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tara
l think it cannont help to prevent the people from binge drinking,but the law is implemented that clearly emphasise the seriousness of drinking.Also,the underage drinking may be prosecuted that can strongly warn the people.lt is bit crazy for people to drink alcohol it will affect the critical thinking as so.

Jack
Jersey does not have a problem!! If the courts brought in the under 18's drinking law then the amount of money the Government would stand to loose would be ridiculous.

John
Ridiculous!Jersey does not have a problem with binge drinking. The only problems that Jersey has with alcohol is underage people drinking - therefore the comments about Winston Churchill Park etc being made alcohol free are unfounded as it's illegal for the kids to be drinking anyway! That's what the police/government should be cracking down on.Like many of you have said, i also enjoy a picnic here and there and a bottle of wine or a couple of beers go down nicely.I find this idea a little bit craaaaaaaaaazy!!!

Dougie Russel
As usual it would be Draconian measures to stop the minority by depriving the majority..most normal people don't "binge" but we are already paying over the top in duty etc. to "curb" hard drinkers. This will not do it, most are young & earning huge amounts in Banks etc. think nothing of spending £100 on a night out, so extra costs hurt the low & middle income people who just want to drink socially, be it at home or the local pub.

Mr Politician
Yeah that's great, because all us politicians, sorry ministers, well we sit in our gentleman's club with subsidised alcohol to drink far more than the average drinker, and get taxi home, we like it. Sorry that the rest of you can't come in. That's life for you. As for booze free zone, it may be a good idea, but it'll jsut move the problem around! simple as that. Jersey has always had a booze problem, and I believe that generally there isn't a lot we can do about it. It's not an excuse, but jersey does not have the multitude of amenities that the UK can offer rather than go to the pub. I can go indoor skiing in Manchester, and quad bike, hovercraft with indoor go-karting in Nottingham on the same day.

Ashley F
A certain 'large supermarket' in the middle of town are doing 4 cans of cider for 3.49. That means that young people can get pretty wasted for a little over a tenner. Get involved before they sell out.

Ashley F
What drinks problem is this then? I've not seen one whatsoever. Town actually seems very civilised these days. Like Robert says though; there is a massive problem with hardcore drugs like heroin. Total zombies walking around town trying to get enough cash together for their next hit. Stealing from shops, cars, houses and people. What are the constables doing about this then - I mean on the ground, not in their Friday morning tea and bikkie meetings with the boys down at customs. I see these people every day. Not always up to no good but usually up to something. Do I ever see any police around to ask what these see-thru people are doing in the middle of the day, hanging around car parks looking shifty as hell?For the record - if I was in a park and a constable tried to take whatever drink I had on me, off me, I'd ask him to search his conscience and ask himself if he could be applying himself more effectively.

Robert
Drugs are more of a problem in jersey but you will get housed free drugs more money, work that one out,smack heads run free.

mr b
people over the age of 18 are not causing the problem so why do you think this will help surely we just need to tighten up on underage sales of drink and police the streets better

H Horse
This is not just a Jersey problem, just watch the programmes on TV. It happens in most towns and cities in the UK nearly every night. Drink is cheap and people have had too much money to spend. There should be more restrictions on sale of drink.Why does every spar or whatever they are now called have to sell drink - and it cannot be cheaper than a supermarket.

groat
binge drinking is a symtom of our society, people escaping the dreadful inequalities of jersey life, stop the greed first.

bruce
we live in a culture where binge is the norm ... on alchohol, cannabis, chocolate, prozac, cream cakes, cocaine, coffee, overtime, exercise, gambling etc. almost everything can be take to a binge level. taking the item away from the consumer and expecting the problem to go away is infantile, and fairly representative of the states method of dealing with complex social issues

Sarah
Yet again we are being penalised for the mistakes of the minority. When will the laws just be policed and normal, average person who enjoys a sociable drink every once in a while is left alone for once. You've already banned smoking. When will anyone take into account the majorities human rights nd not just make up cackeyed plans that upset that majority for the sake of a minority.

