Essay: Controversial Lockout Laws In Sydney - An Overview." (70 Characters)

Problems and solutions related to consumption of alcohol

Discuss about the Controversial Lockout Laws.

The problems refer to the negative consequences of the consumption of alcohol. Most of the people consider that alcohol is an important part of the culture of Australia and that this is just a way how life has to be led in Australia. However, drinking cannot be equated with having a good and leisure time. There are a lot of problems and harms associated with it. These problems could be really serious and also these would affect a person a lot (Narconnon, 2017).

Firstly, the health of a person is affected due to excessive drinking. Liver is greatly affected and it could cause serious and irreparable health issues. Due to the consumption of alcohol, a person is unable to control his senses. This has serious repercussions as the safety of the person himself or the persons is at stake (Webmd, 2005). If a person drives a vehicle after he has consumed a lot of alcohol, then there are high chances of causation of accidents. Therefore, if a person, drinks and then drives, it could be really dangerous and he invites all sorts of problems (Health, 2011). There are various legal consequences too as alcohol contributes to various kinds of criminal behaviors. A man under the influence of alcohol gets indulged into activities related to assaults, damaging properties and behavior that is offensive (Donnelly, Weatherburn, Routledge, Ramsey, and Mahoney, 2016). Due to these kinds of activities, a person then invites various legal actions to be taken against him. Some social problems are also associated with it. These pertain to losing of friends due to abnormal behavior and also the person spending a lot on alcohol is bereft of money. The effect of alcohol varies according to a number of factors. These factors include the experiences of drinking, age, gender, type of alcohol and the quantity consumed on a daily basis. Alcohol causes cancer, obesity, suicidal behavior and various mental health conditions (Health Direct. 2017).

There are various problems related to the consumption of alcohol. According to a study, around 4 Australians die in a week on an average, due to the consumption of alcohol. These Australians are below the age of 25. Australians under this age bracket are injured and hospitalized in an average week. Therefore, to resolve this problem, it is important to recognize it. It is important to admit the problem and cure it. All the temptations are to be removed from the home.

What are the Sydney Lockout Laws?

Proper laws are needed to be formed to limit the hours and quantity of the consumption of alcohol. Only making laws would not do, making proper enforcement mechanisms for the same is also important. A self- help group or treatment could also be sought and therefore this creates a lot of problems. The consumption of alcohol along with other energy drinks is a deadly combination.   This causes various additional risks that can act as a masking agent. The issues relating to alcohol consumption could also be addressed by forming some strategies. It is needed to be looked at the extent to which the problem is has already been addressed. This strategy needs to gather a political support and attract the community support too. Pricing and taxation are other kinds of strategies that are needed to be checked. If the prices of the alcohol are increased then this would have a positive effect on the health of the people. For the purpose of making some strategies, it is important that the research and evaluation has to be made out. The social marketing campaigns carry a lot of potential effectiveness. For this, a planned process needs to be made and incorporated. A summative evaluation of the campaign needs to be carried out( Health, 2001).

The Sydney Lockout Laws were made for resolving the issue of overconsumption of alcohol. These laws have limited the time for which the drinks would be served to the people. These uphold the 1:30 am lockouts. The last time till which the drinks would be served has been changed to 3:00 am (Koziol, 2015). This law has been made for all the bars, clubs and various pubs where the drinks are served publically. In the year 2014, these laws have been introduced by the New South Wales Government. These were formed for the purpose of reducing the violence caused under the influence of alcohol. In the year 21014, there was a teenager who got punched and died. He was the victim of the alcohol related violence. This was a random attack. Incidents such as these were the point of need for the origin of these kinds of lockout laws (Butler, 2016).  There have been dual effects of these laws on the people of Sydney. The assaults have also declined in the area where these laws have been implemented. Various reports and analysis have been made and it was found out that there has been much decline in the number of assaults that took place in the month of February 2015 in comparison to April 2015. There are various figures for the same. 40 percent decline could be seen in the assaults that took place in the Kings Cross (Menéndez , Weatherburn, Kypri, and Fitzgerald, 2015).  There has been a lot of debate over this controversial law and this is still heating up as the people allege that these massive laws are harmful. Critics say that these laws are too heavy handed and that this has led to the closure of the various pubs in Sydney. Where there has been a reduction in the number of the crimes, however, there has been a failure of the CBD business too (Wood, 2016). There were several venues in the Kings Cross that had to be closed and the effects on the late night economy were gross. The revenue came down by 25 percent, within two years.

