Energy Drinks May Contribute to Alcohol Violence according to Study
It has come to light that most revellers heading off to an entertainment district in some big city usually begin their night off drinking at home to save money and get their party started early. According to an article on Bigpondnews.com.au as a result of this “pre-drinking” they become more intoxicated once they hit the town and begin drinking some more.
Also limits are usually set based on people who have not been pre-drinking, it becomes more difficult for RSA staff to keep track of how many drinks a person’s had because they’ve already had so many at home.
The study also shows that these partygoers also use energy drinks to prolong their evening and drink more and so become even more intoxicated as the evening progresses.
Another interesting finding of the study was that consuming energy drinks and illegal drugs with alcohol increased the chance of aggression and harm to people and property.
The study has been hailed as a landmark study in the fight against alcohol fuelled violence in the entertainment districts. According to the study a significant number of young people are taking illegal drugs especially ecstasy, methamphetamine and cannabis.
Read more about the study and its findings below from the post on Bigpondnews.com.au
The study, released on Thursday by the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (NDLERF), involved interviews with 6804 young drinkers in nighttime entertainment districts in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Wollongong and Geelong.
Respondents were asked about their alcohol and drug consumption and breathalysed to measure their level of intoxication.
Almost two-thirds reported drinking alcohol, mostly at home, before going out to pubs and nightclubs, with 61 per cent saying the key motivation was to save money.
Twenty-three per cent said they consumed energy drinks, with almost 15 per cent saying they mixed energy drinks with alcohol.
The study identified a clear pattern of increasing intoxication as the night progressed across all five centres.
Melbourne and Perth showed the highest mean alcohol readings – exceeding 0.1 or twice the legal limit for driving – around 4am.
Although it may become difficult to tell if a person is intoxicated if they do not display any visible signs, RSA staff needs to keep an eye on the number of drinks they serve to any one person.
Although they may not display any obvious signs there are some other signs to look out for. Factors like the speed which they walk or speak should be examined in order to determine their level of intoxication. Also remember that a person’s size and gender affect their level of intoxication, women have a lower tolerance than men.
The more obvious signs are rowdiness, loudness, talkativeness but sometimes intoxicated people don’t display any of these, lookout for bad language, flirtatiousness and displays of generally poor judgement.
Also if they don’t show any behavioural signs, keep an eye out for physical signs such as red eyes, slurred speech, forgetfulness, slow speech, slow movement, lack of coordination, instability, stumbling, swaying, falling or dropping things. The person may stink of alcohol and sweat more than usual. Observe the early signs and avoid many of the consequences of over intoxication for the customer, yourself, your establishment and society in general.
