At festive times alcohol sits enthroned. Soon afterwards, as most recently in Sydney, it often stands in the dock, on trial for lethal violence in the cities and the trail of broken bottles lying in wait for children's feet on beaches.
The strategies of the defence and the prosecution are predictable. The libertarian response is to keep silent about the money that is made from alcohol, and to insist that people, not alcohol is the problem. So the proper response is to lock up for longer people who act violently. This incidentally illustrates the libertarian paradox that the higher the priority which societies place on individual freedom, the greater the number of individuals they will deprive of their freedom.
The prosecution will cite the testimony of doctors, social workers and police who see the children injured by broken glass, the people killed and maimed by drunken violence, the women abused, and the damage done to body and spirit by addiction, generally propose tighter regulation. Usually nothing much happens.
In New South Wales the centrepiece of reform has been mandatory mimimum sentences for those convicted of violent offences under the influence of alcohol. It has been accompanied by some restrictions on the sale of alcohol in the city. The Victorian Government has taken over only mandatory sentencing. It is doubtful whether any of these measures will reduce significantly the harm caused by alcohol abuse.
As with guns in the United States, it is easy to blame legislators and interest groups for ineffective regulation. It is more helpful first to reflect on the place of alcohol in our culture and the power of a pervasive myth that will always protect alcohol from effective regulation.
The reality is that alcohol is a substance that affects mood, often pleasurably, and lowers inhibitions. Many people drink abusively and become addicted to it, with tragic consequences for their own lives and for society. In these respects it is like nicotine, opium and its derivatives, and marijuana.
The myth of alcohol is that it is an indispensable and effective gateway to autonomous, confident and connected lives. For young people alcohol is an important part of rites of transition: from adolescence to adulthood, and increasingly from childhood to adolescence. Alcohol is valued because it loosens inhibitions against socialising and can help them for a moment to feel in charge of their lives.
Binge drinking among adolescents reflects the myth of adult drinking. To be an