The police say that until people realise that anti-social behaviour is punishable nothing will change. They say that the chances of being punished for anti-social drinking were remote.
Many town centres in the UK have become kids drinking areas at weekends (nights). They are full of pubs and clubs and not much else (at night). Unlike continental European towns, weekend nightlife in UK towns is not designed for family outings. In fact, many young Brits out on a Friday night binge would be horrified to see their mothers in the town centre.
Opinion of the Editor of :
I live in a town on the South East coast of England. I have given up taking my family to restaurants in the town centre. I have two sons, one is ten and the other is 17. The last time I took them out we saw three people vomiting in the streets. This was not a group. We were walking to the car, we first saw one young man holding on to a lamp post and throwing up his dinner, fifty yards further on there was a woman of about 20 doing the same. The last one was about ten yards from our car, he was sitting on the ground with a massive bottle of super-strength cider, throwing up everywhere. He could not have been more than about 15. When we go out in the evening now we tend to go to country pubs and restaurants. This is a great pity. Apart from the health implications for the people who are doing this, it restricts the freedoms of those who do not want to get blind drunk.
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