Title – Doctors tell of 8-year-old drunks they see in A&E /Childhood AddictionSource – The Times
Date – 3rd July / 7th July 2009
I think that anyone would be shocked by the sight of an 8 year old being brought into hospital unconscious; so how we address this particular problem.
What worries me is the tendency that in these extreme cases, it is suggested that the way they obtain the alcohol is the key to preventing this type of incident. It is very easy for the blame to be laid squarely at the feet of the alcohol retailers.
The problem with these extreme cases, is that looking for a simple solution is very short-sighted. There are undoubtedly rogue retailers out there selling alcohol to underage children and the industry would welcome proactive and constructive measures to deal with those few individuals, because they are in the minority and taint everyone’s reputation.
The fact is an 8 year old addicted to alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, glue, who carries a knife or any of the other extremes we read about, is not a problem caused even by rogue retailers (and at no stage do I defend them) it is a much deeper problem of our society generally and it must be tackled in that way.
To simplify it or to use it in any way to justify further legislation on alcohol retailer will not only undermine that argument, but also undermine the legitimate arguments which call for ‘tweaks’ in current alcohol legislation.
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Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.Date – 3rd July / 7th July 2009
I think that anyone would be shocked by the sight of an 8 year old being brought into hospital unconscious; so how we address this particular problem.
What worries me is the tendency that in these extreme cases, it is suggested that the way they obtain the alcohol is the key to preventing this type of incident. It is very easy for the blame to be laid squarely at the feet of the alcohol retailers.
The problem with these extreme cases, is that looking for a simple solution is very short-sighted. There are undoubtedly rogue retailers out there selling alcohol to underage children and the industry would welcome proactive and constructive measures to deal with those few individuals, because they are in the minority and taint everyone’s reputation.
The fact is an 8 year old addicted to alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, glue, who carries a knife or any of the other extremes we read about, is not a problem caused even by rogue retailers (and at no stage do I defend them) it is a much deeper problem of our society generally and it must be tackled in that way.
To simplify it or to use it in any way to justify further legislation on alcohol retailer will not only undermine that argument, but also undermine the legitimate arguments which call for ‘tweaks’ in current alcohol legislation.
At
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