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Subject: Comparison of alcohol (ab)use in various countries/continents.
From: Mike E
Posted: Thu Jan 6. 2000, 21:33 UTC
Hi!
I'm currently doing a study of alcohol habits around the world, and would 
appreciate any feedback the members of this forum could provide. This is not a 
survey, just an attempt at getting some general trends from people as 
well-versed in the topics of alcohol and bartending as you all are (ok, enough 
sucking up =P).
To start it off:
In my experience, alcohol use is quite liberal in Northern Europe (my home 
country is Norway, I'm currently living in Finland). Some would say, liberal 
to the point of stupidity. In Finland public drinking and unconsciousness as a 
consequence is perfectly common, children drunk out of their heads (yes, 
children, down to 10-11 years old) is not an uncommon sight. Recently a law 
was passed in the Helsinki area outlawing  consumption of alcohol in public 
places but so far I haven't noticed any changes, probably due to the fact that 
public consumption is so widespread that the local authorities lack the 
resources to control it. I guess the extent of outdoor drinking and 
drunkenness is the most noticeable trend in Finland, in clubs and bars and 
such the situation's pretty much the same as it is anywhere else in Europe. 
Bouncers and bartenders tend to be quite good at removing "undesirables" and 
besides, Finnish drunks are generally, by some weird occurence, not mean at 
all. Most of them are in fact a lot more sociable than your average sober 
Finn. That said, I know lots of perfectly sociable sober Finns, but Finns do 
have a reputation for being rather reserved.
And perhaps their reservation is what makes them drink as much as they do. 
Debut age for drinking alcohol is very low, I suppose a majority of Finnish 
youth have tasted alcohol before the age of 12, and before the age of 16 most 
have probably been drunk ("legal" age in Finland is 18).
Alcohol availability is high in Finland, the state runs a monopoly on hard 
liquor, but grocery stores have a wide (and much appreciated and used) 
selection of beers and ciders. Harder liquors and wines are expensive in 
Finland, which is why Finns (and especially underage Finns) look to nearby 
"safe" and cheap ports like Tallinn in Estonia for harder liquors. Also, one 
can still purchase tax free hard liquors on the passenger ferry between Sweden 
and Finland (the Finns got a good deal from the EU). However, the primary 
source of harder liquors for underage Finns is surprisingly from their own 
homes. Older brothers and sisters frequently provide their younger siblings 
with alcohol and even parents quite frequently share their liquor with their 
sons or daughters. In many families giving your son or daughter a Friday or 
Saturday night bottle to take to your friend's party is perfectly normal. 
There are a lot of arguments for and against this practice, but I won't judge 
it here. 
My experience in Norway is a lot less limited, I haven't lived there 
permanently for several years, but there as well, alcohol consumption is quite 
high, but much less public I believe than in Finland. Public drunkenness and 
drinking is less common there, perhaps because of stricter control?? I'm not 
sure of this myself, any feedback from Norwegians would be appreciated. The 
debut age for alcohol is again quite low I believe. In my experience, 
Norwegians drink quite a lot, but they do this in the comfort of their homes 
and out of sight in bars and clubs, in company of friends or family in some 
cases. 
Hopefully my experiences give an idea of what I'm looking for. Trends in 
alcohol debut age, alcohol availability, "outdoor" vs. "indoor" drinking, and 
maybe even some insights in why people where you live drink as they do. My 
focus is the alcohol use/abuse in the younger (underage) population.
I hope this wont be too much trouble.
Hoping to hear from you,
Mike. 


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