Change the alcohol laws.
I was reading the Dominion Post the other day relating to an article that says there is a fear small shops will go under or out of business if there is a change of the liqour laws. Damn straight there is a fear. Its in some cases a bigger seller in small dairies and other small outlets than their everyday groceries.
Unfortunately I find myself having very little sympathy for this given the amount of violence that has happened, particularly against the shop owners themselves, as well as the community in general. In this particular article, Mr Neil Patel, who himself and his family were the victims of an attack is saying that this will not solve the problem. This may be true, and no solution finally decided on will be perfect, but I think this one will go some way to solve the problem.
His comment? "Youth need to be educated about alcohol and disciplined. This is a growing social problem but the Government are going about it the wrong way this bill will punish the store owners rather than the people committing crime."
I'm sorry, thats just not going to wash. Because the problem is not isolated to youth, but to adults just as much, if not more so. If the adults cannot control their drinking, there is no way the youth will be interested in doing the same thing. The adults need to be the example in this.
Just a week ago in the Herald there was an article about parents being prosecuted for making their unlicensed teen drive them home because they were too pasted to drive themselves. What an example!!!
Education and discipline aren't going to solve the problem. Because you know what? Those who cannot hold their booze, obviously can't be bothered learning or being disciplined about their use of booze.
The age should never have been lowered and the last place I ever wanted to see booze was in my local dairy. In fact the last place I wanted to see porn mags was in my local dairy.
It is sad to say that while I agree, education and discipline are key factors to alcohol regulation, the reality is that our people aren't disciplined enough and can't be fagged learning about the dangers of over doing it and the consequences to drunken driving and alcohol abuse on the family.
In a nut shell, these are my thoughts about it;
Unfortunately I find myself having very little sympathy for this given the amount of violence that has happened, particularly against the shop owners themselves, as well as the community in general. In this particular article, Mr Neil Patel, who himself and his family were the victims of an attack is saying that this will not solve the problem. This may be true, and no solution finally decided on will be perfect, but I think this one will go some way to solve the problem.
His comment? "Youth need to be educated about alcohol and disciplined. This is a growing social problem but the Government are going about it the wrong way this bill will punish the store owners rather than the people committing crime."
I'm sorry, thats just not going to wash. Because the problem is not isolated to youth, but to adults just as much, if not more so. If the adults cannot control their drinking, there is no way the youth will be interested in doing the same thing. The adults need to be the example in this.
Just a week ago in the Herald there was an article about parents being prosecuted for making their unlicensed teen drive them home because they were too pasted to drive themselves. What an example!!!
Education and discipline aren't going to solve the problem. Because you know what? Those who cannot hold their booze, obviously can't be bothered learning or being disciplined about their use of booze.
The age should never have been lowered and the last place I ever wanted to see booze was in my local dairy. In fact the last place I wanted to see porn mags was in my local dairy.
It is sad to say that while I agree, education and discipline are key factors to alcohol regulation, the reality is that our people aren't disciplined enough and can't be fagged learning about the dangers of over doing it and the consequences to drunken driving and alcohol abuse on the family.
In a nut shell, these are my thoughts about it;
- I think the age should go up.
- The availability of it as in locations it can be purchased from limited to licensed liquor outlets and the number of those outlets in a city be strictly limited and monitored.
- The limits of alcohol currently allowed to drive with should be dropped, and higher de-merit points for being caught over the limits at least, if not stronger punishments.
Labels: alcohol laws, drinking age, liquor shops
posted by Wiremu Bayliss at
11:36 am
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