“And before anyone goes into one about people going to Tesco after chucking out time I pretty sure it's illegal to seel alcohol to people who are visibly intoxicated.”

“Any chance of people exercising a little common sense on this?

Tesco is a shop, not a pub. In pubs people buy alcohol to drink there and then on the premises. In shops, people generally buy alcohol to take away and drink whenever they want. Therefore do the hours Tesco are allowed to sell drink make any difference to when people will drink it? Answer: no.”

“Ron,
We seem to agree more than disagree,
I have no problem with adults using any drug, legal or otherwise, so long as they are fully aware of the risks that they are taking,
But that's the problem, Because drink is legal, and because it's rarely, if ever, refered to as a drug by the media and law, "drink AND drugs" some people believe that alcohol is ok "it's not a proper drug"
and yet it's probably as deadly, if not more so, as heroin, and very easy to become addicted to as well,

I used to drink a lot more than I do now, I am almost T total these days,
In my youth (I am 57 now) I mixed with all sorts of people, I worked backstage in the music industry,
and any and all sorts of drugs were easily available,
Did I take them? No, (except for canabbis, which most people who know their subject agree, is FAR less 'dangerous' than alcohol)
I have been to 3 funerals of people I knew who died as a direct result of drug abuse (one was my father)
and in every case, the drug was alcohol,

As far as I am aware there is only one country in Europe that has dared to try another way of dealing with the issue of drugs, ALL drugs, and that is Portugal,

They decriminalised the possession of small amounts "for personal use" of ALL drugs in 2001,
a recent independant report called it "a resounding success on ALL fronts"

Drug related, crime, disease, deaths, ALL down considerably, more addicts than ever are coming forward to ask for help to quit, now that they are no longer treated as criminals,
the numbers of people using 'soft drugs' rose slightly at first, but has now gone back to roughly where it was before the laws changed,
the number of "hard drug" users stayed about the same for a while,
But since the change, there are now LESS "hard drug" users in Portugal than there were when it was a crime,

I want to see ALL drugs controlled,
and while some drugs remain outside the law, then only criminals will be involved,

IF we REALLY want to hurt the criminals AND protect our kids, then WE need to have control and not the gangsters,
Because, like it or not, drugs are here to stay,”

“NO WONDER THE COUNCIL IS IN A MESS, SOME1 WHO HAS ONLY BEEN A COUNCILLOR FOR ROUGHLY 5 MONTHS IS MADE THE CHAIR TO MAKE A VERY IMPORTANT DECSION, WHEN HE HAS NO EXPERENCE AT ALL?????????”

“Tonyjohnt - I would describe drinking sensibly as perhaps having a glass of wine with a meal at the weekend or having a couple of cans watching TV a couple of times a week. That is pretty much my habit, I accept that when I was younger I may have drank a little more, though not much more because a lot of my career was spent driving. I am now in a job where I still have to drive on a regular basis. I cannot remember the last time I was drunk probably when I was about 18 - I am 50 now. I have never caused trouble through drink, ever in my life. I, like a lot of other people, find it difficult to grasp why todays younger generation seem to have a couple of drinks and then want to take on the world. It is also only your opinion that it is vile tasting stuff; after all it comes in various forms and flavours and because you dont like it doesn't mean that it is vile to someone else. There are various things that I do not like the taste of but it doesn't mean it is vile to someone else. What do I get out of my little tipple? Well let me see - I find it relaxing, a bit like sitting with a cup of tea after a meal. Another thing some doctors say certain alcoholic drinks are actually good for you particularly red wine that contains antioxidants and is good for the blood. Obviously too much is bad for your liver amongst other things, it is a matter of moderation. although apperently some people do not know when to stop.

Johntoe - I accept that you are right about if alcohol became illegal we would have trouble with crime. That would come from the ones who are already alcoholics and a lot of those, not all, are also addicted to some other substance. I for one would do without, I wouldn't be pleased because having given up tobacco 10 years ago I consider that I am pretty clean living and the odd drink is my only vice. However, I would not turn to a backstreet dealer or bootlegger as they were during prohibition era in the states. Reason for that is that I am not addicted to it and could easily learn to do without it.”

