" Three Strikes " policy !

The " Three Strikes " policy to reduce alcohol fueled violence at late night clubs and pubs seems to have had limited success, but we still have the problem of drunken brawlers using police and ambulance crews as punching bags.

The idea was to transfer responsibility for the responsible serving of alcohol back to the venue owners by way of time restrictions on opening hours if patrons racked up street disturbances.   This seems to be subjected to a wide degree of interpretation.   It seems to be one thing if a brawl erupts in or at the doors of a venue, but quite another if it occurs half a block away.   This seems to be why some violent venues seem to be able to disregard the three strikes law with impunity - whilst others manage to achieve results.

Alcohol fueled violence has resulted in a lot of law changes.  Plastic replaces glass in most late night watering holes and there are restrictions on double and triple measures of spirits, plus the " lock out " laws that are meant to curb drunks wandering from one venue to another late at night.

Perhaps the only way to impose meaningful restrictions on the amount of alcohol consumed is to implement a time factor on various alcoholic beverages.   Perhaps midnight should be the end of full strength beer availability and patrons wishing to drink after that hour be restricted to the low alcohol product.    At least this would make it harder to reach the degree of insobriety that leads to violence.

Would it be unreasonable to withdraw wine and spirits from patrons choice completely in the lead up to the time the venue closes ?    If the only alcohol available after a certain hour was low alcohol beer, that would be a good reason for many people to go home - hopefully in a more sober state.

Perhaps such an imposition would be a big incentive for venue owners to clean up their act.   Perhaps enquiries of from where the alcohol was consumed should be the criteria of applying the " Three Strikes " law, rather than where the brawl occurred.     Obviously, the more alcohol sold, the greater the profit for venue owners, but if that results in restrictions that reduce profitability - then the incentive to comply with the law increases.

We have a problem !    Fixing it is going to result in measures that will be unpopular with many people. It simply depends on whether we have the fortitude to implement measures that will do the job !