[jambutty]

Alcohol is a potent drug and even in small quantities will affect a person’s ability to think clearly.

In spite of some people claiming that they drive better after a few drinks it is just an illusion. But the resulting carnage on the road is the reality. It is also an illusion to think that people do not drink more during a longer period of time. They do and also spend more, money that they normally wouldn’t have spent had the time and drink not been available.

If alcohol is something to be enjoyed then so is tobacco yet smoking is frowned on. The A & E departments of hospitals are full of aggressive drunks most evenings, particularly at weekends. In some towns it has got so bad that Triage Centres are set up in the town centres to filter out the not serious cases. The cost of dealing with drunks by the NHS and police is taking away vital resources that could be used on crime prevention and treating the genuine sick. The losses in working days are reaching epidemic proportions and are costing this country billions each year.

You don’t get many aggressive smokers in casualty if any at all.

Then there are those who like controlled drug addicts turn to crime to fund their drinking when they have run out of dole money.

Quite rightly smoking products were banned from being advertised except at the point of sale – well the same should apply to alcohol. The public didn’t ask for teenage alcopops, the drink industry developed them to get the youngsters hooked on alcohol and they have succeeded. Our streets are full of kids with cans of lager/cider/beer creating mayhem.

The World Cup was sponsored by a drinks giant. Is that the right thing to do? Commercial TV is full of alcohol adverts. The drinks industry is following in the tobacco footsteps and saturating the public’s awareness of alcohol and its ease of availability.

Ban ALL ALCOHOL advertising except at the point of sale.

In my younger days when I was footloose and fancy free I never went to bed with an ugly woman but I sure woke up with a few.