J
Jim, is a pub a public place? What happens if you leave the pub...you're in public drunk, your suggestion doesn't solve a thing

Bob Ong
LEGALISE CANNABIS, great for tourism and save the police and hospital the increasing amount of hassle caused by people over drinking(not just drinking). I recently heard 1 person every 6 hours dies from alcohol in Scotland, how is cannabis any where near as bad as alcohol? apart from the ridiculously tedious links to "mental health issues". BBC website itself - "Professor David Nutt, head of psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol, said that cannabis was unquestionably harmful but very much less addictive or damaging than either alcohol or tobacco."

Ashley
Why is it that if the states cannot deal with something they just outlaw it? And hhy does the vast majority of people who are sensibly and responsibly enjoying themselves have to have their enjoyment cut short, yet again, becuase the States would rather just live their quite comfortable lives out in the sticks, far away from what's actually going on in jersey. We should be talking about relaxing these things and letting people get on with their lives as they wish - no putting in place more restrictions.By all means punish the idiots even harder but let the people enjoy themselves if they want to.

Clive Pearce
A couple of weeks ago somebody was complaining that people were drinking to excess at home now if you ban it in other areas you will compound the first problem. Why not just enforce the laws that are already in place and come down heavy on those that cause the problems. Not rocket science is it?

Andy C
It's a great idea, aggressive drunks on the streets are a big problem. Is it fair to take away drinkers rights? Is it right for non-drinkers to be afraid to walk though the centre of town after 8pm in the evening?

Pete
I pretty sure that binge-drinking has been around forever, it just used to be called drinking

Sarah
Yay! Just another aspect of ours lives being ruthlessly controlled by state members. In 20 years time no one will be able to think for themselves

jim
J obviously does not know the law. The legislation only applies to under 18's. Make it an offence to consume alcohol in any public place and the problem would be solved.

Carl
It always annoys me to lose my rights because of a misbehaving minority, especially when existing laws could be used and more rigorously applied to combat the problem.Surely the problem would be lessened considerably if minors had more trouble buying drink, and if troublesome adults were dealt with under existing public order/nuisance legislation?It may sound fair enough to ban drink from specific trouble spots, but once you give people the power to do this they will abuse it and apply the new rules too freely to much larger areas, and before we know it we responsible drinkers won't even be able to enjoy a moderate drink at a beach BBQ or picnic in a park. I feel it's my duty to oppose new laws that make criminals out of the innocent!

J
Michael does have a very good point. Police can already confiscate alcohol which should be enough, maybe if they did their job right, town wouldn’t be overrun with annoying sloshed children. Adding more legislation at our expense won’t put more police in town on the weekends!And how dare Home Affairs think that they can stop drink promotions in off-licences, they have no right to inflict higher prices because some people have no self control. It’s your own choice if you want to binge drink and you are not harming anyone else in the way that the smoking ban (apparently) negates. Keep out of our pockets!

Michael
That would be someone like yourself then, going by the fact that you seem unable to write English!

MMMMMMMMMM
i think it is ok 2 drink @ home but ppl hu drink under 18 out in da streets are clearly stupid morons

Michael
Thanks for the support on my comment James, unfortunately you appear to have missed my point!Police already have the power to cofiscate alcolhol in the street and pub landlords tend to care about their business enough to eject anyone who is being obnoxious or drunk!

Why does someone in an office with nothing better to and access to all of our tax money feel that they can spend said money on trying to control the people that pay his or her wages?

MMM
I think the law should come down harder on parents that let their little kids getting nailed and hanging around.. that's the problem.. these kids will just get worse and worse..

James
I think Michael's point of view is quite correct.Confiscating someone's alcohol is not going to stop them getting another drink at a different bar or off-license, nor is creating an 'alcohol free zone' - because you could simply walk down the street and find more alcohol somewhere else.

