'Drinking to get drunk' culture prevails here

# 57

Posted: 30/09/2009 12:18

Yes we do have a nanny state.

Yes we do have a lot of idiotic drunks in this country.

No the governement should not be allowed tell us how much we should drink.

# 56

Posted: 30/09/2009 08:58

nicku,

Drinking alcohol is a perfectly normal part of the social function of every western society. The problem happens when it is not done in moderation. To state that "taking alcohol can take you to a straight way to death" apart from being gramatically incomprehensible is also, frankly, rubbish - as is evidenced by every piece of medical and social evidence in the world. Yes excess alcohol can in relatively rare cases lead to toxicity but so can practically every comestible known to man. Generally people drink to be sociable and relax. Moderate consumption of certain drinks also has some health benefits. It is a relaxant and lowers social inhibitions. It is in excess it causes the problems and if a person cannot control their drinking they are better off not to drink. Otherwise, moderation is key.

# 55

Posted: 29/09/2009 16:41

mmm...wat to say now after so many views..

taking alcohol cantake you to a straight way to death,generally people tell that they drink because they r in stress...but tell me how alcohol can cure the problem.

u can live a better life without it..

trust me

# 54

Posted: 15/03/2007 22:22

This whole 'debate' is maddening.

2.5 pints is not a problem. Too much to drink - on a regular basis - may be a problem.

But it appears to me that the 2.5 pints mantra points to the true nannyish nature of the so called 'health professionals'.

My guess is that they have a particular agenda - that they are trying to corner funding for their own 'research'.

Never yet met one of them who wasn't more interested in money than patients - so please give us a break from the old bleeding heart routine?

# 53

Posted: 13/03/2007 09:50

To :Anonymous : 02/06/2005 09:48

i know its almost 2 years since you submitted your comment this forum but i have a suggestion to an alternative to drinking!get involved in a sunday morning team activity like soccer-even beeter join with a local club and play for the whole season-with matches every sunday morning from september to april i have dramtically reduced my alcohol intake and feel much healthier-at the start it is tough missing saturday nights but i find ifthe next day you will be delighted to be in the full of your health, i.e without hangover, when playing the match and you can give it your all-even if you arenothte best player on trhe field you will still perform as good if not better than those around you wihout alcohol in your system-my point is;you will begin to look forward to the matches more so than gettin drunk and therefore socialise without drink on sat nites-

# 52

Posted: 13/03/2007 09:50

To :Anonymous : 02/06/2005 09:48

i know its almost 2 years since you submitted your comment this forum but i have a suggestion to an alternative to drinking!get involved in a sunday morning team activity like soccer-even beeter join with a local club and play for the whole season-with matches every sunday morning from september to april i have dramtically reduced my alcohol intake and feel much healthier-at the start it is tough missing saturday nights but i find ifthe next day you will be delighted to be in the full of your health, i.e without hangover, when playing the match and you can give it your all-even if you arenothte best player on trhe field you will still perform as good if not better than those around you wihout alcohol in your system-my point is;you will begin to look forward to the matches more so than gettin drunk and therefore socialise without drink on sat nites-

# 51

Posted: 08/03/2006 11:41

I think James you misunderstood me.

That is not exactly what I meant. I still enjoy a drink from time to time but the hangovers are a thing of the past as now I know my limit and stick to it.
What I meant was, when I did go thru the whole phase of having a hangover after a night out, the last thing I would want when I had a hangover is another alcoholic drink.
That said, there are nights at the weekend where I wouldn't be in the humour for an alcoholic drink and I'd enjoy a soda and black or a tomato juice instead.

# 50

Posted: 07/03/2006 14:12

Mary, I was delighted to hear that you no longer want another alcoholic drink. All one has to do is to stop for one day at a time. That ia all that yhe human being is able to comprehend.(see the LORD'S PRAYER).As regards what I wrote about "childbirth" I meant to stick to what one knows.

# 49

Posted: 07/03/2006 08:43

Interesting point Jams about a hangover. when I have had a hangover (and that is all behind me now - we got a bit of sense in this regard as we get older In think) I find that the absolute last thing I want is a another alcoholic drink.

# 48

Posted: 06/03/2006 16:45

James, I am glad to har you wouldn't write about childbirth.

Of corse an alcoholic cannot ever take a drink after recovery.

