Australia a land of drunks (study)

[Feuer Frei!]

Really? People drinking to get drunk? Wow, what an eye opener (not).
Although i must admit, the slogan here of "any ole' excuse to get drunk" is right on the button.

MORE than four million Australians say they drink alcohol with the aim of getting drunk, a new study has found. And about half of those people try to get drunk at least once a week. The report, commissioned by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, says 80 per cent of Australians believe the nation has a drinking problem.


The foundation's chief executive Michael Thorn said that over the past decade Australia's problem with alcohol had got worse.
"There's been an increase in violence, an increase in hospitalisations. There's an ongoing indigenous despair and rising community costs conservatively put at $36 billion a year," he said in Canberra today.
"When seen against the increasingly aggressive marketing of alcohol by those producers and retailers, it tells a sorry tale."
He called for the introduction of a minimum price on alcohol because clear evidence exists that the price of alcohol correlates with the amount of consumption.

Another priority is for alcohol products to have warning labels.

Mr Thorn said the government's alcohol policies must focus on the whole population, not just individuals.
"The current approach to addressing this (alcohol issues) which focuses on personal responsibility is clearly failing," he said.
The report also found that 82 per cent of Australians believe more needs to be done to reduce the harm caused by alcohol-related illness, injury and related issues.
And more than half of the population believes that government, alcohol companies and pubs and clubs are not doing enough to address alcohol-related harm in the community.

SOURCE