Drunks

I can remember when I was in Cardiff some drunk climbed up the rugby posts outside the Millennium Stadium and they had to get the fire service to get him down and as a result I along with other people were late for dinner at our hotel and I am sure there were more serious consequences for other people.
I think he should have been made to compensate all the people who were inconvenienced and he certainly should have been made to pay for the cost of calling out the fire brigade.
More seriously that fire engine could have been needed at an incident elsewhere.
I do hope if there was a house on fire for example and a family was in danger this incident would take priority over an idiot who climber up the rugby posts.

Frank

There is an easy solution. We become a 'dry' country like Saudi Arabia. No alcohol, no problem. Anyone found with alcohol is subject to a public whipping. 100 lashes while handcuffed to a lamp post.

Oh come on.... !

In yer dreams , i think i have read somewhere , we drink more than any where else in the world.

Unfortunately it is often the continued drinking /being drunk which causes problems and the eventual failing of relationships as well as than people turning to drink because of a relationship failure.
I do not believe that being an alcoholic is an illness but rather a personality failing - as in having an addictive personality.

It was very naive o think that extending opening hours would change British drinking habits! In countries with different drinking attitudes they have bars etc that reflect that culture. There will always be a group of people who cannot go for a drink without getting blotto..whether alocoholic or not. because that is why they go to a pub...not to have 'a drink or two' and a chat to friends but to pack in as many drinks as possible and get pissed!

A 'personality failing'?

I don't think I'd class it in quite so negative a way...

My father was an alcoholic and my childhood was a nightmare. However, I would hate to live in a 'dry' country. I like a few glasses of wine myself, hopefully I have never given anyone any trouble. (well not too much anyway)!

There is a great difference between actual alcoholism and binge drinking in public places on a Friday night. Challenging the "social" phenomenon of Binge drinking. The we are only having some fun" brigade would be a start.

Serious alcohol addiction is another problem altogether.

I am puzzled by young people who need to drink a bottle of wine at home before they set out for the evening. I have been told that it is to make them relaxed and give them confidence. When I was a teenager, I didn't need any artificial aids to having a good time, either dancing at the local Palais or roller skating. I didn't go into a pub until I met my husband, and then it was usually when we stopped for lunch on a car rally.
We had come through the war and the austerity years afterwards and lived with the ever-present threat of nuclear weapons.
Before the financial crash, most young people could get a job of some kind, or take higher education.
Why are they so much more 'stressed' today than we were?
And why is this so much more common in the UK? I have never seen young French people slumped on the pavement or vomiting in public.

I did go through some years of heavy wine drinking in my 40s - but I was able to give it up once my life sorted itself out. Now, I am happy to have one glass of wine and water with my dinner. I could not bear to wake up ever again with that dreadful hungover feeling.

I believe some people are more liable to become addicted - I wouldn't call it a personality disorder though, just something genetic linked to their brain chemistry, perhaps. Many people deal with horrendous tragedies, ill-health or financial ruin without turning to alcohol. I wonder what it is that makes the difference?

I think we also have another problem with binge drinking in as much as we see in some areas young women (sometimes girls) roaming the streets after pub hours in very unstable conditions. Keeping up with the boys has become a habit for some, and not very attractive. It does seem odd that this country has this problem, when other countries do not, or do we just not hear about them? A friend of mine used to say that he didn't mind people smoking or drinking, because the tax on these was helping pay his pension, I think that picture has changed, the cost of treating alcohism, and lung cancer must outweigh the tax collected on sales. I like to see people enjoying a drink together, and it is a lovely way to relax, it is such a pity that the those who over-indulge cause problems.

PRINTMISS

I can't remember which countries are involved but I can remember a TV programme about countries which have accommodation for drunks and they are taken there by the police.
When they sober up the residents have to pay for their overnight stay and the bill amounted to about £400.
Probably if they get a bill of this size it may stop the people getting drunk in future.