Effectiveness of the Sydney Lockout Laws

There are various effects which these lockout laws have on the people of Sydney and the night life of the same. Not everyone has the same view about these laws. There are people who have protested against these laws and there are people who have supported these too and the benefits which arise out of these laws (The Guardian, 2016).  These laws have had both negative and positive results. However, there are much positive effects such as decrease in the non-domestic assaults. There could also be seen as a reduction in the critical injuries that are caused due to diseases that could be caused due to a consequence of the consumption of alcohol. Also, there is a reduction of 69 percent in the fractures that are caused in the faces and these then require surgery (A.C.P. Ltd., 2016). Also according to the other author, there is a decrease of around 9 percent in the number of assaults that take place in the NSW except the Kings cross and Entertainment Precincts.  The number of assaults that took place near and around Star Casino is another data, however there has been no such significant increase or decrease (Kypri, Jones, McElduff, and Barker, 2011).

There are various factors that have an effect on the overconsumption of alcohol. If there is acceptance from the society then this acceptance of a dangerous thing could be encouraged by them. The mass media plays a great role in this. Also the attitudes of the pals and the society are the other factors that affect the consumption of alcohol. If a society rejects the same, then there is more consumption of alcohol and vice versa. The environment in which the people live has a lot of influence over the person. This environment in which the people live and also work affects the way they behave. There are various kinds of influences on the use of this intoxication. The advertisements and the marketing of the alcohol at the national level or the international level is again a factor that causes a problem (AlcoholpolicyMD, 2005).

The public policies regarding the use of alcohol again pose a problem. There is an acceptance by the society and this acceptance could be shown from the fact that the movies, television and the music videos are glorifying the fact of drinking.

Some other things include the stars in the movies, the celebrities of the sports and they showcase that drinking alcohol is a modernized way of living. It is showcased that there are no ill effects of drinking.

Factors related to the overconsumption of alcohol

The availability of alcohol seeks to state the fact that if it is easily available then more alcohol would be consumed. If license is provided to ever person then this would create problems. If there are more licensed establishments such as these, then the individuals are more likely to take such intoxication (Lodge, 2016). The price of the alcohol is another factor that affects the intake of the same. Advertising and marketing of the alcohol is another factor that leads to overconsumption. Therefore, these are the various kinds of factors that either decrease or increase the overconsumption of the alcohol.

The business significance of these laws can be linked to various areas. These refer to the declining economy of Sydney. Due to these lockout laws which have banned the use of liquor in the night, the economy night life has been ruined. The protestors have been stating such arguments that the revenue that that was generated by the sale of liquor has been posing problems. Also there has been a displacement in the statistics of the rental prices.  However, it is not that major in numbers. There have been different kinds of causal effects on the rooms on rent (NSW Government: Family & Community Services, 2015). A negative effect could be placed on the room dwellings that consist of one bedroom and the some positive effect could be seen on the room dwellings having 3+ bedrooms. The areas closer to the hot spots that are the hubs have been bereft of people now. Also there has been greater reduction in the prices of the lands. The values of the land nearby these hot spots have degraded to a great level. Therefore, this is how significance of the lockout laws could be upheld (Ihlanfeldt, and Mayock, 2010).

The lockout laws of Newcastle are a lot similar to the Sydney Lockout Laws (Miller, Droste, de Groot, Palmer, Tindall, Busija, Hyder, Gilham, and Wiggers, 2016). These laws also prohibit the consumption of liquor after 3 a.m. and also the sale could not be made after 10p.m. The patrons have not been given the permission to enter into the various clubs and bars after 1:30 p.m. There have been various similarities in the lockout laws that have emerged. Many a times, these lockout laws have been used as a shield for the provision of the justification of the lockout laws that are have been made in Sydney. The timings mentioned for the sale and consumption of liquor mentioned under both these lockout laws has been the same. Therefore the correlation between the two could be established between them. In both the cities, there were gregarious effects of the introduction of the lockout laws. The main aim of both these laws was to curb the negative consequences of the overconsumption of alcohol and thereby decrease the crime rate. However, the statistics show that both these laws were successful in having a good impact. These lockout laws were adopted 5 years earlier in Newcastle and the success of these have replicated in Sydney. The statistics in Newcastle have showed that there has been around 30 percent reduction in the crime rates which is much similar to the statistics of Sydney laws.  These assaults refer to the late night assaults that took place in Newcastle (Theconversation, 2016).

