Law Changes and alcohol

Simon Power has announced some changes to the drinking laws. But good as they are, they are flawed. They are flawed because they are based on the myth that the drinking problem is a youth issue. It is not. Young people mirror what they see happening in the rest of society. They crave the same marks of adulthood they see exhibited by adults. Over 90% of heavy and binge drinkers in this country are adults, over the age of 20. These changes do nothing to address these, and therefore fall far short and doing very much.

Until we change societal attitudes towards drinking teenage drinking will remain a problem. The two are linked. Unfortunately while we adults are very happy to pass judgement on young people and to highlight binge drinking among young people we are much less happy to look at our own drinking habits or those of our friends and colleagues, and much less willing to do anything about that. Just listen to what politicians will talk about. Listen to what many commentators will talk about. It will be just about the youth drinking problem. 

At General Synod this year we had a presentation from Doug Sellman and the  5+ campaign working towards alcohol reform. As I said in that post I did not agree with everything, but am sure they are on the right track. These proposals do invite us to address our own attitudes and not just push the problem off onto young people. But are we willing?

I do agree with the split age proposal n the proprosals announced yesterday. It seems a good mix of treating young people well and addressing the issue.

At General Synod we supported this campaign, and passed a motion not only doing that but also inviting ourselves to look at our own drinking habits. When this motion came to our diocesan synod the last part was gone. It seems we keep thinking that it is someone else drinking too much, while we sip our own whiskeys and gin and tonics. While this hypocrisy continues, young people will continue to mirror our activities, and nothing will change.