PANIC IN THE STREETS!

[andrewducker]

The head of the Scottish prosecution service has announced that Scotland faced a "real apocalypse" unless it "gets to grips" with over-consumption.*

And underneath that, on the same page of the BBC News it's announced that in the last 9 years the number of under-15-year-olds drinking alcohol once per week has dropped by a third.**

So, which is it? Are the teens drinking more and apocalypsing*** in the streets? Or are they actually better behaved than at any other time in history?

*From
**From
***Not actually a real word.

Comments

[birguslatro]

At what age can you purchase alcohol in Scotland?

[matgb]

Legally, 18, but can drink from 5 (caveat: I'm 90% certain Scottish and English law on this is the same, but it might not be as the splits are sometimes weird). Essentially parents can provide you with alcohol with meals and stuff, but beyond that the law's incomprehensibly confused and most people don't understand it.

Example: it's perfectly legal for me to give my step daughter a glass of wine with a meal (if I did, it'd be with a mixer, and I've never done it). But if I said I intended to do so in the earshot of shop staff while they were selling it, they'd be obliged to stop me buying.

To answer Andrew's Q, mostly better behaved, but those that aren't behave worse than the journalists and similar can remmber them and their friends behaving when they were kids. Some individuals might be worse, but overall behaviour is mostly better.

[birguslatro]

My point about the legal drinking age is that both stories could be true, the 18 year olds (and older) being both allowed to buy drinks and also having the real incomes to do so, unlike the under 15s that study was based on. An eighteen year old is a lot different beast to a fourteen year old.

[birguslatro]

And right on cue, how they (or at least some) do things in NZ...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10714262

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

Same thoughts after reading it in the Scotsman. Compared to ten years ago, kids are the healthiest they've been, but because their healthiness hasn't met targets it's a disaster. Madness!

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

The answer depends on whose data you believe. According to the drinks industry it has been falling.

According to NHS Scotland it has remained pretty much static since 2005 (pdf).

According to the ONS is is falling slightly (pdf).

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

apocalypsing***

*** Caribbean zombies have a beach party.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

"Och, you shoulda seen me las' night - I was tortally apocalypsed..."

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

False antithesis! Teens and young adults are taking less intoxicants than a few years ago, but lauranorder and health problems arise from all ages, so a bulge of (say) 30 to 50 year olds could be drinking more than both their parents *and* their children and be the root cause of the prosecutor's comments.

(She doesn't actually say it's young people associated with criminality, only that alcohol abuse is a health issue for young peopl, which is perfectly true.)

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. Actually, domestic abuse perpetrators (to name one almost-universally-drink-related crime) are not usually young people. See also ASBOs.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Is it possible that fewer teenagers are drinking, but those that are drinking are drinking a lot more?

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

You 1st para is sort of missing the bit about it being alcohol, maybe?