References

A.C.P. Ltd., 2016. Are Sydney’s ‘lockout laws’ effective? Available at: https://www.andatech.com.au/resource/sydney-lockout-laws-effective/ [17 January 2017].

AlcoholpolicyMD. (2005) The Effects of Environmental Factors on Alcohol Use and Abuse Available at: https://www.alcoholpolicymd.com/alcohol_and_health/study_env.htm [17 January 2017].

Butler, J., 2016. The Fate of Sydney's Controversial Lockout Laws: Staying, Or Going? , Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/09/01/the-fate-of-sydneys-controversial-lockout-laws-staying-or-goi/ [17 January 2017].

Donnelly, N., Weatherburn, D., Routledge, K., Ramsey, S., and Mahoney, N. (2016) “Did the ‘Lockout Law’ Reforms Increase Assaults at The Star Casino, Pyrmont?” Bureau Brief, No. 114, BOCSAR,  Sydney.

Health Direct. 2017. Alcohol – how it affects your health,  Available at: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/how-alcohol-affects-your-health [17 January 2017].

Health. (2001) Alcohol in Australia Issues and Strategies Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/Content/alc-strategy/$FILE/alcohol_strategy_back.pdf [17 January 2017].

Ihlanfeldt, K., and Mayock, T. (2010) “Panel Data Estimates of the Effects of Different Types of Crime on Housing Prices,” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 40(2), 161-172.

Koziol, C. (2015) “Newtown Bars to Trial 3am Lockout and Shots Ban,” Sydney Morning Herald, 31 July, last accessed 12 July 2016,<www.smh.com.au/nsw/newtown-bars-to-trial-3am- lockout-and-shots-ban-20150731giomj5.html>.

Kypri, K., Jones, C., McElduff, P., and Barker, D. (2011) “Effects of Restricting Pub Closing Times on Night?Time Assaults in an Australian City,” Addiction,106(2), 303- 310.

Lodge, J., 2016. Central Qld licensed venues fear more problems under early lockout plan, Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-16/central-qld-venues-fear-more-problems-under-early-lockout-plan/7171048?pfmredir=sm [17 January 2017].

Mazerolle, L., White, G., Ransley, J., and Ferguson, P. (2012) “Violence in and around Entertainment Districts: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Late-Night Lockout Legislation,” Law & Policy, 34(1), 55-79.

Menéndez , P., Weatherburn, D., Kypri , K. and Fitzgerald, J. (2015)  Lockouts and last drinks: The impact of the January 2014 liquor licence reforms on assaults in NSW, Australia, Available at: https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/CJB/CJB183.pdf [17 January 2017].

Miller, P., Droste, N., de Groot, F., Palmer, D., Tindall, J., Busija, L., Hyder, S., Gilham, K., and Wiggers, J. (2016) “Correlates and Motives of Pre-Drinking with Intoxication and Harm around Licensed Venues in Two Cities,” Drug and Alcohol Review, 35(2),177-186.

Narconnon. (2017) Alcohol Addiction and Abuse Available at: https://www.narcononnewliferetreat.org/alcohol-addiction-abuse.html [17 January 2017].

NSW Government: Family & Community Services (2015) Rent and Sales Reports Overview, last accessed 11 July 2016, .

SA Health, 2011. The risks of drinking alcohol, Available at: https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/healthy+living/is+your+health+at+risk/the+risks+of+drinking+alcohol [17 January 2017].

The Guardian, 2016. Thousands rally against lockout laws in Sydney, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/09/thousands-rally-against-lockout-laws-in-sydney [17 January 2017].

Theconversation.(2016) ‘Last-drink’ laws, not lockouts, reduce alcohol-fuelled violence Available at: https://theconversation.com/last-drink-laws-not-lockouts-reduce-alcohol-fuelled-violence-52815[17 January 2017].

Webmd , 2005. Health risks of alcohol: 12 health problems associated with chronic heavy drinking, Available at: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/12-health-risks-of-chronic-heavy-drinking [17 January 2017].

Wood, P.(2016) Sydney lockout laws 'don't make a lot of sense', Amsterdam's 'night mayor' says Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-30/amsterdams-night-mayor-criticises-sydneys-lockout-laws/8074570 [17 January 2017].