# 47

Posted: 06/03/2006 16:38

Mary,I'm delighted that you wrote and included your name.I'm not debating the price, potency or whatever else of drink.Sure enough, I know exactly where or when it can be purchased. The point is: an alcoholic can never take one drink. Once the first drink(it doesn't matter what it is) is taken there is no going back;one has got to keep it up until oblivion comes. Then follows(barring motor accident) Row, lies, loss of memory, piss in bed, delirium tremens and a terrible hangover next morning which can only be cured by more drink which leads to a continuance of the previous day's performance. I have not mentioned anything at all yet about the state of the family relationship. That would fill a book in itself.I doubt if Eddie Hobbs would be able to get through to the practising alcoholic.Thank God that I found a way out of the misery and was introduced to a new life of peace and serenity.One has got to have been there to know what it is like.I certainly would not write about childbirth.

# 46

Posted: 06/03/2006 12:37

James., it's not just wine. If you go intoi, not only off-licenses and pubs but very supermarket, large and small. Upmarket and discount you will see everythign from Whiskey and Brandy down to bottled beers as well as he wnes and liquers and everything in between.
They slightly worrying aspect, is that while a bottle of whisky or other spirits is €20 approx, a sweet (tho som would argue not very good quality wine) can be purchased for as little as €4

# 45

Posted: 06/03/2006 10:59

I'm so delighted that some seemingly lost soul has tried to reply to my contribution to this forum.The amount that one drinks in a particular session is of no consequence. Where or how wine is produced does not count.The fact is that wine is now so abundantly available and is being advertised so aggressively is a very upsetting idea and the younger ones of our population should be warned about the deadly consequences of over indulgence in all drink. As regards my whereabouts for the last forty years ; i'm still in the land of the living and I am fully conversant with all the effects of drink because I certainly drank enough of it in my time but I have now stopped.I could drink you under the table any day or night and what is more I am not reluctant to use my name.Were it permitted I would give you my full name and address.

# 44

Posted: 06/03/2006 09:15

Katy, do you think alcoholism is a genetic disorder or it has more to do with having an addictive personality.

# 43

Posted: 04/03/2006 17:30

Binge drinking is not linked to addiction. People who binge drink are not addicted and many of those who binge drink will never become addicts because it is not in their genes. It is important to realise Alcoholism is an illness usually linked to genetic make up whereas binge drinking is caused by social factors. Our drinking culture may mean people with a tendancy to become acholics are encouraged to drink when young. But binge drinking itself does not cause alcholism becuase those who do not have the tendency to be alcholics will not turn to alchol in a crisis.

# 42

Posted: 08/06/2005 08:49

Anon, a womans' recommended alcohol intake limit is not seven standard drinks (units) but 14. And 21 for a man. If Anon is a man, what is wrong with him having 6 glasses of beer (equivalent to three pints) and a short? Most men would drink that or the equivalent on a weekend night, not be falling down drunk or doing any damage to themselves or any one else. Can someone give any medical or social reason as to WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS?? Or are we all so blinded by the nanny state propaganda, to be good little citizens that it's persuaded us never to drink more than two pints a night.

# 41

Posted: 07/06/2005 17:43

Anonymous, schizophrenia is so poorly understood that any causative claim, however daft, is almost impossible to disprove.
The word "schizophrenia" is used to cover a broad range of psychotic symptoms which have nothing to do with "split personality".
It's known that traumatic events can trigger psychosis in some people, but their numbers are thought to be small; about 1% of the population.
The stress of knowing they're engaging in an illegal activity might be enough to precipitate psychosis in susceptible individuals. The stresses accociated with emigration, losing one's job, bereavement or being a victim of crime can all trigger the psychotic behaviour called schizophrenia.
You can't legislate against stress.
Thank you.

# 40

Posted: 07/06/2005 16:35

Anon - 07/06 16.10, you may have seven drinks in one night? I don't know if you're a man or woman but that is a woman's recommended alcohol intake for the week and two-thirds of a man's for a week. You can justify it any way you want, (i'm not harming anyone etc...) but drinking your week's limit (or almost) over the course of one evening cannot be good for anyone.

# 39

Posted: 07/06/2005 16:10

James, I wouldn't want to have 3 drinks every night for a month. However, on Friday or Saturday I may well ave 6 or 7, be happy, relaxed, sociable, harm no-one, not even myself, be completley cognisant of al my actions and remember them all the next day.

# 38

Posted: 07/06/2005 16:04

Anon, you are deluding youself if you think that in other countries people have one glass of wine over a meal. Generaly at weekends (you know, Friday & Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, when Irish people also go out and socilaise) - and I have travelled extensively throughout Europe and seen this, you start off by having an aperitif - a little martini or cinzano, followed by two, or maybe three glasses of wine with your meal and afterwards a degestiv - a port or brandy. Very very few end up drunk and disorderly, there is no aggro or fighting in the streets. People are simply relaxed, happy, in good spirits?

