WHILE the world's attention is focused on the collapse of the financial markets there is another topic of incapacitation which unites Western civilisation – alcohol and binge drinking.
For the phenomenon, which is now being described by sociologists as "extreme drinking", is being faced not only in Britain – which tops the European league table for under-age drinking, closely followed by Germany – but also by our Latin and Scandina
vian neighbours.
In Spain, for instance, there's a phenomenon known as Botellon (Big Bottle), where young people meet and consume alcohol on the street is a major cause of concern and as a result Botellon has been banned in some cities. And in Italy, according to figures from the health ministry, 17 per cent of the Italian population are binge-drinking at least once a month and one in five teenagers admits to being drunk regularly.
Even in Sweden, where there have been low levels of alcohol consumption thanks to a state monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages, strict rules on sales of alcohol to minors (defined there as under 20) and high alcohol prices, the drinking trend has been upwards – mostly because of increased access to cheaper alcohol in neighbouring countries.
But it's only in Scotland that it is being suggested that the age level for legally buying alcohol be raised. The SNP Government has proposed that as well as increasing the price per unit of alcohol and having separate check-outs for it in supermarkets, the age limit for buying booze at off-licences should rise to 21. Just as America debates lowering its age limit from 21 back to 18 in a bid to combat clandestine binge drinking by university students, Scotland is looking to raise the bar.
Unsurprisingly there has been huge opposition, with many suggesting it would be ridiculous that young people could vote, get married, fight and die for their country, yet not be able to buy a bottle of wine at an off-licence. As well as the opposition parties, student organisations and retailers, more than 10,000 people have signed a petition against the move. Even the Scottish Police Service has written to the Government, warning that its proposal will be ineffective.
However others, notably health trusts, drug and alcohol campaigners and health experts, support the proposal. Which is why Shona Robison, the Public Health Minister, says the Government is committed to driving ahead with its plans. "We believe that raising the off-sales purchase age would cut the level of uncontrolled, open-air and home drinking which we know can result in antisocial behaviour. Alcohol misuse is costing Scotland £2.25 billion a year across the NHS, police, social services and the wider economy, so doing nothing is not an option."
But will raising the age limit really work? The Government points to the apparent success of four pilot projects where under-21s have been banned from buying alcohol at off-sales. Police figures from these areas have shown that in the first three months of the crackdown, reports of antisocial behaviour fell 40 per cent, and breaches of the peace by almost as much. Minor assaults were down 30 per cent and serious assaults down 60 per cent.
Yet at the same time as the age ban, the police in Armadale, Stenhousemuir, Larbert and Cupar also brought in other measures to limit the supply of alcohol to young people, including using voluntary underage "buyers", marking bottles to identify shopkeepers selling alcohol to children, increasing the number of police patrols, and a "ring round" scheme to alert shops to youngsters trying to buy drink.
Even the country's top public health statistician believes the pilots provide no evidence that a national under-21 ban will work in reducing youth drunkenness and disorder. Professor Sheila Bird, vice-president of the Royal Statistical Society, says it is "disappointing" that the Government's hugely controversial proposal had not been tested in controlled trials.
She says the effect of the under-21 drink ban could only be properly tested if it was introduced on its own in several areas. The results would then have to be compared with other areas without a ban, to make sure other variables – such as bad weather – were not causing any falls in offending.
Even Action on Alcohol and Drugs in Edinburgh (AADE), a partnership of key bodies including the council, police and NHS Lothian, are unsure whether the 21 plan is workable. Members say the idea could either "facilitate young people's development of skills in managing alcohol" by restricting them to pubs, or "deny individuals who are eligible to take on adult responsibilities the right to purchase alcohol outwith public houses".
Meanwhile in the States, where the debate is raging the other way, the presidents of more than 100 eminent US universities, who launched the Amethyst Initiative, argue that having 21 as the legal drinking age has only made the problem of drunkenness worse, creating "a culture of dangerous, clandestine binge drinking".
As Dwight Heath, a professor of anthropology at Brown University, says: "France views drinking as an integral part of everyday life, a sociable custom usually enjoyed at the family table. There is no attempt to protect children from learning about alcohol, including the hazards of drinking too much or too fast. Children are allowed to experiment, within limits, and no-one expects that drinking will significantly change their lives.
"Whatever else it may be, drinking is a learned behaviour. It is shaped by a complex combination of observations, warnings and personal experience. We need to start recreating the culture we had 200 years ago, where alcohol was an everyday part of family life and not the forbidden fruit."
Surely the SNP doesn't want to make alcohol any more tempting to young people than it already is?
The full article contains 976 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
