The sun's out... and so too are the boozy youngsters

May 15 2008

Today (May 7) is a beautiful day weather-wise. Having just driven through Stonehouse at about 5.30pm, I couldn't help but notice the amount of children walking around with carrier bags. Most were around the ages 12 to 16.

Nothing strange about that, until you have a closer look.

Most are heading for the public park. Again nothing strange; it’s a lovely day, warm and sunny.

I had a closer look at the bags, which were from a well-known, caring-for-the-world shop. They must have run out of beer and alcopops for some bags contained quite nice red wine.

We’ve all been reading in the national press about under-age drinking and its dangers. About how the police are cracking down on this, and also cracking down on sellers.

What on earth do we, the taxpayers, pay our police for? I and the vast majority of law-abiding folk in South Lanarkshire — and everywhere else for that matter — demand that we get value for money, or as SLC would call it, best price, from our police service (didn’t ‘force’ sound much more important and deserving of respect?).

Anyway, how many police officers are covering your streets tonight? Have you ever called the cops on a Friday/Saturday night? I have.

I called the police twice on a Friday night, firstly at 11.30 and then again at 1.30am.

“No car is available in the area,” I was told. A one-off? Not a chance!

I come back to my point. Children are buying and/or being given alcohol from a very early age. We, as parents, should make it as hard as possible for our children to obtain alcohol outwith parental control.

Pressure should be put on local off-sales to make it near-impossible for children and young adults to buy a drink. This works in some parts of the USA.

Here's my idea. Why don't we get more police and stop selling booze to our kids? Easy!

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