Frank

Ana If you had been on the receiving end of a person with an addiction to alcohol, or possibly another addiction, and who could not or would not stop then you may have a different view.
The trouble is many of these things are quite insidious the way they begin low key and then grow and grow - the people with the addiction often think that they can control their activity and there is no problem. I have great admiration for anyone who beats an addiction, especially to alcohol as it is so readily available, and even more admiration for anyone who can continue a relationship with such a person as the stress and continual worry must remain even if it is below the surface.
Binge drinking may be a different matter initially but can escalate and it does a lot of damage even though it is intermittent as opposed to an alcoholic being almost continually in an inebriated state.

Frank - why not put them in the stocks? Your lamp post idea is cruel and can you imagine how much they would suffer at the hands of passing nasty youths? We need our diminishing police force to catch criminals not to stand by a lamp post ensuring the drunks' safety.
.
The idea that they could afford these huge fines is ludicrous. When I worked at our local Medical Centre I asked one of our GPs how alcoholics could afford to drink - especially if they are on benefits. Apparently, they don't buy food, don't really need it as alcohol depresses ones appetite. Their usual shopping list is coffee/tea, milk, butter and bread.
It is horrible seeing people falling over drunk day and night. We need a different plan to address this problem.

Bez, I still think that the term 'personality failing' is demeaning. Whether I know or have had dealings with an addict is beside the point.

Greatnan. I too have been puzzled by how they can drink a bottle of wine at home before they go out. If I drank a bottle of wine, there would be no going anywhere except to sleep.

Snap, KatyK! I don't think I ever set out to get drunk but I have heard young people state that they are going to get 'bladdered!'. This is an odd ambition, because once you are that drunk you usually stop enjoying yourself. I am told that young Afro-Caribbean men do not get drunk because it is not 'cool'. Perhaps if we could show videos of the way they behave when drunk to young people they would realise how very 'uncool' they look. There is nothing attractive about a drunk.

Yes, dealing with somebody you love who is an addict is very painful. They can be extremely manipulative and masters of emotional blackmail.

Greatnan

I think most people have seen a drunk and know how stupid they look. I have seen several. I don't tend to be out very late now but I am probably out a bit later than average for a person of my age.
My 2 daughters are nurses and had to deal with them in the past but they are no longer in that area.
Going back a few years I had to go to A & E on a Saturday night and I think myself and my daughter were the only people who were not drunk in the waiting room and the drunks started picking on us and making the situation very uncomfortable.
Fortunately this was picked up by the hospital and we were taken through and treated very quickly.
I think the nurse was pleased to have somebody sensible to deal with.
The security people were concerned problems could happen if we exited through the waiting room so they lead us through what seemed to be miles of corridors and let us out of a different door.
The security man even stayed with us until we had closed the door of the car.

Frank

Frank - I meant showing the drunken person a video of themselves after they had sobered up!

Surely there are different levels of "drinking too much".

There are the weekend drunks who go into town and "act themselves" and cause general mayhem and then there are the full blown alcoholics who are suffering from an illness and should be pitied.

I can't bring myself to have any pity for alcoholics. My sympathy, empathy and compassion are for their families, especially children, who live with the fear of an alcoholic father or mother or other abusive family member.

noodles I understand how devastating alcoholism is for families however it is a physiological and psychological condition. Sadly people often get beyond the point of being able to seek help before they realise they need help.

It is a form of illness and not a choice. There are those who are not alcoholic and who choose to get seriously drunk..I feel less sorry for them particularly if they cause nuisance, damage or harm. But I can feel empathy for the alcoholic and his/her family.

Hello nanaej How do you test for alcoholism? Is there an alcoholic gene? In what way does an alcoholics brain differ from a regular drinker?

Alcoholics families see it all the time - the alcoholic is the one who makes all the choices, and they pretty much choose themselves and the bottle every single time. A huge sense of entitlement and a scary level of self-pity is what make alcoholics.

Strangely enough some people thought my granddad was an alcoholic.
If a visitor came around out would come the cider.
His grandchildren were not classed as visitors for cider purposes.
Visitors came around about twice a week.
He only drank 1 or 2 bottles when they were there but on other nights he generally had coffee or drinking chocolate.
On some nights he would consume a full bottle of lemonade so I suppose he was a secret lemonade drinker.

Frank

www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcoholism/DS00340

www.alcoholissues.co.uk/what-causes-alcoholism.html

These links may be of interest..I am no specialist but have friends who are recovering alcoholics.