Underage drinking

[sassermaet]

With parents and an older brother who have played the local gig circuits over the years, I've heard a lot of stories about 'p*shed youngsters'. My brother's band were playing at the Delting Boating Club when I was about 14, and I can mind a few of the lasses in my year who turned up already drunk, and were served more alcohol.

 

At a second gig in the Brae Hall, I didn't attend but was told a few stories by my mam the following day - one lass in my class turned up but was slung out, and hung around the doorway despite having been refused re-entry. Another lass turned up but was barred from entering, and her mam kicked up a fuss because she didn't know why her daughter hadn't been allowed to enter - before anyone asks, the gig was 18+ and we were all about 15 at this point. The bouncers finally relented and let her in at about midnight, but almost immediately after getting in she had a cig and a Smirnoff Ice in each hand.

 

It is generally just accepted that young bairns in Shetland go out on the lash when they get to a certain age. I do know some Shetland teenagers who can be sensible with booze but just as many who can't be, and they're the ones who'll get themselves in serious trouble in later life.

 

As for me...well, I first got properly drunk when I was 15 and a half, and I consider myself to be quite a late starter among my peers. I don't drink alcohol much, though. I had two V&Cs last night at BOX, and I think that's the first time I've had alcohol since New Year. I didn't start going to the pubs until I had my 18th, because I was terrified I'd get ID'd, but now I've realised how ridiculously lax a lot of drinking holes in Shetland are when it comes to who they let in. The only bar that regularly IDs anyone they doubt the age of is the Wheel Bar, and occasionally Posers - apart from that I bet I could take my 14-year-old sister to the pub with me some night and she'd get served alcohol if she attempted to buy it. She doesn't even look remotely like she might be 18 (although I could just be saying that because she's my sister). My parents never encouraged me to drink and I think that's another factor in my general apathy towards alcohol. I did get alcohol on my birthday every year from the age of 16, and I was allowed a bottle of Smirnoff Ice / Bacardi Breezer on any other special occasion, but that was it.

 

The next time I'll be drinking to my knowledge will be my next birthday, and even then, I hope it won't be much.

 

Glasgow is a little stricter with ID but that's really only the clubs, the pubs tend to be as lax about it as Shetland. It is really becoming more of a national problem at the end of the day, though.

 

Then again...do folk on islands usually have anything better to do?

[JAStewart]

I first got drunk when it was my 14th birthday. I sat in with my friends and got drunk. I didn't kill anyone, I didn't hurt anyone (bar myself? ), I didn't cause problems for anyone, I wasn't loud, I wasn't obnoxious, and I even told my parents that I had. Of course my parents weren't entirely happy but I had a hangover and they told me that that is what happens when you drink too much, and its nature's lesson .

 

Whats the problem there?

 

I understand that its all about people over indulging, but to be honest, I know plenty more underagers who drink and are controlled rather than people who drink and get in fights and cause trouble. The only reason that its _such_ a problem is that whenever one 13 year old gets really wasted its completely thrown in our face and we're told how awful it is. But did someone run a news article when I first got drunk saying "A 14 year old youth wasn't arrested this weekend for being drunk because no-one knew about it and no-one was hurt." Of course the news would never say that, because its outrageous-drunk-12-year-olds that sells.

 

But, I'm not going to deny that a lot of drinking goes on in Shetland. Its not just underagers who are causing the problems. I know a lot of over 18's who are less responsible with alcohol than the underagers.

 

In Aberdeen nearly every single pub ID's you at the door. They even ID me when I have the whole beard thing going on.

 

I just wonder how much the pubs would lose if literally everyone inside the pub had to be 18+. There are lots of youngsters in the pub.

[ArabiaTerra]

I just wonder how much the pubs would lose if literally everyone inside the pub had to be 18+. There are lots of youngsters in the pub.

I wonder how many pubs would be left if they started taking away licences whenever underagers were found with drink in pubs.

[sassermaet]

^^^Good point - particularly back up north!

[Shoogler]

Has anybody heard details of an accident in Fetlar last night and Oscar Charlie lifting the injured out?

 

(***Mod Edit - Due to the topic the original thread went down, these posts have now been merged to the existing Underage drinking thread***)

[MuckleJoannie]

The Shetland News has a story Fetlar accident leaves one in hospital

[Roxy71]

Totally not surprised at this..... kids getting drunk early afternoon and hooning around in cars.

 

For me they spoilt it and police lack of presence until accident did not help.

 

We were all nervous walking back to the house incase some idiot ran us over. Then not even 20 mins after getting home we watched another plonker run off the road into a ditch.....

