__A leading Swiss anti-addiction group has relaunched a proposal to introduce a ban on selling alcohol late at night.__
Referring to a rules in two French-speaking regions of the country, the Swiss Foundation for Addiction said incidents of alcohol poisoning had decreased by up to 30% since the introduction of restrictions, notably in Geneva and Lausanne regions in 2005 and 2014.
In particular, fewer younger people had to be admitted to hospital for this reason, writes Addiction Switzerland in its annual report, which was published on Tuesday.
__More expensive__
The foundation also demands generally higher prices for alcohol and better protection for young people, also during the day.
A system with automatic presentation of an identity card is common practice in several European countries and would also be advisable in Switzerland according to the group. For online alcohol sales, a legal basis is needed to make direct scanning of the identity card the rule.
Back in 2007, the Federal Office of Public Health called for a ban on alcohol sales after 9pm in petrol stations, railway stations or take-away businesses. In 2014, the Swiss Senate also wanted to reduce alcohol sales between 10pm and 6am in shops, but the other chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives, opposed it.
However, the pressure group argues that parliament is out of touch with the public opinion. It refers to recent polls as well as a decision by one of the country’s leading retail chains, Migros, which decided to remain alcohol-free.
I find these rules deeply patronising. It’s happened to me on a few occasions that I left work late to go to friends’ for dinner and couldn’t get a bottle of wine because it was after 8pm. Adult citizens should be able to buy alcohol during all regular opening hours.
I feel for those struggling with addiction but restricting the rights of everyone is not the answer.
Wouldn’t it be more logical to ban it during the day time?
Why can’t municipalities rule that on the local level?
how about raise people right and make sure there is less pressure in society so people dont feel like doing drugs, and for people who are already addicted jsut lift the stigma and have gov paid street workers to help. its usually never a things or circumstances fualt. its always humans/society
As if addicts would only buy alcohol at night … That proposal is just nonsense. Also, it has never helped to ban products from sale in order to fight addiction. If you want to help addicts, get down to the root of the problem instead of clipping the leaves of the plant (figuratively speaking).
Maybe some merit to it idealistically – but it will never happen, ever.
Yes banning things is always the solution. I am positive we are only three or four bans away from world peace!
That’s how you create a new black market.
what do you mean? it’s already banned, between 22 and 6.
bars usually close around 00 in my area.
do they mean clubs? because let me tell you, it would do alcoholics good to actually go to the club and move their ass instead of sitting and drinking.
Sounds like someone is trying to treat the problem not the cause of it, which always turns out great
Also, how many people are addicts out of the total who drink alcohol?
Don’t know for the rest of Switzerland, but in Geneva, you can’t buy alcohol after 21h00 until like 7h00. Only Bars etc are allowed to serve you alcohol during that time. And iirc, you can have delivered to your home.
Why not ban daytime reddit too ? I’ve been here everyday this week so far. I might be addicted. /s.
Wait what, we have a nighttime sale ban on alcohol? That’s not on a federal level though is it?
What a moronic nonsense. Actually non—addicts buy at night whereas addicts buy during the day.
Ah yes my beloved Switzerland.. already the most boring and lame country in Europe when it comes to nightlife has to come up with such bullshit rules to make it even more unappealing 🙏🏻
booooooh!
Those old farts don‘t see a problem in fucking up the climate, depleting our pension system, voting in every referendum against the interest of the youth. But they suddenly deeply care about our health once it is about something that does not affect them. Fucking hypocrites.
How about no.
The shops that are open at night with alcohol have blinded windows anyways so they can discreetly sell to underages. I don’t see how one more ruling would stop them from breaking the law.
As someone who lived in the Bible Belt of America and has seen what alcohol selling restrictions do, this should be given a hard pass. Bad idea 👎
The stock up in the day time to Drink when your wanna ban it !
We already have that. At the Train Station in Bern you can only buy alcohol till 22:00. Did it stop from people drinking? No.
Most people go in the coop 21:45 and buy enough to get drunk for the Rest of the evening.
So what’s the point?
Hell nah
That’s completely retarded.
Here we can’t buy alcohol past 7pm.
Now, what do you think an alcoholic would do?
Try buying some booze a friday or saturday evening or buy his stuff right at dawn when shops open?
Alcoholics buy their stuff whenever they can and want.
Those bans hurt no one except the average person wanting to party.
Damn dictators, may lightning smite them.
I live in Geneva and yes, alcohol is already banned from sale from 10 pm here.
But… lots of “depaneurs” still sell anything if you are a regular or ask nicely (overpriced though)
This rule is very unswiss. We love liberty, as long we are not disturbing or hurting others
It’s useless. People will buy it in advance and the problem will still be here. Worst, it will allow people to make money selling it illegally at a high price.
