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NEWS: The Age - 05/02/08 'Two million abused in summer booze binge'

hoptis

hoptis

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Two million abused in summer booze binge
February 5, 2008 - 4:29PM

More than two million Australians were physically or verbally abused by a drunk person over their summer break, results from a national survey suggest.

Research commissioned by the advocacy group Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation (AER) Foundation shows Australia's culture of regular binge drinking is alive and well.

An analysis of the results from 1,000 online interviews suggests that 2.2 million people aged over 14 experienced abuse from someone under the influence of alcohol during the Christmas and New Year period.

Almost 700,000 initiated verbal or physical abuse towards others after drinking, the results indicate.

And more than 30 per cent of teenagers surveyed claimed they feared for the safety of their family and friends as a consequence of excess drinking.

The foundation's chief executive, Daryl Smeaton, said the results were alarming and illustrated the widespread "climate of fear and abuse" being created by everyday excess drinking.

"I can't imagine any reasonable Australian would find the scale of abuse revealed by this study acceptable," Mr Smeaton said.

"Australians need to ask themselves 'is this the environment we want our children to grow up in?'

"If the answer to that question is no, then we urgently need to start changing the way we drink."

Alcohol is second only to smoking in its contribution to the chronic disease burden in Australia and is the second largest cause of drug-related deaths, after tobacco.

By conservative estimates, alcohol-related harm costs the Australian community in excess of $15 billion annually.

Mr Smeaton said the federal government must keep to its pre-election commitment to help reduce the chronic disease burden of alcohol.

"AER is calling on the government to urgently follow through on this important promise and to vastly improve on the Howard government's alcohol package announced in the 2006 budget," he said.

The foundation will next month launch a campaign aimed at changing the way Australians drink to reduce the social, health and economic costs of excessive drinking.

AAP
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The Age
 
i wonder how many people were physically or verbally abused by sober people over the summer break.
 
it is getting a bit ridiculous. i lost a good mate last night because we had a fight when we were totally shitfaced after leaving the pub. it was not me who initiated the violence, i really try not to stoop to those levels. it was funny though, because we were having an intellectual conversation over the first few beers about how alcohol ruins relationships and so forth.. alcohol can bring the monster out in many people, and completely change what you thought about them, as i once again learned from last night. i have lost many mates over the years from alcohol fuelled arguments and nights. it really does make you step back and wonder, is alcohol even worth it anymore? i think as we get older we will hopefully consider or adopt responsible drinking habits, and not feel that we need to drink 50 beers every weekend. :(
 
I wonder how many under the influence of cannabis or MDMA decided to abuse people. Probably very few I'm guessing. Alcohol can truly bring out the worst in people.
 
MDMA doesnt render you as useless as weed does.
If someone punches you or tries to, you will fight back.. itll ruin your night but you will.
 
That's true, though I didn't intend to refer to those that act violently simply as defense against another violent person. I meant how many people, while on cannabis or mdma, would go out of their way to start a fight with someone else whose acting in a non-violent, non-threatening manner?
 
i've seen people skitz out on weed and wanna have punch ups, probably not so much with 'potheads' though as it tends to make people insecure etc. But yea not so much with mdma. usually people are hugging on mdma. lol it's probably what turns people 'bi-sexual'. I live in townsville, and for some reason every victorian or nswaler seems to think that townsville is full of rednecks, yobbos etc. which is probably correct to some degree. They seem to think that townsville is a hot spot for fights or something, but i doubt there would be more fights per people here than bigger cities. May just be a rumour, myth. I'm sure theres dickheads everywhere.
 
Not really the place for your favorite fight story.
 
Drunken violence a blot on Christmas festivity
Jill Stark
February 6, 2008

DRUNKEN violence soared over Christmas, with new figures suggesting that more than 2 million Australians were physically or verbally abused by drunks.

The study of Christmas and New Year drinking also found a projected 2.6 million people knew someone who was injured or harmed by overdoing it.

An estimated 700,000 people initiated verbal or physical abuse towards others, while almost half of all 14 to 17-year-olds may have known someone who had been harmed by alcohol.

Victoria Police say the scale of alcohol-fuelled violence was probably underestimated, as much of it goes unreported.

Inspector Paul Potts, who polices the Melbourne CBD, called for Federal Government leadership on binge drinking, as the city is "swamped" with drunken revellers every weekend. "You're looking at tens upon tens, upon tens of thousands of people under the age of 25 coming in to nightclubs," he said.

"You look down some of the streets at three or four in the morning and see the condition these people are in, and you just shake your head and say, what can I do?

"I can't lock all of them up, because even if they deserved it we'd have hundreds in the cells — it is really quite overwhelming. Why do people need to be still serving alcohol at 5am?

"There's no simple solution to this, but the Federal Government can probably influence the states in coming to a less free-for-all situation."

The survey, commissioned by the Alcohol Education Rehabilitation Foundation, used 1000 online interviews with people over 14 to extrapolate national figures. It found that 2.4 million people were concerned for the safety of themselves or friends due to their own or someone else's excessive drinking over Christmas and New Year.

Inspector Potts said the smoking ban had pushed drinkers onto city footpaths, increasing tension among groups of drunken youths. "It can very quickly degenerate into a brawl that is over in 30 seconds, but potentially could leave someone seriously injured," he said.

The foundation's chief executive, Daryl Smeaton, said binge drinking had created a "climate of fear" on Australia's streets. "I can't imagine any reasonable Australian would find the scale of abuse revealed by this study acceptable," he said.

"Is this the environment we want our children to grow up in? We clearly have a national drinking problem, and we can't afford not to address it.

"In the lead-up to the election Labor talked about the contribution of excessive alcohol consumption to the chronic disease burden. Now they're in power, they've got to put their money where their mouth is."

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said alcohol was a huge health challenge.

"We are conscious of the links between excessive drinking and various diseases, including obesity and cancer," she said.

"Battling the burden of chronic disease tied to alcohol will be a high priority, and one of the first things our preventive health taskforce will look at as part of our national preventative health strategy."

http://aerf.com.au
Click to expand...

The Age
 
"I can't lock all of them up, because even if they deserved it we'd have hundreds in the cells — it is really quite overwhelming. Why do people need to be still serving alcohol at 5am?
Click to expand...

That is really pathetic, especially coming from a cop. So basically, he will turn a blind eye to drunkards because "its too much effort" to lock them all up, instead focusing on smaller and easier tasks, like busting stoners or a raver with a few spares. Gee I feel so much safer now, thanks cops.
 
Ive seen people take pills and get aggressive. and ive seen people take weed and get angry. but ive seen it happen alot more with alcohol, but not everyone starts a fight when they are drunk.
 
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