Adsa ID under 25’s buying booze
Asda has taken the lead on clamping down on underage drinking by refusing to let anyone buy alcohol who looks under 18 and doesn’t have ID. I’m not going to go into the controversy of ID cards, as I don’t have a strong opinion either way on this. I do however think that retailers have to take responsibility for who they serve alcohol. With so many young people drinking we, as a society have to do something about this so it can only be a good thing that Asda are being responsible in this manner.
Unfortunately it is only a small part of the solution; anyone who’s been a teenager can remember how easy it is to get hold of alcohol, either from their parent’s drinks cabinet or getting an older friend to buy it. I was getting served from the age of 13, with make up I looked old enough and nobody seemed to bother IDing then. Ultimately making alcohol hard to get will make it more attractive to young people, especially if grown ups are still acting irresponsibly with alcohol.
Drinking and getting as drunk as possible seems to be a right of passage for most young people these days, when I was a teenager it made me feel confident, glamorous and sophisticated all the things I felt I wasn’t, of course there is nothing remotely glamorous about a 15 year old collapsed outside of a pub with a bucket of water being thrown over her lying in her own vomit as was the case with me.
Twenty years on you visit any high street on a Friday night and this would not be an uncommon sight, how terribly sad that we believe we’re having a good time, are we deluding ourselves? I look back at my own drinking and can see it was all a sham, a big lie, I wasn’t having a good time I was just doing what everyone else was doing.
Not selling alcohol to under 18’s is a start, but we are going to have to go a lot further than that.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:23 am
Fab blog Ronnie, really proffesional and I totally agree with you. There is a late night shop in Crouch end owned by i believe a turkish family and on a saturday night is is full of very young teenagers buying their “lets look cool and fit in” drinks. It really makes me very cross.
Hope to see you tonight. xxx Sal
May 1st, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I’m glad to see Asda doing this, it is a step in the right direction. I remember my 16-year-old son wanted to buy some cider from Tesco to take to a party and they refused because of his age and I had to purchase it on his behalf. I think the off-licences need to be much tougher on this too.
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 am
I see from an earlier post that today is a special anniversary. Congratulations on seven years of living your truth and doing so much to help others do the same in their lives.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Congratulations Veronica, I hope you have a great day - there is so much to look forward to.