# 37

Posted: 07/06/2005 15:23

Nobody should try to quantify the amount of drink that would determine whether one is a binge drinker or an alcoholic.Try this:have 3drinks of your choice every day for a period of thirty days.No saving tonight's drink and having 6tomorrow.It's difficult to do.I couldn't.But then I am an alcoholic.That was the greatest truth I've ever learned.I dont follow the crowd any more.I've left the debating society.The world is worn like a loose cloak.

# 36

Posted: 07/06/2005 14:39

So, if Anon's 10.43 eldrly neighbour is not harming anyone? Then why is his (and one million others) drinkign habits a problem?? Perhaps if the health industry spend more time and money on our A&E crisis and less time telloign us to have only 2 pints, we'd have a hell of sight healthier of a nation.

# 35

Posted: 07/06/2005 14:36

James, where have you been living for the last 40 years that you regard ine a 'new' drink? Admittedly the selection as not thwere in the 70's unless you went to France to purchase it but new?? I think now. Incidentally, Mongolian does not produce wine - the climate being too intemperate. Incidentally, I, also, see noitnin wrong with thee pints and a short in one night. Afterall, the body, on average, matabolises one unit per hour. 3 drinks in 2 and half hours would barely have any effect at all, not to mention he deisred effect.

# 34

Posted: 07/06/2005 14:27

I think anonymous of 07/07/05 - 10.43 - sums up what is wrong with this country in terms of drink. He/she mentions their elderly neighbour who drink three pints and a short in one sitting and believes this is ok because the neighbour is not harming anyone. I don't think 4 drinks sounds that bad and most people probably agree, but that's why we have a problem. Where people in other countries have one glass of wine over a meal, we have four drinks and are appalled that this shuld be considered binge drinking. The simple fact is, this is binge drinking but we see it as normal.

# 33

Posted: 07/06/2005 13:53

It amazes me the way the drink culture has invaded the minds of ALL of society.Drink has become respectable.There are new drinks on the market now:wine, for example.In my drinking days we would not wash the car with it.Now there is a new vocabulary to accompany wine drinking:sweet,dry,a nice bouquet,wine for fish and wine for chips.Very soon we shall have a nice Mongolian wine to take with us to the toilet.

# 32

Posted: 07/06/2005 10:43

So Anon, If people drink more than 5 standard drinks a night then that makes them binge drinkers? So, my neightbour, a man in his mid 60's goes to the local around 9 every Friday (when his wife goes to bingo). There he has two pints of guiness followed by a smoke (outside of cousrse), another pint of guiness and a large whiskey. He walks the half mile home, relaxed and happy shortly after 11.30. This man has consumd the equivalent of 8 standard drinks. Is he then a serial binge drinker?? Does this typify the binge drinker that the health industry is about to crack down on? If so, I fear we have more problems than alcohol consumption.

# 31

Posted: 07/06/2005 10:36

P Rafter what did you ,mean by reefer madness that has been discredited. The link between schizophrenia and cannabis has been far from discredited. Of couse I am not saying that you are prone to this illness merely that addiction exists and some are prone to it. Just like addiction to alcohol or any other substance. Also, perhaps Anon above will tell us what they mean by 'poverty industry'??

# 30

Posted: 07/06/2005 09:36

But anon, you are missing the point. Pints are not standard drinks. There are two untis of alcohol per pint, therfore pints are the equivalent of two standard drinks, which makes practically everyone in the country binge drinkers when they consume three pints or more on a Friday or Saturday night.

# 29

Posted: 07/06/2005 09:02

I'm 30 and for the last 15 years (with the exception of the last 15 months). I have been drinking to get drunk and causing all sorts of problems in the process, for myself, my family and society. I was an absolute nuisance. The drinking culture in Ireland today is a very serious problem. I can only say from my own experience that advertising/public awareness campaigns should be increased and penalties for drunken behaviour such as vandalism and fighting should be more severely punished. I have been up before the judge on many occasions as a result of my drinking and should have been jailed on a couple of occasions but I always got another chance. Sometimes I think that I might have learned my lesson earlier had I been more severely punished. I also cost the state a small fortune with the amount of times I have been admitted to hospital with drink related injuries and injuries inflicted on others, not to mention other health complaints such as stomach ulcers and STD's. I think more stringent laws are absolutely necessary and an awareness campaign focusing on STD's perhaps might help this awful situation

# 28

Posted: 06/06/2005 14:23

Drinking is the way alcoholics express maladjustments to life.Some are potential alcoholics fromthe start.They have an inferiority complex.they don't easily make friends.There is a wall between them and others.They are lonely and not well adjusted to life.They drink to escape from themselves.

