Taxation - the answer to binge drinking

[Booldawg]

I heard on the radio the Governement has announced to raise taxes on strong beer and alcopops and lower tax on weaker beers (50p extra on WKD and 30p on Special Brew). Surely kids who want to get wasted will either buy more of the weaker beer or switch to Special Brew which is higher in ABV and lower on the tax raise? Not that money was ever an issue.

[vehelpfulguy]

I think you will find it is the Tories who have proposed it rather than the government saying they are going to do it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7282308 .stm

But it is like cigarettes, the government keeping adding tax to them but there are still idiots who carry on smoking.

[Gromit]

There are plenty of existing laws to combat underage and anti-social behaviour from binge drinking. There needs to be zero tolerance on the associated bad behaviour and the police need to enforce those laws vigorously.

Taxation/price increases will not deter people who want to do this.

If a twenty something wants to go out and drink excessively, then that is up to them. If they proceed to vomit, urinate, shout late at night, fight or vandalise, then the law should punish them with fines or community service. At present, the police seem quite happy to ignore such behaviour.

[youngmafbog]

Binge drinking is nothing new. The difference is that more women are doing it. Taxing alcopops will do no goo - you just do what we did and buy vodka.
The problem is that polititions by and large are out of touch - and always have been through their lives. Drinking in the UK is a release from the burgeoning taxes and oppressive dictorialship of McBottle we find ourselves under.
It will eventually work itslf out I am sure, but decades of supping fast because of the 'bell' are not going to dissappear overnight..

[Kromovaracun]

It should also be noted that such taxes will affect people who just happen to like alcopops and don't want to binge drink. Who there are plenty of.

As for the expense deterring people, all rational thought dictates that they should. But they won't. People who go out deliberately to binge drink are going to do it.

Why? Because there are people (I don't know how many, but they're certainly there) who go out purely to get drunk, and if it's too expensive to do it by the taxed drinks, they'll find another drink.

As I've said time and again, the only real way to combat binge drinking is to modify the way it is seen. Ergo, education. Publicity might have some effect, but education is the only real way to do it.

Drinking in the UK is a release from the burgeoning taxes and oppressive dictorialship of McBottle we find ourselves under.

Being a tad extreme, aren't we?

[coco pops]

I think it is about time that parents of underage drinkers got fined instead of all the fines going to the pubs etc. It doesn't matter how much drink costs the kids will still buy it but the parents should be taking responsibility for their kids underage drinking.

[sp1214]

Probihition, even by price, has been already tried in the US and deemed to be a failure.

[gelda]

What puzzles me is where do 11 or 12 year olds get the money to get drunk!

[DONNAKEBABUK]

Why DO people binge drink I wonder ? I am a self admitted binge drinker (although I am trying to combat it) I drink due to stresses and pressures and feel therefore it is a psychological issue as opposed to a physical need for it.

I read with horror that 11 and 12 year olds are getting drunk. My little girl is 10 - nearly 11 and I would be HORRIFIED and GUTTED if I thought she was drinking alcohol.

Without the wish to sound ignorant - is this REALLY happening - and in what circumstances.

Does this start when they start Senior School ?

OMG ! I hope I dont have all this to come.

Best Wishes.

katie. x

[Kromovaracun]

I'm 18 and don't drink, so I'm not really that qualified to comment on why other people do it, but I'll give it a stab anyway.

Among the really young drinkers - however many of them there are - I think it might be seen as a 'mature' thing to do. Older kids do it, adults do it, it looks like fun on TV. I think assuming that this is the main reason is a little unfair on kids, but that could certainly be part of it.

For older kids, you obviously get some people who just continue from when they were young. But I always hear people say it isn't going to be a good time if there's no booze, so I think it's kind of the way alcohol is 'seen'.

Say you're at a party and there's alcohol, and people are drinking it and look like they're having fun. So why not? I think that's a large part of it.