This stands out in stark contrast to the country where I currently live, the UK. Here alcohol is sold any time, at low prices, and even heavily discounted. Very often, the person behind the counter in the corner shop will inform you that there is a 8 cans of beer for 6 pounds offer if you pick a less cheap alternative from the shelf. And what's more; you will often see people getting behind the steering wheel after a drink or two.A couple of years ago, I spent a year in Germany as an exchange student. During that time, I got into the habit of drinking wine with my dinner at night. Coming back to Norway, I got a little annoyed when I "re-discovered" that wine is not sold in regular grocery-shops. To get yourself a bottle of wine for dinner, you'll have to go to the alcohol-outlet. I do still think that is a little over the top; why making getting a bottle of wine such a hassle? But having seen all the problems with alcohol here in the UK, I think the Norwegian alcohol legislation is mainly a good thing. There is a clear correlation between price and availability, and consumption - making alcohol less readily available reduces consumption. Alcohol (and stronger alcohols in particular) should be rather expensive and not too easy to get hold of.
Of course, alcohol abuse is a complex problem, both on an individual level and sociologically. As the drunkard Jeppe said in Ludvig Holbergs play Jeppe on the Hill, "Everyone says that Jeppe drinks, but no one asks why". To be sure, even with very strict alcohol legislation, a lot of Norwegians get pissed out of their brains too. But compared to the Brits, that's Sunday school. And it certainly would not help to reduce alcohol consumption to make it cheaper and more available.
Another aspect of it is that the legislation is helping to shape the norms and attitudes towards alcohol. For me, it would be almost unthinkable to get behind the wheel and drive after even only one beer. I think that goes for most Norwegians. Drinking and driving does not go together, full stop. That attitude is greatly helped by the strict non-tolerance laws when it comes to alcohol and driving.
I do not mean to present Norwegians as particularly good drinkers - we certainly are not. Many Norwegians drink too much and too often. The steep prices on alcohol (particularly in bars and discos) makes us drink more before we hit the town, so that we won't have to drink so much after going out. This of course just makes us drunker earlier in the evening. But having seen the attitudes towards alcohol here in the UK have made me a little more wary towards the problems associated with alcohol, and I would not want Norway to resemble the UK any more than we already do in this respect.
9 comments:
Just read your article,& I certainly understand your point, being a recovering alcoholic.
However, here in Canada, we are attempting to force our Government Leaders to make it mandatory for ALL Liquor Manufacturers to have large labels displayed on their containers AND raise the prices.
As all alcohol contains the power to severely damage ANY drinkers health, to the severity of permanently destroying ones life!
If you would like all the details, please let me know, I'd be happy to send you our story.
Sheila Joyce Gibbs
sjgibbs@shaw.ca
Kenneth. The Norwegians might not be drunken swines in their own country, but get them on a plane flying out and you barely see one close to sober. It is like a child being denied sweets forever and then suddenly being given free reign in a sweet shop...the child goes wild with no understanding of control because the child has an unhealthy relationship to access to sweets. These laws in Norway came into place over a century ago when Norway was a very poor country with a very low level of education, resulting in serious problems with alcoholism. The law states clearly even today that this law exists to 'stop' people from drinking. A century later, Norway has discovered oil and thus become one of the richest countries in the world. Its nation is well traveled and well educated in comparison to most countries in the world. Times have changed yet that law has not. I find many of the legislations in the country incredibly paternalistic, infact to the point that it almost infringes on your rights as a human being (a right to choose). Being an adult in Norway doesn't have any meaning because the legislation tells you that you cannot think and they will think for you, you cannot make decisions these will be made for you.
Whilst I would not want any country to have the problems you portray England to have, I don't think that high pricing and limited access necessarily has much of an impact on those who are alcoholics already. They know when polet closes and they will get there in time to get what they need, they are receiving enough in trygdepenger to cover those needs even at the exhorbitant prices and if not they will just make some hjemmebrent in the basement or buy some of the illegal 96 that makes it through the border!
The people impacted are those that do have a healthy relationship to alcohol and might perhaps like to have wine with their dinner.
I suppose what I am saying is that the problem of alcoholism might be more complex than just having to do with access and pricing.
Thanks for an interesting topic once again.
Sevika
Interesting observation and analyses, and as a Norwegian I do agree with you of course. At least Norwegians needs this kind of legislation - just see how they do when getting abroad or when drinks are for free at the gathering.
Thank you very much for your comments, I really appreciate the feedback that you give.
I am a great believer in freedom to choose what's best for yourself. I certainly agree with you that the government have shown some very annoying paternalistic trends, seeming to think that people are not able to decide what is best for themselves. Wine not being sold in normal shops is a prime example of that.
But freedom should not be so free that you are allowed to harm others. To paraphrase the Police Chief Bastian's Cardemum-Law in Cardemum City, Torbjørn Egner's great book, "You should be nice and polite, not bother others, but otherwise you can do as you please". You can use guns for sporting or hunting purposes, but you're not allowed to walk around with them in the streets, scaring, threatening or shooting people. You are also of course allowed to drink, but we need not encourage people to get themselves pissed out of their brains by e.g. allowing shops to sell underpriced booze any time anywhere, for instance late Saturday night. It is no doubt that alcohol leads to violence, and I think it is wise to restrict sale of alcohol at times when people are starting to get too drunk.
I do not agree with the argument that because Norwegians "are not allowed to drink" or because they have an unhealthy relationship to alcohol, that they behave like kids in a candyshop when they go abroad. Of course, a lot of Norwegians act like idiots when they go abroad, no doubt about that. But that is also true for people from any country; Swedes, Germans, Russians, Americans, and last but by no means least the Brits, who have full access to their bargain booze all the time. So, although it unfortunately is a fact that a lot of Norwegians act like morons going abroad (with respect to alcohol), I don't think we can attribute that to us not being allowed to drink back home.
Of course, the problems with alcohol are extremely complex, and they cannot be solved by shutting off access to it. People will get their alcohol anyway. We need only take a short look at history to see what happened when prohibition was introduced in the United States in the 1920s and 30s. And I did of course not intend to say that it is possible or even desirable to do that anyway.
Again, thank you very much for your comments. I apologise for taking so long to reply to them. I will do my best to come back a little quicker in the future.
Kenneth, I was wondering whether you would have a comment at all, so it was nice to hear from you. You make some very good and insightful points.
On some others, we will agree to disagree! :-)
Keep em coming!
Sevika
I was just a little slow to get back at you again - I've been quite busy lately.
As to agreeing - how boring isn't it when we always have to agree? An healthy measure of disagreement makes for a lot more interesting discussions :)
Ok decided! Among the Nordics(SE, NO, DK, FI, IS) the best contry for drinking is undoubtedly DK, You get alcohol everywhere at an almost right price anytime and all supermarkets keep beer (like netto, fatka etc.).you take your beer in bus, no problem whether its 6am or pm(I personally did it). All thanks to Carlsberg lobby i guess. . In FI you can buy only beer(<5% alc.) at normal supermarket and not after 9pm! All hard liqour from 'Alko' stores which are closed on Sunday.
Same in SE, you gotta go to 'sytembolaget' for liquor and its rationed, CRAP. Actually i dont know about IS.
Yes Norway a great country, but very outdated and paternalistic in its approach to alcohol consumption. I wonder how many foreign visitors think carefully about a second visit when they find out the cost of having a civilised bottle of wine with their excellent food. Mind you, they appear to have so much oil and gas money floating around, that may not bother them. I will return, but with a checked bag full of duty-free!
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