Buckfast Tonic Wine, better known to us as "Buckie", "commotion lotion" or "wreck the hoose juice", could be banned if Scottish MEP Catherine Stihler's proposals, made to the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, are approved.
She wants to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks which she says are linked to crime and health problems. Buckfast, which has been linked by police to violent behaviour, contains as much caffeine as eight cans of coke.
Additionally Mrs Stihler pointed out that one energy drink can increase the chance of heart attack or stroke. She said: "Surely it is high time for a ban on alcoholic caffeinated drinks. The combination of alcohol and caffeine can be fatal. Caffeine addiction can lead to a whole host of medical problems, not to mention its link with crime and violence on Scottish streets. The fact is many consumers are unaware of the damage they are doing to their bodies and lack the essential information to make an informed decision about what they purchase."
A documentary, a couple of weeks ago pointed out that the tonic wine had been mentioned in 5,000 crime reports by Strathclyde Police in the last three years. Labour MSP Richard Baker backed Mrs Stihler's proposals demanding action to reduce access to caffeinated alcohol and tackle the impact it has on violent crime in Scotland.
I have doubts that any of this will do any good. Teenagers bent on getting drunk and high on caffeine and booze are probably about bright enough to work out that mixing coke with vodka, or cider or both will end up doing the job just as well. Buckie is not cheap, and they already mix it with cheap vodka for it to have the effect it does.
I maintain that we need to find out why a large proportion of our population feel that the only way that they can get through a day is in a state to bacchanalian oblivion. Once we know that, and act to improve our lives, then maybe we will rid ourselves of the scourge of drunkenness.
If, in the meantime, legislators wish to get involved, they may wish to find a way of making it illegal to sell this type of drink in glass bottles, which become extremely useful weapons once their contents have no longer any need of them....
She wants to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks which she says are linked to crime and health problems. Buckfast, which has been linked by police to violent behaviour, contains as much caffeine as eight cans of coke.
Additionally Mrs Stihler pointed out that one energy drink can increase the chance of heart attack or stroke. She said: "Surely it is high time for a ban on alcoholic caffeinated drinks. The combination of alcohol and caffeine can be fatal. Caffeine addiction can lead to a whole host of medical problems, not to mention its link with crime and violence on Scottish streets. The fact is many consumers are unaware of the damage they are doing to their bodies and lack the essential information to make an informed decision about what they purchase."
A documentary, a couple of weeks ago pointed out that the tonic wine had been mentioned in 5,000 crime reports by Strathclyde Police in the last three years. Labour MSP Richard Baker backed Mrs Stihler's proposals demanding action to reduce access to caffeinated alcohol and tackle the impact it has on violent crime in Scotland.
I have doubts that any of this will do any good. Teenagers bent on getting drunk and high on caffeine and booze are probably about bright enough to work out that mixing coke with vodka, or cider or both will end up doing the job just as well. Buckie is not cheap, and they already mix it with cheap vodka for it to have the effect it does.
I maintain that we need to find out why a large proportion of our population feel that the only way that they can get through a day is in a state to bacchanalian oblivion. Once we know that, and act to improve our lives, then maybe we will rid ourselves of the scourge of drunkenness.
If, in the meantime, legislators wish to get involved, they may wish to find a way of making it illegal to sell this type of drink in glass bottles, which become extremely useful weapons once their contents have no longer any need of them....
If the EU does try, then good. If they do not, then equally good.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know that you'll be happy either way, Dean. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs I say, I don't think it will make much difference if it is banned. It's not beyond the wit of man (or chav) to find an alternative that is legal.
Nice (not) to see the EU bansturbators out in force trying to tell people what they can and can't do with their lives.
ReplyDeleteWonder if they'll go for Red Bull next after all it goes well in Vodka (I'm told)
Why can't politicians just mind their own business without the tendency to make life just a little harder, greyer, less worth living because they think they know best.
Well, to be fair QM, it is a Scottish MEP backed by a Scottish MSP, trying to get the stuff banned in Scotland. It's not really like some awful foreigner was trying to tell us what to do.
ReplyDeleteBut as you said Red Bull, or Lidl's equivalent, and some cheap vodka plus some cider at £1.00 for 2 litres and the job's done..... so banning it is a bit of a waste of time.
I just wish they would sell it in plastic bottles. It's hell on the car tyres....
When I was a very very small child I always wanted to eat coal. They always forbid it of course... stupid grown up spoil sports. One day when I had crawled over to the coal scuttle and lifted a piece, my father came over and, instead of taking it away from me, he put it into my mouth... he insisted I eat it. of course I hated it. I never again wanted to eat coal.
Maybe what we should do with these feral children is force them to drink a gallon of the stuff, and not stop pouring it down even when they are sick.... maybe then they'd never want any more.....
Seems to me that this is another quick and easy politicians' solution to a social problem.
ReplyDeleteWe have here a beverage which is "linked to" "crime and health" "problems." And "linked" "by police" to the same "problems." (When you put the operable words and phrases in quotes, it's easier to see what a crock this all really is.)
Your quick fix politician Mrs. Stihler tells you that "it is high time for a ban on alcoholic caffeinated drinks." Maybe in fact, it's time for an actual medical study? NAH, that might actually make some sense. And she tells us that "the combination of alcohol and caffeine can be fatal." Oh really??? I'll phrase it more appropriately and accurately: "Alcohol can be fatal."
I recall that the politicians here in the US told their constituents that national prohibition of alcohol would obviate any future needs for prisons, since all social ills, including crime, were caused by alcohol.
For every social ill, there is a slimy self-serving politician offering a quick, easy, and totally asinine political solution. Scottish MEP Catherine Stihler seems to be in that glorious political tradition.
Yes, your Earlness:
ReplyDeleteIt's not the answer at all. The more you ban something the more you will make it desirable as the USA found out when they tried prohibition...
In any case the Holy Fathers, or Brothers or whatever they are, of Buckfast Abbey are big businessmen and they won't take this lying down.
Buckfast... or Fast Buck, perhaps....
I think my solution is much better, but then I'm not, and will never be, a politician....
Dean: are you sitting on the fence again? Reminiscent in many ways of your spurious argument for keeping the royals.
ReplyDeleteTris....Your suggestions certainly make sense to me.....including the plastic bottle idea. And I was amused by your early interest in eating coal. A very inventive way to combine two of the joys of childhood; getting dirty, and putting all sorts of things in your mouth. :-)
ReplyDeleteLOL Danny: I was one BAD little boy, but I went right off the coal nonsense after that!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of parents who did the same thing with their children who were smoking.... Once you've smoked 20 cigarettes one after the other I guess you probably don't feel like another one for a very long time.
Munguin,
ReplyDelete"The Conservative Party. Proudly sitting on the fence on all European issues since 1990"
:)
The little darling's are popping pills as well as slurping Buckie.
ReplyDeleteBanning Buckie is nuts.
Why are they drinking, not what?
2 dimensional thinking but that is what short term thinking and politics oroduce.
Yes Bugger... As I said in my post, perhaps if we tried to find out what would make our people want to face a day without a few bottles inside them, maybe that would be a start to sorting the problem....
ReplyDelete