Tuesday 5 June 2007

Alcoholic drink unit warning labels - An idiot's guide to getting drunk

Alcoholic drink unit warning labels
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, I'm afraid the government's idea to add warning labels to alcoholic drinks, to give an indication of the number of units of alcohol they may contain is very poor to say the least. Having been a bit of a drinker in the past (16 year in the Navy) I know a thing or two about buying alcohol, and what I know is this: a lot of people in this country buy alcohol based on its alcohol content, i.e the more the better. I've got more than a sneaking suspicion that these labels will only make it easier to identify the strongest drinks. After all, the main purpose of buying alcohol in many people's eyes (the people this foolishness is aimed at) is to get drunk as fast and as cheaply as possible.

Fair enough add labels that warn against excessive drinking and consumption while pregnant, but depicting the alcoholic content in an easy to follow points system will only encourage abuse. Old habits die hard and I still find myself looking at the alcoholic content of a drink when I'm shopping. The new points system will make this a lot easier. This initiative is part of a voluntary agreement with the drinks industry. I bet it is, I also bet they are rubbing their hands together in anticipation. I predict (and I could be wrong) that drinks depicting the highest number of units of alcohol on their bottles will become the most popular with drinkers and best sellers for the drinks industry.

People that drink sensibly don't need warning labels. People that don't drink sensibly will either ignore them or (more likely) use them as an idiots guide to getting drunk.

Please click here to subscribe to my feed

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do you think British people drink the way they do? Like smoking, people know that drinking is bad for their health too. My friend died of alcoholism on New Year's Eve. I do feel we need more education about the devastating impact of alchol. I really admire people who can face their demons and give up.

William Gruff said...

Drinking and alcoholism are not the same thing, just as driving at speed and driving at an inappropriate speed are not the same thing.

Billions of people consume alcohol without trouble. Your friend's troubles were his own and not related to alcohol, and using one's own personal tragedies to justify controls over others is unjustifiable.

Anonymous said...

the above information very useful to us
====================================
swathi
Alcohol abuse affects millions. This site has a lot of useful information.
http://AlcoholAbous.com