Alcohol ...

halenger

It wasn't me! wrote:

It's true. This topic's come up several times in my memory, and all that happens is people tell us their views and bitch about why theirs are better than yours. It's a pointless debate, and yet seems to be a recurring one, which hardly makes it more interesting. :rolleyes:

...which is exactly why I tried to steer it in a more useful direction. People seem to prefer a good fight though.

Barry Aldwell

halenger wrote:

...which is exactly why I tried to steer it in a more useful direction. People seem to prefer a good fight though.

I'm just waiting for it to descend into fisticuffs

Pyschopath666

Just to make one point clear about the laws surrounding the consumption of alcohol. It's illeagal to comsume alcohol in a licenced premises if under the age of 18 however in private property, with the concent of the owner, its perfectly legal to drink at any age.

halenger

Yup, this is true. Though I'd imagine it's more pertaining to permission from a parent or guardian. Rather than everyone going over to the person with the "cool parents" house and drinking away with their permission.

StupidLikeAFox

Barry Aldwell wrote:

I'm just waiting for it to descend into fisticuffs

Oh thats it barry, you and me outside in 10 mins!

LiamD

I also think the drinking age should be lowered, because despite the initial problem of it being easier for teenagers to get drink and the first few years of teens going mad, in the long term I think it will be a solution.Just look at Europe, not only in relation to drink but other things aswell.Most recently I was in Belgium and the place is just so different to Ireland.It's clean, they don't litter, they don't have a drink problem with a drinking age of 16, teens happily sit in pubs having a sensible amount of drinks and not causing a problem, they don't even lock their bikes.I dont understand how it's so different but I think it's something to do with a long period of responsibility nurtured within them from a young age.If the drinking age is lowered it will no longer be as cool or rebellious and people will start to enjoy it responsibly.

Crash

The problem with the drinking age being lowered is that while in the long run it most likely would help, for the current generation (say 12 and up) it'd be pretty detrimental. also, in fairness, i like to have a pint without having to hear teenage ****e gossip (god knows i'm getting enough of that atm ) so...no :P

Piste

In principle I'd be in favour of having the drinking age lowered for the reasons you stated Liam, but 16 year olds having a few pints every weekend are putting an awful strain of their liver. Granted it's better than knacker drinking every weekend, but legally allowing children to do somethnig so detrimental to their health is not the right thing to do.

jono087

Liquorice wrote:

He was introduced to alcohol at home(in small amounts), which made him able to handle it.

Not trying to be argumentative, but theres more to holding onto sobriety than being used to drinking. Weight is a much more prominant factor than whether or not a person drinks regularly. My tolerance has only increased by a few pints since i began drinking and if what your saying is true then i should be able to handle a lot more than i actually can. I'm guessing that your dad's just a big guy... :rolleyes:

Plunky wrote:

I still maintain that it's a woeful idea. Children drinking is a crime, not only in the eyes of the law, but in the eyes of humanity! Let them develop before destroying their insides! Let them be old enough to make their own decisions rather than forcing alcohol into them to "save them later" or whatever...

I'd have to disagree with you there. In a perfect world that'd be great, but with advertising and peer pressure it's hard to keep kids (a little younger than us, let's remember) on the straight and narrow. And in many parts of Ireland there's just nothing to do besides drinking with friends. So a lot of young people face a non-existent social life if they don't succumb to the temptation of a few drinks.

StupidLikeAFox

This thread would drive you to drink

incredula pert

I wasn't being malicious, her arguments were the only I disagreed with. She mentioned my name, I see no reason why I couldn't mention hers.
Now, don't accuse me of making theis personal when you mention my name, if you want to turn it into a personal discussion because you've got nothing else to say, fine. It just looks silly.

incredula pert

Those of you who don't agree with lowering the age in order to tackle the problem are so utterly naive! its not going to get ANY better the way that it is now, a blanket ban just makes it worse. Binge drinking has infact increased with every year, so you may not like the other solution, but for gods sake, a nation of binge drinkers is a hell of alot worse.

What else do you suggest???

Matthewthebig

Mmkay. Now for ma points.

Lowering the Drinking age, no mattre what people claim, would make no differance(sp?). It is claimed that lowering the drinking age to the same as mediteranian countries, would make it acceptable and that the whole culture of a glass of wine with dinner, would appear. That is bull****. The fact of the matter is, and everyone knows it, is that the irish culture revolves around drink. Its all about getting hammered, and losing consiousness(sp?)

