Alcohol+Laws

Our topic for this alcohol unit is Alcohol in Different Regions of the world. We will try to explain to you the basic alcohol laws of the regions: Japan (Asia), United States of America (North America), Botswana (Africa), Iran (Middle East), Finland (Europe), and Brazil (South America). There is also a videos at the very end of our wiki; please watch it if you are interested in the alcohol situation in Botswana. Please enjoy our wiki!

__The Japanese Government is in Need of Help; Alcohol Laws are Not Enforced Enough.__

Sake is a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage. To drink and purchase alcohol in Japan, you need to be at least 20 years old, but alcohol vending machines are everywhere in Japan and allow access to everyone; 20 or below. These vending machines sell sake as well as other types of alcohol beverages, like beer. Another problem is that alcohol is on the rise because of its cheap price.

70% of Japan's yearly income comes from beer that is sold, 14% of their income is from sake sold, and 50% is from alcohol taxes. Roughly 2 trillion yen (approximately 20 billion dollars!) are spent every year for alcohol taxes in Japan. In the 1990s, 56.8% of men in Japan claimed to have drunk alcohol once a day and only 19.9% of women did. The Japanese government seems to have a problem with enforcing alcohol laws and the parents are afraid of an alcohol rise in Japan.



__American Teens Hooked on Alcohol__

In all of the sates of America, you need to be 21 or above to purchase and posses alcohol. The American government decided for the legal age to be 21 so that citizens could make good decisions, but many teens are still getting hooked everyday.

On average, 40% of teens in America say they drink when they are upset, bored, or just because they want to get ‘high.’ Nowadays, younger kids learn how to handle alcohol in school and from their parents; according to the graph in http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/data/07data/fig07_14.pdf 8th graders are wiser with alcohol choices than 12th graders. To emphasize alcohol laws, most shops in America will ask for an ID to ensure that you are the right age.

At one point in history America was consuming too much alcohol. America then went through 'Prohibition' where the government banned alcohol consumption and alcohol sales. During Prohibition in America, alcohol laws were very strict. If one decided to violate these laws, they would have to:
 * Fun fact:


 * Get hung by the tongue beneath an airplane and flown over the country
 * Exiled to concentration camps in the Aleutian Islands
 * Excluded from any and all churches
 * Forbidden to marry
 * Tortured
 * Branded
 * Whipped
 * Sterilized
 * Tattooed
 * The person will be placed in bottle-shaped cages in public squares
 * The person will be forced to swallow two ounces of caster oil
 * Executed, as well as their offspring to the fourth generation.

__Home-made African Alcohol__



Fortunately, for Botswana, the rate of adults (15 and up) drinking alcohol isn’t going up, but before 2001, 6 liters of alcohol were consumed and 84% of the people in Botswana abused alcohol. The peak was in 1973 where the consumption of alcohol reached up to 7.5 liters. Because alcohol can be brewed and homemade, it becomes cheaper and available to many people.

Nyola is a traditional brewed alcohol made from sorghum powder. An estimate of 750 grams of this powder is mixed with hot water and set to brew and ferment for one night. Another kind is Bojwala and Khadi and are both also home brewed.

Alcohol abuse causes many criminal offenses and child neglect in Botswana. Many parents forget to feed their children, sell food FOR alcohol, or FEED their children alcohol. There are many children often seen steeling or begging for food. Alcohol is responsible for injuries, violence, and child abuse in Botswana; the government doesn’t do anything about this because their law states that there is no minimum age for possession of alcohol.

__Religion Bans Alcohol Consumption__



In Iran it is illegal to purchase, drink or possess alcohol because of their religion. There are some exceptions though, like for Jewish and Christian holiday rituals. In 2007, 10 people died from drinking a homemade beverage with alcohol called “hooch”. This has not been the only time, “in 2006 15 people died from alcohol poisoning”, also “in 2004, 22 people died of the same cause”. Even though it is illegal, people still do it.

__Finnish Teens are Taking Advantage of Cheap Alcohol__



In Finland you would have to be 18 to possess alcohol, or purchase it, but there surprisingly is no legal drinking age. In Finland alcohol is the number one killing factor for men and the number two killing factor for women. In 2005 there was so much alcohol consumption, each person drank 10.5 liters of pure alcohol. Also, because alcohol is so cheap in Finland, there are many teenagers that have taken advantage of this.

__South American Drinking__





The legal age for drinking in Brazil is 18 years old, but still drinking is very common with teenagers. In some different parts of South America, boys ideally drink more alcohol than girls, but some say that girls drinking alcohol is on the rise in Brazil. According to the chart in http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_MSD_MSB_01.1.pdf, many kids have tried alcohol before they have reached the legal age. Drinking seems to be a problem in Brazil; in 1976, 76% of students had used alcohol. In 1997, 50% of kids ages 10-12 had reportedly used alcohol.

This is an interesting video that shows a similar situation in Botswana- a drunk baby. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/01/22/sanchez.in.drunk.baby.wish?iref=videosearch

This is also an interesting take on under aged drinking.

media type="youtube" key="0xsuoMEKoGg&rel=1" height="355" width="425"

As we studied these regions and their alcohol laws, we found that they do differ because of various reasons. In some parts of the world, alcohol is totally banned and illegal, while in other parts of the world, alcohol is home made. Governments base their laws on their citizens’ culture and religion, but they still get different reactions from their audience. On average, people tend to break alcohol laws and many of the governments have problems with alcohol consumption. We hope you learned something from our wiki, and we hope you don’t drink before 18!!!

Pictures: http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4056306_flag_lapel_button_united_states_of_america.php?id=4056306 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4971685_botswana.php?id=4971685 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/5106520_iran_flag_sphere.php?id=5106520 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4837975_brazil_flag_sphere.php?id=4837975 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4660597_finland.php?id=4660597 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4429219_japan.php?id=4429219 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4963493_sake.php?id=4963493 http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4317089_no_alcohol.php?id=4317089 http://www.kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=familydoctor&article_set=22899&lic=44&cat_id=118 http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/botswana.pdf ~ Chart http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_MSD_MSB_01.1.pdf ~ Chart

Videos: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0xsuoMEKoGg http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/01/22/sanchez.in.drunk.baby.wish?iref=videosearch

Bibliography: http://www.linkedwords.com/local.php?for=drinking+and+driving+laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_the_United_States_by_state http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4720478.stm http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html http://www.thesite.org/drinkanddrugs/drinking/responsibledrinking/the24hourdrinkinglaws http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7093143.stm#finland http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/in_depth/africa/2002/africalive/2210609.stm http://www.iht.com/articles/1995/04/10/jbeer.ttt.php http://www.iht.com/articles/1995/02/20/drinkcon.php http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/addictions/alcohol/273.html http://www.kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=familydoctor&article_set=22899&lic=44&cat_id=118 http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_MSD_MSB_01.1.pdf http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/IntheNews/Etc/1124913408.html