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Age-old problem that we have a duty to confront



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Published Date: 06 September 2008
Kenny MacAskill Justice secretary

THE scourge of alcohol abuse is something that has scarred Scotland for too long.
It causes untold misery to families and communities the length and breadth of the country and costs us at least £2.25 billion a year.

Generations of problem-drinking and ingrained bad habits cannot be undone overnight and they cannot be chan
ged by tinkering at the edges.

Bold, imaginative measures are needed to fundamentally change this nation's relationship with alcohol. That is why we are consulting on a range of steps – including raising the minimum age for off-sales to 21 – that could be taken.

Let me be clear. No-one is suggesting that all antisocial behaviour is drink-related and no-one is saying all younger people are prone to antisocial behaviour. Yet it would be wrong of us to ignore the evidence. Three separate pilot projects – in Armadale, Cupar and Stenhousemuir – have shown that, where the off-sales age limit at weekends was raised to 21, arrests and calls relating to antisocial behaviour fell by up to 60 per cent.

The off-sales age limit is only one of the suggestions in the consultation, which ends next week. Others include minimum pricing for alcohol, an end to irresponsible promotions and the possibility of a social responsibility fee from some retailers to help pay for the costs of alcohol misuse.





The full article contains 239 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 06 September 2008 12:57 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Guga II,

Rockall 06/09/2008 03:44:54
Kenny, people in Scotland can legally marry at sixteen, can be sent to fight in illegal wars, as well as legal ones, and enter into legal contracts when they're eighteen; but now you want to stop these same people buying booze till they're twenty-one. What a load of utter garbage.

Why don't you just enforce exisiting legislation as regards underage drinking and public disorder; and there are more than sufficient laws covering these matters. That way you wouldn't have to dream up yet more Labour Party style control-freak laws.

We know you were a member of the Labour Party, but their methods and control freakery are something we hoped to get away from under the SNP.

Moreover, your desire, for example, not to gaol anyone under the age of eighteen is another area where you should not be considering the age, but the actions of the people concerned. All the wee neds and thugs should be suitably punished, not sent on holidays or kept out of gaol because they are under eighteen.

Again, enforce exisiting legislation, for underage drinking, loutish behaviour and thuggery. Don't bring in unnecessary legislation just for the sake of it, or to make it appear that you are doing something about the problem.

2

drunken proffet,

tassy 06/09/2008 07:50:14
Keep them out of jail. They appear to learn more there than they ever did at school. Birch them, cane them or belt them. It is not soul destroying and has had its successes in the past, which is more than the present technique of feeding them pills or sessions with a physciatrist can boast. It has been about forty years since corporal punishment was banned. I always felt that it concentrated the mind, improved the blood flow and tended to encourage self discipline.
Alternatively give the victims of your politically correct attitudes the vote at sixteen, I know that if I was them I would contemplate a more vigorous approach to the very serious crimes. The western world is going to the dogs you know.
3

Hugo of Garven,

06/09/2008 08:24:14
We DO have an alcohol abuse problem in Scotland.

Some of the proposed measures will work, some will work for a time, some will not work.

Until we try we will not know into which category a proposed measure will fall.

4

Jacqueline Hyde ,

On the shelf 06/09/2008 09:25:31
Kenny, why not try enforcing existing laws first? That's what real governments do. Simply aping New Labour's Westminster policy of flooding the statute books with unnecessary legislation is a very obvious sign of political naivity and incompetence.

I have no doubt that the success of the pilot projects is down to enforcement and police presence and nothing to do with a shift of age limit.
5

drunken proffet,

Tassy 06/09/2008 11:57:29
Do you feel that the comment pages are dying? Mind you it could be that the Scotsman is producing dull news. It used to be a lot better, I reckon they have been threatened by the boss. Well who else would put the fear of death into your average Scottish reporter?

 

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