Alchohol and prohibition

Here is a letter to the BOP Times from P. Thomas - a writer with seriously deluded ideas of what the GOVERNMENT needs to do to fix the achohol problem in this country,

This from P Thomas: - (italics MY thoughts on the matter)

One of the reasons for this countrys drinking culture is that alcohol is so easily obtainable and so cheap.
[drugs are ILLEGAL and EXPENSIVE, and We STILL have an equally horrendous drug problem - total prohibition has done NOTHING apart from making drugs stronger and smaller - more concentrated, and more dangerous to take AND procure, so that BLOWS THAT THEORY)

. . . if alchohol were less affordable it would become a luxury item instead of a grocery item.
I don't have an alcohol problem! - why must I be penalised because somebody else has?

Every parent knows that the best way to keep the kids out of the lolly jar is to put it up on the top shelf out of reach.
Since WHEN did putting the lolly jar on the top shelf ever stop a determined CHILD, let alone a free-thinking adult from getting something they are determined to have?
You can even get drugs in JAIL, so how on earth do you expect to stop people using them in the free world if you cant even stop the getting into JAILS!

Does the NZ Government have the bottle to tax the liquour industry?
YES, and when they DO, and they get the results I predict, they will start pointing the finger and laying the blame for those results on everything but the REAL cause of the problem - government interference in the lives of the individuals

. . . perhaps 100 or so teenagers killing themselves in cars might be thought expendable for the sake of an export industry.

. . . is it possible that a hefty tax on the liquour industry would cut down on teenage drinking and go towards paying for a sports stadium at the same time
NO, it is NOT possible! What is entirely PROBABLE is that teenagers and others will find more ILLEGAL and DEVIOUS ways to get what they want - as for the the thing about the sports stadium - PLEASE what is it with people that can see no alternatives to the use of FORCE to resolve these kinds of issues, when it is the use of FORCE that actually CREATES THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.


Here is my letter to the BOP Times in response

If it were possible to cure the world's woes by wishing, hoping and praying, then I am sure it would have been done long before now. The following words spring to mind after reading the letter from P Thomas, who misguidedly believes higher government taxes on alcohol will reduce the associated problems. "Those who have failed to learn from history are destined to repeat it!"
The problem with prohibition and higher taxes is that it creates more and worse problems. Take drugs for example. The multi-million dollar war on drugs is responsible for more theft, murder and crime perpetrated on innocent people than if drugs were legal! Prohibition is responsible for illegal drugs being more potent and concentrated and far more dangerous than if they were legal! If alcohol was banned or made more expensive via govt tax, I predict more robberies, more home invasions, and more death by alchoholic poisoning by people resorting to consuming potent home brewed beverages like pucheen or meths etc. Force and bully tactics by govt can not, has not and never will stop people committing crimes against themselves. Instead I suggest making people more responsible for their own actions, and the penalties for those committing crimes against others more severe!