What needs to change is the social climate that creates binge-drinkers. There's no point constantly trying to fix the symptoms of social decline instead of tackling the cause. It is impossible to stop people drinking, if they want to get drunk then they will find a way.

People call it 'Anti-Social behaviour' but what is more anti-social: going out with your mates and having a few drinks or sitting in your lounge on your own drinking a bottle of whiskey because you're too scared of getting arrested?

Clive Pearce
I agree with most of the comments below. There are already laws in place to deal with the bad effects of alcohol they just need to be administered properly. Inflicting penalties on law abiding drinkers is the wrong approach. I enjoy a drink, sometimes more than I should and if I did wrong then I would accept any punishment due. So next time you are smoking and drinking don't forget to wear a seat belt, a crash helmet, steel toe capped boots and a good wrapping of cotton wool. If you still manage to break the law don't worry as you will get lots of advice from the various help groups open to you. Nuff said.xxx

Kelly C
I think the States are missing a big part of the picture here. Most of the anti-social behaviour that occurs whilst under the influence of alcohol is due to youths being drunk - and it's already illegal for them to drink as they're underage. So what they need to do is the crack down on selling alcohols to minors, or people who buy it for minors - and make sure they confiscate it off them on the streets - I often see teenaged openly staggering around with bottles of "lemonade".

Michael
Yes!I knew it was only a matter of time. The states have managed to put their control on smoking so now they are movinh to alcohol!

Oh how I love the irony of a business in place to sell alcohol can be shut down for getting someone drunk! Does this mean that the Co-op will be closed for selling fat people too much food? or does this have to wait for a couple of years when the states need something else in our lives to control?

I don't know about anybody else, but I like to have the occasional drink... and sometimes I drink too much and get drunk! Naughty me! The thing is, I am happy to deal with the consequences of my actions and don't feel that I need to be told IN ADVANCE what I can and cannot do to my own body.

I understand that a lot of the drunken problems do need to be looked at but please can somebody realise that trying to control the whole population is not going to stop people who will be trouble whether they are drunk or not!

Bean
We used to be part French and therefore binge drinking wasn't an issue. Now we seem to be over run by Brits it is - go figure where the problem is !

chimpface
I love to booze. My children never speak to me

bob
once upun a time there was a place called jersey, it was a quaint place to live. where at one time people walking down the center of town would meet other people they knew, and of course the pubs were open from 9am untill 11am, long before the uk licensing laws were changed, and you could get a pint at a reasonable price yes there was times you would see the odd drunk who was quite an amusement to watch walk home, but genrally it was all good natured.

now though if you see a drunk it will be someone very young abusive and have no respect for anybody else, so what do we do, simple do what you did years ago in jersey, arrest them. fine them (a lot ) publish there names, and make sure that they are held responcable for there actions if they damage anything whislt they are incabable tough make them pay for it, if they cant then make sure they do community service to make ammneds, let us stop be a nanny state and give us back our island of beauty and calm and above all peace.

Ian H
There are many cities in the UK that are alcohol free zones with heavy fines for people who drink alcohol in public. Why hasn't it been introduced in ST Helier before? The sooner the better.

Troy
Measures to allow the closure of licensed premises that have broken the law is already in place, so I don't see that making the enforcement of that law more efficient would be a bad thing.

However I think that the creation of alcohol free zones in places like public parks or beaches etc. would be a step too far as it would prevent law abiding citizens from going about their life freely.

If somebody's causing a problem fueled by alcohol in a public place there are already laws in place which would allow them to be dealt with, the enforcement of these laws would be better than additional legislation.

Sharon Le Brocq
as a frequent visitor to New Zealand who have such a no alcohol zone law in place in hot spts areas, i have seen first hand how well it works and think it a brilliant ideaNB as a serving member of St Brelade Honorary Police i also see the evidence in Winston Churchill Park and Les Quennevais playing fields how badly this is needed!