Why don't we make it just as criminal as drunk driving?. How about we make the tolerance levels for being drunk in public just the same as drink driving?.

Do you have a basic right to be OFF YOUR HEAD in a public place?. On drugs you don't, why on alcohol?.

I work in the security industry and VERY frequently have to deal with idiots who are drunk beyond all that's necessary. Frequently they are agressive, argumentative, violent, rude, and in the way.

If you appear, or give me reason to be believe you are drugged or suffering from a mental illness (late at night, occasionally daytime) I call the police (for yours and my own good) so they can assess you. You get left to it, or taken home, or to a place that's appropriate to the issues you've raised.

Once again. Do you have a basic right to be OFF YOUR HEAD in a public place?.

They used to have an act in New South Wales called the Summary Offences Act STG.
As a young Constable I could arrest anyone I wanted to under that act if I thought they were drunk.
We would pick them up and take them down to the police station and charge them and give many of them a hot meal and a bed for the night and then in the morning we would let them go on their own recognisance and off they would go and it was a cycle that many street people were caught in.
Not all were homeless... sometimes we would get troublemakers, and drunken hoodlums and they didnt get the same treatment we gave the homeless folk.
Sometimes we got a bit rough... then they calmed down.
This was before I was a born again christian.
Someone later on got the bright idea that we didnt need the Summary Offences Act and they dropped it. I think to the detriment of many street people.
Many would have died afterwards ...no cops to love them.
Vagrancy also went.
You know...in those years, on freezing cold Sydney streets, I reckon we saved the lives of many men by taking them in and giving them a meal. They were needy people and thanks to the Summary Offences Act we were quiet heros. Bring that Act back I say. The act got cut because of cheap government. We see cheap government everywhere today. Cheap government is killing ordinary people. I wonder if we could have PEOPLE POWER one day?

You have a basic right to do whatever the hell you want. Society restricts those rights as they deem fit, usually because something's illegal (getting drunk isn't) or it harms others (public drunkenness potentially qualifies).

So I think the real question is: Do we have good cause to disallow people from being drunk in public?

StG, I'd rather see restrictions placed on those who have shown that they cause trouble for others when drunk. Let the consequences lie with those who do the wrong thing rather than penalising everybody.

Not as easy a solution as just banning it but I have a strong dislike for allowing the government to regulate the lives of those who have not shown themselves to require such regulation.

R0bert

You actually don't have the right to do whatever the hell you want, Vanilla. Where I work you don't even have the basic right to even be there. You're a guest of the management. That 'invitation' can be removed at any time. The Police would disagree about your statement about being allowed to do whatever the hell you want, as well.

How about we figure out NON-DRIVING injuries and deaths related to alcohol and compare those stats ONLY related to drink driving. Then, if the non-driving drunk stats outweigh the driving stats then I reckon we could state yes, we DO have good cause to disallow people from being drunk in public.

I'm gonna run out fo comments REAL soon. Sigh.

RObert said;

"StG, I'd rather see restrictions placed on those who have shown that they cause trouble for others when drunk."

Same could be said for drink driving. Everyone has different tolerance levels and not everyone has drunk drove. But still, it's illegal for everyone to do it. Same argument. The courts are FULL of first time offenders.