Getting drunk is 'Australian' -

Getting drunk is 'Australian' :

"The survey found that about one in 10 people had a problem with alcohol at some point in their lives and that about 60 percent were close to someone who had experienced a drinking problem"

One in 10 seems right because I read somewhere that 10% of a population are genuine addicts. Addicts are not able to control their addiction. Other people can go through abuse stages of mind altering substances, but addiction can be to anything and the behaviour is not controlled and needs treatment. Drinking appears to be a rite of passage here and part of growing up. Australians are grown up when they can manage their alcohol intake and drink as part of a set of social behaviours rather than the social swill. I still think it's a left over from the 6 o'clock closing of pubs. The trend is to the lolly water drinks which can be very intoxicating even though they seem harmless. Eventually people learn to manage their drinking and if we incorporated it into our lifestyle as part of living rather than excess, we'd probably do a lot better.