I'm like you: I understand while people drink and I do enjoy a beer every now and again. But note ''every now and again''. I know people who spend over 70 euros on beer in one night, a girl of 15 who already has been done up against a tree (yes, she really was that drunk), and I've almost lost count of the number of times I've seen people who had to leave the bar/café/club horizontally. Hell, I even know people (that's plural) who have been nearly beaten to death by a couple of boys who were pissdrunk.
But it's not just in bars and stuff like that, recent research showed that down here, the supermarkets think they are doing well because in 33% of the cases, someone beneath the age of 16 (the legal drinking age here) can't buy alcoholic drinks. This is just too ridiculous for words.
On the other hand, when I went to the US with my folks,they wanted to buy a bottle of wine and the cassiere who wasn't 21 yet (wasn't that hard to tell) had to call in someone who was. This is exagerating it. But I do like the idea of people learning how to drive and the responsibilty that comes along with the license, before learning how to handle booze.
It's the existing culture that's the problem down here. When a guy can drink 10 shots in a row and still stand up, he's a hero, but there are enough places in the world where he would be seen as a damn straight idiot. When you walk across the street drunk here, police are barely bothering to arrest you, because then the jails would be full to the brim every weekend.
I don't think that alcohol is a bad thing, there jut should be better checks on it in bars and stuff. Like I said, I like a beer and I don't think that banning alcohol is going to solve a damn thing.
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