[TeeAyBee]

The accident happened during the annual Fetlar Foy which brings hundreds of young people to the island for a weekend of fun and socialising.

 

Translation: underage drinking until they fall down.

[Spinner72]

It's undeniably strange given the prescence the police have had at recent gigs (like Malorca Lee in Midyell a few weeks ago) for them not to have a similar prescence in Fetlar.

 

I know the organisers do thier very best, but as with any open air event they can't be held resposible for what happens outside the grounds, as it were.

 

Such a shame that events like this can gain a marred reputation due to the inevitable idiotic minority

[xoni]

Hi all my first post on here although I'e been lurking a while and living here for a number of years now.

 

I love Shetland but the reason i moved here initially is completely out the window now ( safety for my wee uns) , I haven't in my near on 40 years on this planet ever experienced such a bad problem with under age drinking as here , well drinking in general actually but the under age aspect of drinking actually petrifies me. It appears to be so acceptable.

 

The police come , nothings done and they still seem to carry on seemingly with their parents permission..well you cant put the child in court at their age but hows about making the parent pay for the childs crime , make THEM responsible, and when they go up before the courts make them pay big time for it...i bet you a million pound you'd almost instantly see it stopped

 

not just for drinking but for all crimes , i know for one if i had to pay a hefty fine or do community service because my child had been aggressive or drunk or taking drugs or robbing someone they wouldn't ever leave the bloody house again...

 

just my two pennies

[Infiltrator]

It appears to be so acceptable.

 

Has always been so - I'm mid 40's now and most folk my age were drinking most weekends at country discos by 15.

[Smeeth]

I'm all for the punish the parents idea! Of course children without parents or those children who really are too unruly to control would need to be considered, but I completely agree that "parental acceptance" has a massive chunk of the blame for what goes on.

 

I've not seen too many of the larger events in my time, but I know from experience that the smaller "halls" that go on nearly every week somewhere in shetland has a huge problem with underage drinking. Even with the tags of "no under 14 or 16's" it doesn't seem to make a lick of difference.

 

What needs to be done is a massive change on how the parents think about their children drinking and an even bigger change in security at these events.

 

Anyone attending these halls can see how pissed the little tots are, which makes me believe that the organisers really couldn't give a toss and neither do the police for that matter!

 

@ infiltrator, that may be so. I too was drinking at a young age. Doesn't mean it was right though and it certainly wasn't in the open under what is supposed to be supervised events

[xoni]

that's as maybe but the dangers of not knowing what alcohol can do to you at that age and the parents being oblivious to it is plain dangerous, people die through choking on their own vomit in their sleep all the time and that's adults, not to mention the state these kids livers are going to be in by the time tey are actually old enough to enjoy a responsible drink

[Spinner72]

It appears to be so acceptable.

 

Has always been so - I'm mid 40's now and most folk my age were drinking most weekends at country discos by 15.

 

Me too (but mid 30's ) - however, our parents were with us, thats the huge difference now. As I mentioned in another thread, there were equally as many, if not more, over 40's than under 30's at a disco back then.

 

Not to mention that the recent culture of "drink to get drunk" was unheard of. You drank to have a spree (and maybe more - if you were lucky!)

 

I'm all for the punish the parents idea! Of course children without parents or those children who really are too unruly to control would need to be considered, but I completely agree that "parental acceptance" has a massive chunk of the blame for what goes on.

 

Unquestionably.

 

There are cases now of teenagers being dropped off, drunk, by parents, who think its a great crack.

 

Thinking about it, its basically child abuse/neglect. Maybe a few jail sentences dished out each weekend would knock some sense back..

[shetlander]

Under age drinking is a problem just about everywhere - I think the difference in Shetland is the extent that it exists and the level that it is tolerated.

 

To be fair to them, the police have been putting in more of an apperance at recent events in country halls resulting in a fair haul of booze being taken off under-agers - and I can't remember that happening much in the past.

 

The finger can be pointed at folk sitting on hall or event committees to a point, but I don't envy the position they must find themselves in sometimes, particularly when they are doing their bit on a voluntary basis. Being kent to them, many young folk (and I daresay some of their parents) undoubtedly take it personally when they refuse to serve them or let them in but at the same time they run an increasing risk of being held liable if they are caught turning a blind eye. In a small place where everybody knows everybody else, they are never going to win.

 

Better enforcement is only half of the answer though. What is really needed is a huge cultural change that recognises that getting blootered at every given opportunity and at just about every social event is not acceptable - whether as an adult or a teenager - and does not happen everywhere else. There is still a prevailing attitude in Shetland that choosing not to drink somehow brands a young person as abnormal and until that kind of narrow-mindedness is destined to the past, there's little hope of things changing.