To think that alcohol misuse is the elephant in the room in the uk?

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Ok, so I'm not talking about alcoholics here, people who are alcohol dependant and their families have my sympathy. I'm taking about people who go out and get hammered week in week out, puke on the pavement, behave like boors, injure themselves, assault others and generally cause a nuisance. They also cost a fortune in extra policing, and you only have to walk into any a&e in the country after 9pm most evenings to see the effect its having on the nhs. Yet week in week out, I see supermarkets advertising how cheap their booze is, my local garage has 1 aisle out of 4 dedicated to the bloody stuff, its in abundance in every corner shop. Why is it that in the uk it seems to be that alcohol is perceived as necessary to having a good time? Isn't it time that the government stopped advertising alcohol like they stopped advertising fags?
I'm no stick in the mud, I go out with friends, I have a laugh, a dance and a good time, and I don't drink at all except the occasional baileys which I have because I like the taste. If people want to have a glass or two of wine, or a couple of beers to relax, fair play, but please could someone tell me what is relaxing about waking up with your hair stuck to your face with sick, having pissed in your bed, or worse, pissed in the bed in the police cell, having no idea where you were the night before, what you did and with who?

Good for you OP.

'I'm taking about people who go out and get hammered week in week out, puke on the pavement, behave like boors, injure themselves, assault others and generally cause a nuisance.'

You mean people with alcohol issues then?

I don't see why I as a responsible drinker should be denied getting a good deal or reasonably priced alcohol just because of the morons of the world.

I think alcohol is the biggest problem in the UK, definitely. We have a terrible attitude towards it, me included.

Hang on, just setting up my vodka iv infusion.... sorry what was that again?

My son has threshers week next week. He hates pissed people, he saw me pissed enough five years ago, thats a good a deterent as any.

if someone can't go without a drink...even if it is 1 glass of wine in the evening it makes them alcholics.

Yes. People are all "blah blahblah burn smokers at the stake" and all "OOO norty me having another bol' o'' rose" both are bad for you, but alcohol is far more readily justified. Obv smoking affects other (passively) but so does booze just in a different way (anti social behaviour or even dealing with a pissed person). Also smoking can't be a good thing even in moderation, but both are used as a wind down.

Yanbu.

Actually I really think you are overstating it.

Unless you are in your twenties or early thirties perhaps...I am 42 and no one i know who is settled with kids is acting like this.

Yes occasionally we all get a bit too drunk and let off steam, have hangovers, make eejits of ourselves, and most of us have a glass of wine every night, (to survive the onslaught of family life) but beyond that, no one I know goes mad on booze, and the few that i know of who do, are functional alcoholics and therefore slightly at the other end of the spectrum.

Threshers Week Fabby?

YANBU
It's a problem, it really is.

You are right. I have lived in a few countries and never seen anything like it!!!!
DH's family, especially the mum, have made me feel extremely uncomfortable before about not joining in in their festive drunkenness...

But it's medicine for the masses isn't it ? Keeps people happy, or quiet during the bad times etc many people seem to not know what else to do with their spare time, or once they start they can't stop....I recently went on a much needed girls night out and went wild drinking and dancing until 6am I loved it but felt ridiculous the rest of the weekend. its rare for me now I have children, they were with their dad, but I loved it! When I split with my ex I realised how immersed into a binge drinking culture I was. His family will drink every night and heavily every weekend. Often arguements would happen or embarassing events that were glossed over and ignored the morning after, and wine would reappear at Sunday lunch and it would start again.... Now I'm out of it I don't drink every week, but clearly go ott when I do.

AIBU

This countries attitude to drink is one on the things that makes moving overseas attractive (depends on the country obviously). I would love my kids to grow up not having the attitude to drink that many of us here have and all the anti social guff and violence that goes with it.

I bet Threshers wished it had been!
Maybe they'd not have gone bust then!

I prefer heroin.

THINGY

Get thee to rehab!

I'm incredibly dull about alcohol (my father is an alcoholic) and I tend to agree that there is a general problem with alcohol misuse in the UK and Ireland. I don't know why though. Clearly it's cultural but why? Does it all go back to hideous kings or something? Is it because alcohol was safer to drink than water? Is it because, like some Nordic countries, the dark winters make us miserable?

These are genuine questions, btw.

YANBU

I drink far too much but I have never, ever seen the boasting that is every Monday morning in a London office about how much each individual has drunk.

It's shocking

Is one's ability to hold one's drink really a definiing characteristic?

I'm from Scotland and we have a big problem there, especially among poorer areas. I definitely think the weather has something to do with it - and many of the people were and still are quite poor and disadvantaged.

Hold on...

I just have to say that people who go out every weekend and drink themselves stupid, being sick in the street, getting into fights etc do have a problem.
No different to the alcoholic that hides their bottles and drink themselves into a stupor everyday.
Just a different kind of problem.
I feel bad for both.