Binge Drinking

[Andropov]

PAMELA NEWENHAM

IRELAND HAS the highest rate of binge drinkers in the EU, with nearly one in five reporting they drink five or more alcoholic beverages in a single sitting.

A total of 19 per cent of Irish people said they had five or more drinks on average in a single sitting, according to a Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission.

This figure, which is more than three times the EU average of 6 per cent, compares with binge-drinking rates of just 1 per cent in Bulgaria, 2 per cent in Greece and 3 per cent in Portugal.

Binge drinking is defined in the survey as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one day.

The commission’s director in Ireland, Martin Territt, said it was accepted that drinking cultures differ across Ireland. “Worryingly the Eurobarometer shows that in Ireland people are still binge drinking and are not responding to the fact that alcohol is the third-biggest cause of premature death in the EU,” he added.

Some 27 per cent of Irish people surveyed said they consume alcohol two or three times a week, while 7 per cent said they drink more than four times a week.

On the question of abstention, 24 per cent of Irish respondents said they had not had an alcoholic drink in the past 12 months. This abstention rate is ahead of countries like the UK (19 per cent), the Czech Republic (18 per cent) and Denmark (7 per cent).

According to the survey, 25 per cent of European respondents aged 55 and over reported drinking alcohol on a daily basis, compared to 3 per cent of 15-24 year olds. However, one-quarter of young people aged 15-24 drink five or more drinks once a week, compared to just one in 10 people aged 55 and over.

More than half of people aged 25 and over said they would not drink less alcohol if the price increased by 25 per cent.

The link between alcoholism and health problems is well known among survey respondents in Ireland: 91 per cent know of the link with depression and 88 per cent know alcohol can increase heart disease. However, just over one-quarter of EU citizens (27 per cent) were able to answer correctly when asked what the legal blood alcohol limit for driving is in their country.

Jamie Fortescue, director of the European Spirits Organisation, said Europeans lack basic information regarding alcohol.

“Many Europeans don’t know that a standard glass of wine, whisky or beer contains the same amount of alcohol; whether they should drink when pregnant; or what a safe limit is to drive. These are some of the knowledge gaps that Europe needs to bridge in order to bring about a change in behaviour,” he said.

The survey of 1,008 people in Ireland was conducted by TNS/ MRBI in October 2009.

[Andropov]

Its a major problem here and in Britain.
What can we as Socialists do to tackle this substance abuse in the short term.
Obviously these problems stem from wide ranging socio-economic problems of Capitalism but what can we do in the short term to stem the tide?

[piet11111]

Just 19% ?

I do not consider binge drinking a problem its when it turns to alcoholism that it becomes a problem.
Myself i binge drink on Friday & Saturday but i do not consider myself an alcoholic as i do not drink anything on the other weekdays.

[Devrim]

Its a major problem here and in Britain.
What can we as Socialists do to tackle this substance abuse in the short term.
Obviously these problems stem from wide ranging socio-economic problems of Capitalism but what can we do in the short term to stem the tide?

There are problems with alcoholism. I know what they are. My father regularly beat my mum and us kids when he was drunk. I don't want in any way to ignore these problems.

Nevertheless, there is also a public campaign about 'binge drinking'. I remember seeing the British government classifying binge drinking as three pints a day.

Without saying that you are doing it, we have to realise that there is a fine line between helping people who have real problems, and going along with what is essentially a bourgeois morality campaign.

Devrim

[Palingenisis]

Nevertheless, there is also a public campaign about 'binge drinking'. I remember seeing the British government classifying binge drinking as three pints a day.

Without saying that you are doing it, we have to realise that there is a fine line between helping people who have real problems, and going along with what is essentially a bourgeois morality campaign.

Devrim

Im not saying that you are doing this but there is a tendency is the left particularly in western europe and the USA to see "morality" always in a negative light. I dont see someone drinking three or four pints a day as a problemn...But when people conistently spend their weekends and free time getting out, they people are living in get drunk or stoned or whatever...Thats a completely different story. In order to build a real movement we have to address each issue that effects our class. Both the bosses and the IRSP might be against binge drinking but they are so for very different reasons.

Actually your organization published two brillant articles on ethics which everyone should read.

http://en.internationalism.org/taxonomy/term/368

[Wanted Man]

Binge drinking is defined in the survey as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one day.

What?? Surely everyone has done that at least once in their lives.


Some 27 per cent of Irish people surveyed said they consume alcohol two or three times a week, while 7 per cent said they drink more than four times a week.

On the question of abstention, 24 per cent of Irish respondents said they had not had an alcoholic drink in the past 12 months. This abstention rate is ahead of countries like the UK (19 per cent), the Czech Republic (18 per cent) and Denmark (7 per cent).

That's not so bad, is it?

At the end of the article, a whole bunch of stuff about drunk driving and pregnancy is brought up. Those are real problems, but it seems that these horrible nasty things are just tacked on to add to the moral panic about binge drinking: "One moment, they're just drinking 5 pints in an evening, next thing you know, one of them gets into his car and the other turns out to be pregnant..."

[Fictional]

I usually go out every Wednesday, and drink alot and end up stumbling home with some friends, it's never resorted in violence and I have total control of my body, I will drink a lot more than three pints but I've never had a problem, neither has anyone else, I didn't consider what I'm doing as wrong, what's the point of drinking alcohol (more expensive than most other drinks) if you don't intend on getting drunk? I think the binge drinking situation confuses me a bit, anyone feel like shedding some light on this for me?