# 27

Posted: 04/06/2005 12:46

Blaming victims won't help matters, anonymous, neither will spouting discredited "reefer madness" rubbish that thinking people have long ago discarded.
I have been smoking cannabis for more than thirty years and I'm every bit as compos mentis as you are.
Thank you.
Thank you.

# 26

Posted: 04/06/2005 09:55

All the health initiatives or taxes will not make the slightest difference. You don't change young people by prohibitions or legislation....it merely becomes a challenge to work around....some of which have worse outcomes than the original problem.
We can spend billion on health promotion programs and it won't make a jot of difference....except to the personnel of this new and fruitless industry (parallel of the poverty industry)

The only way to change young people is to inspire them...and that also means the older folks changing....and that is the difficult bit!!
The money would be better spent on the Bertie Bowl than thousands of health professionals writing reports and attending conferences and moaning on TV

# 25

Posted: 03/06/2005 18:48

If people drink six or more standard drinks a night then that makes them binge drinkers irrespective of their age or personal capcaity to hold their drink. At the end of the day all it is is a label (that many appear uncomfortable with their own self perception of themselves as a drinker) Hovever if you stuck to "just five pints a night" 3 nights a week that would be 30 units, which is excessive drinking. Yes I accept that everybody nearly drinks more that three pints a night, but that although the norm doesn't mean its healthy

# 24

Posted: 03/06/2005 14:49

No P, the drug itself is not responsible or thos things - the preople who take the drug irresponsible are. By your logic, cannabis is responsible for disorientation, paranoia, addiction and schizophrenia.

# 23

Posted: 03/06/2005 13:14

Some posters seem to be unaware of the seriousness of the problem; we're talking here about the whole-scale abuse of a drug that kills by poisoning, that causes depression and suicide, road fatalities, extreme violence, sexual abuse and mindless vandalism.
Complacency is the wrong response.
Thank you.

# 22

Posted: 03/06/2005 11:07

If you think there's nohign wrong with the WHO's definition of binge drinking, go into your local any Friday and Saturday. Most people there, maturere adults in their 40s and 50s will have taken 3 pints or 3 large ones +. Many of them merry / happy/ giggly. Are all these people binge drinkers? I really very much doubt it. You have to recognise that everyone's limit is different. I could have 5 Drinks on a night out and be a tipsy. 7 or 8 and I would be drunk (unco-ordinated, slurring my words etc.) butI don't like feeling this way so I stop after 5. But that is just my limit. Others need to stop at different sags before becoming drunk. Ys, children are brouht up to think drinking is cool and mature. But in other countries -Italy and Belgium for example, they are brought up to see it as a normal part of life and they do not have binge drinking problem.

# 21

Posted: 03/06/2005 10:57

So Anon, you think we should all mind outselves so the govt can force us to work longer, well into old age to line their coffes so hey won't have to pay us he miserable little state pension we;'re entitled to? Well I for one think NOT. While I know my income needs will be lower in retirement, I have no problem providing for myself with a private pension but I do not intend to work a day past 60 and I fully intend goign out ands enjjoying myslef now while I can. Lets face it, I could be dead, or unable to work evenif I wanted to - by 70.

# 20

Posted: 03/06/2005 09:42

I believe the main reason for binge drinking is lack of self esteem. I notice that quite a lot of people who binge drink seem to lack confindence, alcohol gives them a false feeling of confidence which we all know quickly disappears the following day. I do not binge drink although I have taken too much on occasion. Recently I have gone socialising and not consumed any alcohol, I have thoroughly enjoyed these occasions. I have a great feeling of being in control, it's marvellous, and it's spreading into all other areas of my life.

# 19

Posted: 03/06/2005 03:17

I believe that the answer lies with the idea of mixing drinks with food like that in Europe and longer opening hours. The culture would soon change and everyone would benefit.

# 18

Posted: 03/06/2005 00:25

I am one of a family of 14 father was a heavy drinker and abused the lot of us would have loved to have married a non drinker but i didn't so i can say i put up with some crap and he does not see a problem with his behavyer, you see people in Ireland dont know how to drink in moderation,like some other countries.