why is alcohol legal: the george best/opening hours thread

Britain has finally introduced 24 hour drinking. To celebrate, the leftwing Guardian (concerned with the wellbeing of society's worst off ) sent a junior reporter on a 24-hour drinking spree, blogged live with the intention that drukedness be portrayed as amusing and macho.Meanwhile, the Guardian urges France to "snap out of its state of denial" and "denormalise drinking", noting that "drink is the third greatest cause of avoidable deaths in France."It also chronicles in detail the death of the famous soccer player, Goerge Best: As a long-term alcoholic, I find this all very depressing.I'm not sure what to say about people's right to choose their own lifestyle. But it fills me with dread. I am a person who's life has been pretty screwed up by alcohol, and will probably die young because of it.Don't know what to say. I feel let down by the Guardian, let down by supposed "lefties" pushing for easier access to alcohol. Don't know what to say.Mickin edit: I forgot to ask the significant question: WHY THE FUCK IS ALCOHOL LEGAL?From the French report: This message has been edited by mick, 11-24-2005 09:12 PM

Yes, I've ALWAYS agreed with that.But...A half of all domestic violence (in France) is caused by alcohol abuse.That's a LOT of domestic violence. And I'm guessing that it's viollence perpetrated by men against their wives, partners, and children.Is it possible that ambivalence is not the right attitude?Mickin edit: In the seventies, drunk driving was considered acceptable (amusing, macho, etc). But over the nineties, it became unacceptable by the vast majority of people. The same thing happened with not wearing safety belts, and lots of other things. In the UK, and much of Euopre, but not so much in America, if you drive a car while drunk, you are castigated by your entire community.I'm just wondering whether there might be a way of having a similar change of mindset with regard to "getting pissed". Because it would help every single person in society if that came to pass.MIckThis message has been edited by mick, 11-24-2005 09:38 PM

Hi funkaloyd,Please see the "in edit" part of my previous post. I'm suggesting that an anti-"pissed" movement could achieve somthing like the "anti-drunk driving" movement.No idea how it would be achieved, though.Mick

You're right, of course!But it can be kind of painful to see my own problems being replayed over and over again in so many individuals' and families' lives. Alcohol is often seen as "most people are able to enjoy it, a minority are unable to and have to steer clear from it". Well that's true as far as it goes, but when we have figures like "50% of domestic violence in France inolves alcohol use" it looks like there is a problem in more than than the minority of cases. "Alcoholism" itself is a technical term and you can define it how you like, almost certainly as a minority, but the problems exacerbated by alcohol use are far more common than people believe. To be honest I'm less concerned with the health consequences on alcoholics themselves than on the consequences on their families and communities.Anyway, I'm not sure where this is going now...Mick