[Andropov]

Without saying that you are doing it, we have to realise that there is a fine line between helping people who have real problems, and going along with what is essentially a bourgeois morality campaign.
I dont believe its a Bourgeois morality campaign to tell you the truth.
Especially not when you walk into any A&E up and down the country on a friday or saturday night.
Especially since its the third biggest cause of premature death in Europe.
I dont know about other countries but one of the major factors here is that the Pub is the primary centre of Social interaction within the community.
Something needs to replace the pub where it is seen as the focal point of the community.
Obviously this is just one facet of a much bigger problem.

[Boru]

Alcohol is an escape, just like pretty much anything that isn't work.
A considerably dangerous escape, but a popular one in the Republic nonetheless.

Agitating against alcohol in Ireland is like agitating against "God" in the Vatican: the right thing to do but it'll get you nowhere fast.

Devrim is right, it is a bourgeoise morality campaign.
The people like their alcohol, while that is originally rooted in capitalists' plots, it is part of the culture now. A culture that doesn't need to be fecked with to remove capitalism.

[Andropov]

Devrim is right, it is a bourgeoise morality campaign.
The people like their alcohol, while that is originally rooted in capitalists' plots, it is part of the culture now. A culture that doesn't need to be fecked with to remove capitalism.
So you see no problem with much of the population dying from premature deaths in totally preventable circumstances?

[Devrim]

I dont believe its a Bourgeois morality campaign to tell you the truth.
Especially not when you walk into any A&E up and down the country on a friday or saturday night.
Especially since its the third biggest cause of premature death in Europe.
I dont know about other countries but one of the major factors here is that the Pub is the primary centre of Social interaction within the community.
Something needs to replace the pub where it is seen as the focal point of the community.
Obviously this is just one facet of a much bigger problem.

Yes, there is a huge problem with alcoholism, and I am not saying that you are running a bourgeois morality campaign.

I don't think that you can ignore that aspect of it in the media though. The things that you read in the press often seem to me to be more of an attack on young working class people not conforming to expected civil codes of behaviour than concern about the health of the working class.

Devrim

[Devrim]

Im not saying that you are doing this but there is a tendency is the left particularly in western europe and the USA to see "morality" always in a negative light. I dont see someone drinking three or four pints a day as a problemn...But when people conistently spend their weekends and free time getting out, they people are living in get drunk or stoned or whatever...Thats a completely different story. In order to build a real movement we have to address each issue that effects our class. Both the bosses and the IRSP might be against binge drinking but they are so for very different reasons.

Actually your organization published two brillant articles on ethics which everyone should read.

http://en.internationalism.org/taxonomy/term/368

I think that you have a point and as I said above it is something that needs to be addressed. We never have our meetings in Turkey in pubs any more for example, and expect members not to be under the influence of alcohol when acting on behalf of the organisation. There is a real problem with alcohol within the working class.

That doesn't mean that there are bourgeois morality campaigns though, and I think that there is one about alcohol.

Devrim

[theblackmask]

It's not that I don't care about the overall effect on health, but I see no point in trying to attack drinking directly. As long as people want to forget the horrible week they just spent at work, heavy drinking will be a problem. I think this is one of those issues(if it even is an issue anymore) to be handled when we live in a classless society.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

A total of 19 per cent of Irish people said they had five or more drinks on average in a single sitting, according to a Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission.

It seems to me that the survey was worded very badly, or the media has badly mangled the results.

In any case, five drinks is considered binge drinking? Five drinks of what? How long in time is the "sitting"?

[syndicat]

Five drinks in an evening would make me feel sick the next day. of course if you do this sort of thing regularly, you develop tolerance for it.

"heavy drinking" is defined in some studies as 14 drinks a week. according to some psychiatry journal articles I read, "heavy drinking" causes a serotonin deficiency. the "feel good" effect of inebriation is all the serotonin being pumped out by the brain. but heavy drinking burns out the serotonin receptors over time...sort of like ecstacy but in a slower way. this is the mechanism of alcoholism. as you degrade the serotonin receptors, it takes more drink to get the same "feel good" effect. hence it leads to binge drinking.

alcohol causes your blood pressure to rise. so if you do heavy drinking over a long period, it can cause heart disease. a study of heavy drinkers in China (people who regularly take 7 drinks or more in a day), showed a tendency for them to die of heart attacks.

the alcohol capitalists...distillers, brewers...tend to dump alcohol on poor or working class communities. here in California there have been studies that show heavy concentrations of liquor licenses in black and Latino neighborhoods. this is because poor people, people who suffer unemployment and racism, self-medicate by drinking alcohol (or taking other drugs).

but because alcohol raises blood pressure, it then greases the skid to violence, domestic abuse, people getting into fights and then the knives or guns come out. the book "Alcohol & Murder" shows some correlation between alcohol and homicide. it's a catalyst, not the ultimate cause. it's rather that alcohol in conditions of poverty, racism, unemployment tends to exaggerate the situation. a recent example from today's San Francisco Chronicle. a young black man in Oakland was arrested for punching a Chinese man who hit his head in a fall and died. he said that "he was angry and frustrated with his life and looking to punch someone." but he also said being inebriated had something to do with it. It's understandable why a young black man in the USA could be angry and frustrated, but the alcohol plays a role by lowering one's inhibitions and raising one's blood pressure.

my ex, who is Irish-American, says that her family are all disfunctional drunks. she believes there is a genetic connection. she's been depressed all her life. She thinks there is a chemical deficiency that leads to depression, in many Irish families, and then people self-medicate by drinking. she's gotten around this depression by taking antidepressants and doing extreme amounts of exercise, plus meditation. one of my local communist friends, who is also Irish-American, says his brothers are all disfunctional drunks. he used to have serious problems of binge drinking...a binge for him would last for days on end. now he's dealing with the problem by going to AA, and he's been off alcohol for a year and a half.

but it's not a "moral" problem. it's a social health problem.