Thats not a solution. The problem is, that alcohol is way too cheap. The prices are ridicolous
please no. i always buy my alcohol at around 22:00 in the train station when i’m going out with my pals
I like how one side of this argument has evidence of harm reduction and the other side has a bunch of baseless pearl clutching and concern trolling and America-level “muh freedum”.
It’s sad when evidence-based policy can’t get implemented because people care more about what they “feel” are the facts than the facts themselves.
Yup, prohibition worked very well in the USA. I’m sure letting kids buy beer at the age of 16 is a perfect solution too.
/s, just in case
As a former self-proclamed addict (ok, a more commonly called student) , I go purchase my two 24-packs on saturday mornings for the next week to come.
Why reducing the evening hours during the week ? I don’t give a shit, it only hinder the sporadic purchase of those who really needs them (late invitation and need wine/gift, people not working standard hours, etc).
[edit]
At this rate, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ban non-healthy foods in the evenings, because people are more prone to be driven by impulses and less critical thinking. Oh, don’t forget cigarettes and other smoke-products.
And why not limiting the time when you can fill-up your car at the gas station ? The ones driving in the evening are more inclined to drive unneccessary trips, and that’s bad for the environment.
I mean, I’m not necessarily against it personally, but would it actually make a difference is what I’m wondering.
Here we are again, instead of tackling the root causes of the problem let’s just make life inconvenient for everyone with a pointless symptomatic bandaid. You’re allowed to be addicted, but only if your fridge is large enough and if you are not completely wasted during office hours. Ever heard of something called prohibition in the USA…?
What about no?
Weak
Please no! This smacks of post-Prohibition American South laws. Dry counties, dry cities, time restrictions, etc. All people do is drive to where those restrictions don’t exist and buy anyway.
Let’s see who really is this anti-addiction group representative…
***shocked gasp***
It’s… it’s the bar owner that competes with general 24h store across the street!
C’est complètement débile
I’m originally from Scotland and what we do is no sale of off license alcohol between 10 pm and 10 am. It means that people who have been out drinking can’t pick up more unrestricted alcohol which I get. But what happens is people just stock up even more to make sure they don’t run out.
For an anti-addiction group, they seem not to realize that people getting addicted to something, do not get there because they can buy those things on a supermarket, but for a whole different set of reasons.
43 comments
__A leading Swiss anti-addiction group has relaunched a proposal to introduce a ban on selling alcohol late at night.__
Referring to a rules in two French-speaking regions of the country, the Swiss Foundation for Addiction said incidents of alcohol poisoning had decreased by up to 30% since the introduction of restrictions, notably in Geneva and Lausanne regions in 2005 and 2014.
In particular, fewer younger people had to be admitted to hospital for this reason, writes Addiction Switzerland in its annual report, which was published on Tuesday.
__More expensive__
The foundation also demands generally higher prices for alcohol and better protection for young people, also during the day.
A system with automatic presentation of an identity card is common practice in several European countries and would also be advisable in Switzerland according to the group. For online alcohol sales, a legal basis is needed to make direct scanning of the identity card the rule.
Back in 2007, the Federal Office of Public Health called for a ban on alcohol sales after 9pm in petrol stations, railway stations or take-away businesses. In 2014, the Swiss Senate also wanted to reduce alcohol sales between 10pm and 6am in shops, but the other chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives, opposed it.
However, the pressure group argues that parliament is out of touch with the public opinion. It refers to recent polls as well as a decision by one of the country’s leading retail chains, Migros, which decided to remain alcohol-free.
I find these rules deeply patronising. It’s happened to me on a few occasions that I left work late to go to friends’ for dinner and couldn’t get a bottle of wine because it was after 8pm. Adult citizens should be able to buy alcohol during all regular opening hours.
I feel for those struggling with addiction but restricting the rights of everyone is not the answer.
Wouldn’t it be more logical to ban it during the day time?
Why can’t municipalities rule that on the local level?
how about raise people right and make sure there is less pressure in society so people dont feel like doing drugs, and for people who are already addicted jsut lift the stigma and have gov paid street workers to help. its usually never a things or circumstances fualt. its always humans/society
As if addicts would only buy alcohol at night … That proposal is just nonsense. Also, it has never helped to ban products from sale in order to fight addiction. If you want to help addicts, get down to the root of the problem instead of clipping the leaves of the plant (figuratively speaking).
Maybe some merit to it idealistically – but it will never happen, ever.
Yes banning things is always the solution. I am positive we are only three or four bans away from world peace!
That’s how you create a new black market.
what do you mean? it’s already banned, between 22 and 6.
bars usually close around 00 in my area.
do they mean clubs? because let me tell you, it would do alcoholics good to actually go to the club and move their ass instead of sitting and drinking.