And about the drinking laws. Its not parents podge. The law is then owner of the house. So as soon as your mate can rent a flat you can drink. However it is illegal to purchase booze if you are under 18.

sorry if that seems all over the place as i am knackered

Undergod

I don't care if any of you drink. It's your responsibilty.

however, I don't really care that it's illegal. Lots of things are illegal. Mar shampla, in france it's illegal for flying saucers to land in Vineyards. But if parents are responsible and encourage healthy attitudes to drinking and alcohol then... drinking will be less of a problem.

That said, drink if you want, don't drink if you don't want to. Don't care.

jono087

there's an air of finality to that.......

Liquorice

jono087 wrote:

Not trying to be argumentative, but theres more to holding onto sobriety than being used to drinking. Weight is a much more prominant factor than whether or not a person drinks regularly. My tolerance has only increased by a few pints since i began drinking and if what your saying is true then i should be able to handle a lot more than i actually can. I'm guessing that your dad's just a big guy... :rolleyes:

He is rather big(just not in height), yes. But you misunderstood my point(I re-explained it when that Plunky fellow challenged what I had said), it was nothing about physical tolerance, it was that he learned how much alcohol he could handle, and how to handle it, in a place where he could, in a way, be taught such things by people who had been there and had done that before going out and making an utter fool of himself.

JenLorigan

jono087 wrote:

there's an air of finality to that.......

Oh if only if only...

halenger

incredula pert wrote:

Those of you who don't agree with lowering the age in order to tackle the problem are so utterly naive!

What did I say? Hmmm? Argue the points, cut the name calling crap. Don't be so arrogant to think that just because you don't agree with someone's point that they're wrong or naive. You're teetering on the edge. Be very careful...

Matthewthebig wrote:

And about the drinking laws. Its not parents podge. The law is then owner of the house. So as soon as your mate can rent a flat you can drink. However it is illegal to purchase booze if you are under 18.

If that's the law then that's the law. As I think I said I wasn't aware of it. Can't say I fully agree with it - then again if it happens once (that anothers parents let them drink) and the persons parents don't agree with it then the child will likely not be allowed over there again or, if the parents are on talking terms , there may be words passed not to allow the child any alcohol. That's neither here nor there anyway so.. Carry on.

LiamD

I'm surprised nobody brought this up.The drinking age in Ireland used to be only 16, acording to Angela's Ashes anyway.What happened to make them change it to 18?

mentalimplosion

the law is the law. in my opinion, it's a bit like abortion. it's going to happen anyway so stop giving out about it. it is up to you, if you drink, not your parents or Aoibheann or the barman and it's up to you to know when to stop.
i wouldn't describe myself as a reformed alcoholic, as i'm neither of those things, but i think it's fair to say i had a problem. like many irish teenagers i drank too much and did some seriously stupid, dangerous (and in one case life-threatening) things. i drank mainly to completely forget what else was going on in my life. and you know what? i learnt my lesson. as of now i haven't drank for almost three weeks (!) and i'm kinda proud of myself. the next time i drink, i plan to be more careful.

what i discovered was that what we need to do is not to sit around berating teen drinkers and trying to stop them etc, we need to find out why we drink. it's not enough for people who've never experienced alcohol abuse to sit around on their high horse shouting at their peers why they shouldn't drink, because teen drinkers get ****loads of that anyway.
a lot of the antidrinking brigade here seen a little bit ignorant of firsthand experience of it (maybe i'm wrong).
but a lot of the prodrinking brigade here seem to be complete knobheads who just drink because MAN, it doesn't make them a NERD. jesus christ lads, listen to yourselves, you all sound like tools.

halenger

For the love of God. Next person who spews that tells someone to get off of their high horse is banned for a month. It's incredibly tiresome.

In fact this thread is going nowhere at all. I've made every attempt to steer it in a more interesting and constructive direction but someone always drags it back to some bull about non-drinkers "berating" drinkers.

Myself and Aoibheann have said the most about non-drinking. I know others have too but they've said mainly they don't drink and they choose to etc etc.

mentalimplosion wrote:

a lot of the antidrinking brigade here seen a little bit ignorant of firsthand experience of it (maybe i'm wrong).

I don't know who that's directed at but I've given so many references to my own experiences that it's not even funny anymore.


Anyway. Enough on this matter. As I said it's going nowhere.


Thread closed.