Underage drinking

[GoEagles]

Vis - You can try going down south to Dunsborough or Margaret River for Leavers, although after what happened last year, It is going to be heavily policed with a 'zero tolerence' at all the major spots (Smiths Beach, etc) I'm not sure what I'll be doing after Uni exams...

Should Australia lower the legal drinking age, like what they have in several European countries, such as France and Spain. Because alcohol is accepted for everyone in the family to have a glass of wine at lunch/dinner and it can easily be brought at supermarkets and pubs - when I was there, there didn't seem to be a big deal of drinking alcohol when you were under 18, It was more controlled and there was less peer pressure.

On the other extreme, should Australia follow the USA and raise the legal drinking age to 21? Can you imagine if you turned 18 and then the next day they introduced the 21+ law!!

 

[meg]

I don't really see the point of getting drunk every weekend. Gee it must be a real thrill to go and tell everyone how you threw up all night, had a huge hangover, and made a fool of yourself

If I go out, I will drink, but I'm always in control, which means I don't get blind drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, but never really full on drunk. What's the point?

 

[Darky]

Originally posted by GoEagles
Can you imagine if you turned 18 and then the next day they introduced the 21+ law!!

It's enough to drive a man to drink!

 

[Blues_Brat]

Originally posted by Darky


It's enough to drive a man to drink!

er, no.. that's what women are for

 

[daicos4ever]

Stegelator - out of interest, what street do you live on?

 

[AlfAndrews]

Hello, everyone.

My name's Alf ... and I'm an alcoholic.

I drank from a very early age ... a small glass of beer now and then under parental supervision when I was as young as 5 or 6. I loved the taste and always wanted more.

When I got into my early teens I started experimenting with getting drunk ... usually on cheap wine. I was actually drinking in pubs at 14 even though the drinking age was 21 in those days. Publicans in those days didn't care. The penalties weren't as high as they are now and they just wanted your money.

I believe I became an alcoholic during these early years of experimentation. I was a very shy kid and needed booze to bring me out of myself. Bit by bit I came to rely on it completely.

By the time I got to about 18 or 19 I knew that I had a problem because grog was starting to have a bad effect on my personality. It was making me aggressive and violent even though I was really a pacifist at heart. So I started making my first attempts to give up.

The first thing I tried was substitution. I became a pot smoker ... on a daily basis. For a long time it stopped me from drinking because I prefered the mellow effect of smoking dope. And I dabbled in other drugs.

The problem was that these drugs also became a problem.

So I experimented with religion and various form of meditation ... but I still kept drifting back to grog.

In my mid-20s I started playing in punk rock bands and found myself in pubs a lot of the time ... so my drinking really started to escalate. By the time I got to 30 I was almost a derro. My music career was shot. I was a hopeless drunk and a burned-out speed freak.

That was when I discovered the 12-Step fellowships, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. I manged to stay clean for 3 and a half years by doing regular meetings and taking the advice of people who'd managed to stop drinking. But I made the big mistake of picking up a drink when my mother died in 1989. I couldn't deal with the grief, so I got drunk. It was enough to start me off again and it took many years to get sober again.

I stopped drinking in December 1995. By that time I had deteriorated physically to the extent that I was no longer capable of getting drunk. I would actually get sick BEFORE I had taken enough booze into my system to get me drunk. It was horrible. Booze had not been any fun for me for a long time ... but I kept on drinking because I was a hopeless helpless alcoholic.

I was totally stuffed.

I was POWERLESS over alcohol ... and I knew it.

I went back to A.A. ... with great reluctance. But it turned out to be a smart move. Because I've now been sober for nearly 6 years.
I don't drink alcohol AT ALL ... and I don't take any other mood-changing drugs either. Whatever happens ... win, lose or draw ... I have to cop it sweet. And I've learned over the years that, for me at least, that's the best way to live.

If you're a young person who likes a drink and likes to have a good time, that's great. Enjoy it. And if booze doesn't cause any major problems in your life, you obviously don't have a problem with it. Good luck to you.

But if you're like me, then you're one of those people who just shouldn't drink. And I spent many, many years in denial of that fact. And it was the hardest thing I've ever had to admit in my life.

But I'm really glad I know what I am today.

I'm an alcoholic.

A sober alcoholic.