Teenage Binge drinking ‘epidemic’

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Title – Teenage Binge drinking ‘epidemic’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 13th February 2008

There is no place in the licensed retail sector to target or sell alcohol to children. That is simple fact and a fact that the vast majority of those working within the industry agree with a 100%. Many of those people are also exasperated at how they achieve this. In many outlets the solutions seem straight forward, but in others it is somewhat blurred.

When refusal to serve is met with abuse, harassment, threats of violence and actual violence and reports to the police seem to achieve nothing, you can if not understand at least have the smallest amount of sympathy for the retailers who find themselves in this position. But that they feel the answer is to give in, will only make the situation work. When there is a retailer who is willing to ‘bend’ the rules, their reputation will spread wildly and every teenager in the area will flock to try their luck.

The only way to resolve the situation is to stick to your guns, don’t sell to underage people or to people you suspect of supplying underage people, both are illegal and both can result in prosecution and ultimately revocations of licenses, leading to businesses failing.

The problems of underage drinking need to be passed back to the relevant authorities and if the licensed retail trade can eliminate these sales then there will no longer be the excuse to blame retailers for the behaviour or failure of others.

Parents who supply their kids with alcohol that they go out and drink in the street present the authorities with a particular problem and one that is more difficult to resolve. The very statement from the Home Secretary seems to indicate part of the problem and the double standard. While I agree whole heartedly that retailers who have contempt for the law and knowingly sell to children should be punished and face censure, the very fact that she suggests that “police will be given tougher powers to confiscate alcohol from under-age drinkers” seems to prove the double standards that exist. Surely if the situation with retailers selling alcohol to children is black and white then the powers police have (and for that matter should enforce) should be equally black and white. Why would they need more powers, if they are too young to buy and drink then confiscation should be obvious.

Maybe that is again one of the fundamental problems, it’s easy to blame the industry, but more difficult to put your own house in order.
For those retailers that want to do the right thing, but who face abuse, violence or who simply need to involve their whole team in the process or retailing responsibly there are solutions, the first is training and considering courses that will get your business and staff working together to combat the problems. Courses like the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) set out the fundamentals, more advanced courses such as the National Certificate for Personal License Holders (NCPLH) provide and in depth knowledge and Conflict Management and Resolution Courses provide staff with the skills to deal more effectively when they enforce the law within their own business and find negative or aggressive reactions from teenagers and parents alike.

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