Sounds like someone is trying to treat the problem not the cause of it, which always turns out great
Also, how many people are addicts out of the total who drink alcohol?
Don’t know for the rest of Switzerland, but in Geneva, you can’t buy alcohol after 21h00 until like 7h00. Only Bars etc are allowed to serve you alcohol during that time. And iirc, you can have delivered to your home.
Why not ban daytime reddit too ? I’ve been here everyday this week so far. I might be addicted. /s.
Wait what, we have a nighttime sale ban on alcohol? That’s not on a federal level though is it?
What a moronic nonsense. Actually non—addicts buy at night whereas addicts buy during the day.
Ah yes my beloved Switzerland.. already the most boring and lame country in Europe when it comes to nightlife has to come up with such bullshit rules to make it even more unappealing 🙏🏻
booooooh!
Those old farts don‘t see a problem in fucking up the climate, depleting our pension system, voting in every referendum against the interest of the youth. But they suddenly deeply care about our health once it is about something that does not affect them. Fucking hypocrites.
How about no.
The shops that are open at night with alcohol have blinded windows anyways so they can discreetly sell to underages. I don’t see how one more ruling would stop them from breaking the law.
As someone who lived in the Bible Belt of America and has seen what alcohol selling restrictions do, this should be given a hard pass. Bad idea 👎
The stock up in the day time to Drink when your wanna ban it !
We already have that. At the Train Station in Bern you can only buy alcohol till 22:00. Did it stop from people drinking? No.
Most people go in the coop 21:45 and buy enough to get drunk for the Rest of the evening.
So what’s the point?
Hell nah
That’s completely retarded.
Here we can’t buy alcohol past 7pm.
Now, what do you think an alcoholic would do?
Try buying some booze a friday or saturday evening or buy his stuff right at dawn when shops open?
Alcoholics buy their stuff whenever they can and want.
Those bans hurt no one except the average person wanting to party.
Damn dictators, may lightning smite them.
I live in Geneva and yes, alcohol is already banned from sale from 10 pm here.
But… lots of “depaneurs” still sell anything if you are a regular or ask nicely (overpriced though)
This rule is very unswiss. We love liberty, as long we are not disturbing or hurting others
It’s useless. People will buy it in advance and the problem will still be here. Worst, it will allow people to make money selling it illegally at a high price.
Thats not a solution. The problem is, that alcohol is way too cheap. The prices are ridicolous
please no. i always buy my alcohol at around 22:00 in the train station when i’m going out with my pals
I like how one side of this argument has evidence of harm reduction and the other side has a bunch of baseless pearl clutching and concern trolling and America-level “muh freedum”.
It’s sad when evidence-based policy can’t get implemented because people care more about what they “feel” are the facts than the facts themselves.
Yup, prohibition worked very well in the USA. I’m sure letting kids buy beer at the age of 16 is a perfect solution too.
/s, just in case
As a former self-proclamed addict (ok, a more commonly called student) , I go purchase my two 24-packs on saturday mornings for the next week to come.
Why reducing the evening hours during the week ? I don’t give a shit, it only hinder the sporadic purchase of those who really needs them (late invitation and need wine/gift, people not working standard hours, etc).
[edit]
At this rate, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ban non-healthy foods in the evenings, because people are more prone to be driven by impulses and less critical thinking. Oh, don’t forget cigarettes and other smoke-products.
And why not limiting the time when you can fill-up your car at the gas station ? The ones driving in the evening are more inclined to drive unneccessary trips, and that’s bad for the environment.
I mean, I’m not necessarily against it personally, but would it actually make a difference is what I’m wondering.
Here we are again, instead of tackling the root causes of the problem let’s just make life inconvenient for everyone with a pointless symptomatic bandaid. You’re allowed to be addicted, but only if your fridge is large enough and if you are not completely wasted during office hours. Ever heard of something called prohibition in the USA…?
What about no?
Weak
Please no! This smacks of post-Prohibition American South laws. Dry counties, dry cities, time restrictions, etc. All people do is drive to where those restrictions don’t exist and buy anyway.
Let’s see who really is this anti-addiction group representative…
***shocked gasp***
It’s… it’s the bar owner that competes with general 24h store across the street!
C’est complètement débile
I’m originally from Scotland and what we do is no sale of off license alcohol between 10 pm and 10 am. It means that people who have been out drinking can’t pick up more unrestricted alcohol which I get. But what happens is people just stock up even more to make sure they don’t run out.
For an anti-addiction group, they seem not to realize that people getting addicted to something, do not get there because they can buy those things on a supermarket, but for a whole different set of reasons.