boris
Banned
- Joined
- May 6, 2004
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- 4,671
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- Male
- HSC
- 2007
When it comes to booze us Aussies like ours sweet, plentiful and cheap.
What drives you to drink? What drives you to drink?
We’re more a nation of wine swillers than beer skollers. And we drink to get drunk at least once a month.
Although we know it’s bad for us, most of us have no idea how many standard drinks are in a bottle of wine.
Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Also, dangerously ignorant. But that’s where we’re at according to two national alcohol lobbies who are desperately seeking a solution to Australia’s predilection for booze: FARE Australia’s annual survey that identified our national attitudes towards how to much we drink, and the Alcohol Coalition Lobby (ACL), who think that overhauling alcohol taxes to increase the price of cheap wine and cider is the best solution.
According to FARE we, the Australian drinking population, know we’ve got a problem. Sixteen per cent of regular drinkers have been quietly tapped on the shoulder by a friend or relative, concerned for our health. But get us in the bottle shop and we scour for the best deal we can.
That’s why the ACL is recommending a volumetric tax to calculate excise according to alcohol content, to raise the cost of high-strength, high volume drinks and introduce a minimum floor price for alcohol.
The ACL recommendation is based on the on the success of the 2008 tax imposed on alco-pops, which resulted in an estimated drop of seven million drinks a week.
But it didn’t eradicate the drinking problem - we just replaced alco-pops with stacks of cheap wine and cider, with sales increasing at a rate of up to 18 per cent.
It’s clear that if we really want to find a solution to our alcohol issues we’ll need to dig deeper than the price of stock on the shelves. That starts with looking at the reasons why Australians drink.
Young people are often the targets for this kind of analysis. We’re always told how teenagers drink now more than ever before. Perhaps that’s because people are quick to make a correlation between young people and the popularity and increasing sales of cheap booze.
But that’s wrong. Young people are only part of the problem. Furthermore, they’re probably the only group for who drinking a lot should be considered somewhat normal (within reason). The FARE poll shows that while Generation Y and X are more likely to drink overall, it’s the baby boomer generation who drink on a more regular basis; finishing a bottle two or three times a week.
Stress is the biggest trigger for alcohol abuse. And stress affects everyone. From the twenty-something struggling with self-esteem or peer pressure, to the baby boomer facing an ever-longer working life, a retirement that never comes, children who won’t leave home and age-related health concerns.
Stress would also account for the high rates of alcohol violence and domestic abuse. The FARE poll found that 31 per cent of Australians have been affected by alcohol-related violence. It’s not hard to imagine. People drink because they are stressed and that creates angry drunk people with inhibited judgment.
There is no simple solution to helping Australia with its drinking problem. Similarly, we wouldn’t want to fall into the trap of ignoring the good sides of alcohol. After all, for most people, drinking booze is all part of having a good time.
Somewhere in between all of that is the solution. And while it might start with how much we price the stuff on the bottle shop shelves, it comes down to dealing with the stuff going around in our heads, driving us to drink more than we know we should.
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-would-it-take-for-you-to-drink-less/
(yes i know this is from 'The Punch' pls forgive me)
What drives you to drink? What drives you to drink?
We’re more a nation of wine swillers than beer skollers. And we drink to get drunk at least once a month.
Although we know it’s bad for us, most of us have no idea how many standard drinks are in a bottle of wine.
Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Also, dangerously ignorant. But that’s where we’re at according to two national alcohol lobbies who are desperately seeking a solution to Australia’s predilection for booze: FARE Australia’s annual survey that identified our national attitudes towards how to much we drink, and the Alcohol Coalition Lobby (ACL), who think that overhauling alcohol taxes to increase the price of cheap wine and cider is the best solution.
According to FARE we, the Australian drinking population, know we’ve got a problem. Sixteen per cent of regular drinkers have been quietly tapped on the shoulder by a friend or relative, concerned for our health. But get us in the bottle shop and we scour for the best deal we can.
That’s why the ACL is recommending a volumetric tax to calculate excise according to alcohol content, to raise the cost of high-strength, high volume drinks and introduce a minimum floor price for alcohol.
The ACL recommendation is based on the on the success of the 2008 tax imposed on alco-pops, which resulted in an estimated drop of seven million drinks a week.
But it didn’t eradicate the drinking problem - we just replaced alco-pops with stacks of cheap wine and cider, with sales increasing at a rate of up to 18 per cent.
It’s clear that if we really want to find a solution to our alcohol issues we’ll need to dig deeper than the price of stock on the shelves. That starts with looking at the reasons why Australians drink.
Young people are often the targets for this kind of analysis. We’re always told how teenagers drink now more than ever before. Perhaps that’s because people are quick to make a correlation between young people and the popularity and increasing sales of cheap booze.
But that’s wrong. Young people are only part of the problem. Furthermore, they’re probably the only group for who drinking a lot should be considered somewhat normal (within reason). The FARE poll shows that while Generation Y and X are more likely to drink overall, it’s the baby boomer generation who drink on a more regular basis; finishing a bottle two or three times a week.
Stress is the biggest trigger for alcohol abuse. And stress affects everyone. From the twenty-something struggling with self-esteem or peer pressure, to the baby boomer facing an ever-longer working life, a retirement that never comes, children who won’t leave home and age-related health concerns.
Stress would also account for the high rates of alcohol violence and domestic abuse. The FARE poll found that 31 per cent of Australians have been affected by alcohol-related violence. It’s not hard to imagine. People drink because they are stressed and that creates angry drunk people with inhibited judgment.
There is no simple solution to helping Australia with its drinking problem. Similarly, we wouldn’t want to fall into the trap of ignoring the good sides of alcohol. After all, for most people, drinking booze is all part of having a good time.
Somewhere in between all of that is the solution. And while it might start with how much we price the stuff on the bottle shop shelves, it comes down to dealing with the stuff going around in our heads, driving us to drink more than we know we should.
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-would-it-take-for-you-to-drink-less/
(yes i know this is from 'The Punch' pls forgive me)