“ANTHONY & RON.

Thanks for your responses and thanks for 'almost' responding without much name calling and insults,
a refreshing change for this place,
I will address the points you both make and will not resort to name calling or insults either,

ANTHONY, good points, now, we are almost there, you are quite correct when you say you don't see many 'alkies' robbing old ladies and breaking into houses etc in order to get money to buy the wet drug,
NOW, take the next step and ask why is that?
it's because booze is legal,
IF booze was given it's place amongst all the other recreational drugs, it would without doubt be a class A drug,

AND I guarantee that IF alcohol was made illegal tomorrow, in less than a week there would be stories here in this paper of "dirty 'pop head' scum" involved in exactly the sort of crimes you mention,
and within days "dirty booze dealing scum" would be "making money out of people's misery" from a house near you,

the vast majority of "drug related crimes" happen BECAUSE drugs are illegal,
and criminals will always exploit prohibition.

RON,
firstly, where did I "tar everyone with the same brush"?
I seems to me that you are the one doing the tarring, you apear to believe that I judge everyone who drinks alcohol badly (I don't, I like the odd pint myself)
and THEN you go on to 'tar' all users of any drug other than 'alcohol, "with the same brush" as well as myself and tonyjont, double standards much?

it is possible to use any drug responsibly actually, history is full of many famous people from all walks of life who were drug users,

and as for "old biddies" I think you again need to do more research,... Queen Victoria? opium, canabbis,...

DRUGS, all drugs, legal or otherwise, are a BAD thing, use of them should be discouraged at ALL times, and that includes alcohol,
But we will NEVER control drugs as long as we surrender that control to the criminals,
they can only be controlied if they are inside the law,

But, all habits are hard to 'kick' and over 50 years of being told how to think, and being given your opinions, instead of being encouraged to form you own, is gonna take some serious 'cold turkey' to get out of,

Peace.”

“Ron, Blythe Bridge (something in the water) - what is drinking sensibly?

People drink alcohol to get get drunk. Why on earth would they drink the vile tasting stuff otherwise?

Wouldn't we all drink natural orange juice or Ribena if we weren't looking for a kick?

Fine though - you have your drug of choice, just don't criminalise those who choose a different substance.

They are quick to talk about the misery other drugs cause on this site. They choose to ignore the misery alcohol causes. 16,000 deaths in the UK every year, implicated in most murders and rapes. Broken marriages and families.

Yep, nowt like a sociable drink!”

“Tonyjohnt and Johntoe banging the same drum I see. Obviously, you have had some sort of bad run in with alchohol, well don't tar everybody who drinks with the same brush; some of us can drink sensibly and responsibly and can drink moderately without it becoming a problem. You pair come across as though nobody other than you have got any common sense. Herion and crack cocaine cannot be used with common sense unless they are used by the health service. People who use those types of drugs have got no common sense. You dont see many old ladies enjoying the odd snort of coke, however, you might see an old lady enjoying a tipple with her meal. Also at this moment in time alchohol is legal and other drugs aint.”

“My understanding of asking for ID from people under 25 is because there are a lot of 16 and 17 year old children that look older than they are. I suspect most fail to look in their late 20's though. Therefore if a staff member asks to see ID from people appearing to be under 25 then these 'older looking' children will get found out.
Makes sense really!

Also, why should I be denied the right to purchase a bottle of wine, being completely sober at the time, at 4am when I have just finished work?

Don't forget, it is an offence for a licencee to serve a person alcohol whilst that person is drunk. I can't see late night revellers staggering incoherently to Tesco to continue their binge. After all, these very revellers don't sit inside Tesco at 7pm boozing on the cheaper alcohol, why should they do it after hours?”

“Johntoe

Whilst I can kind of see your point, you don't see many alcoholics robbing old ladies or breaking into houses to fund their habit like you do with druggies.

People frown upon druggies as they make other peoples lives a misery as well as their own.”