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I get asked a lot 'Why
did you start drinking?

Did something terrible
happen to you at fifteen?

Because terrible
things do happen to

fifteen year old
girls, I get that.

And the scary thing is that no,

nothing happened.

I had a really nice family.

I had amazing
parents, I still do.

I had great friends.

I was never
particularly confident,

I was never
particularly attractive.

I was always one of the
really awkward teenagers.

I just loved it.

I just felt like I
fitted in my own skin,

if that makes sense.

It was such an
amazing feeling.

It kind of felt
like a big quilt,

like a big quilt being
wrapped around you,

where you didn't worry,

where you couldn't
really feel anything.

I don't know why I didn't
wanna feel anything at 15...

I can't even tell you. It
was like being in love.

I knew something was wrong.

Because sometimes... you know,
like one of those kaleidoscopes,

where you're looking through it
and everything clicks.

Sometimes, the kaleidoscope
would click into place,

just for a split second, and
you'd know what was wrong.

You'd know something
was terribly wrong,

and you didn't know quite
why it was alcohol.

But it was.

Every time the kaleidoscope
clicked into place,

and all the colours
made sense,

I'd go off again and there'd
be an excuse to drink.

Because there's always
someone drinking more.

There's always someone
more messed up than you.

So it was always OK.

I've never had
enough to drink.

Never in my life have I
had enough to drink.

And thank god really because
then I would be dead.

MUSIC

MUSIC - MOBY
'LONELY NIGHT'

MUSIC - MOBY
'LONELY NIGHT'

GUITAR

This is me.

This is actually the only photo
of me holding a can of beer.

My name is Arthur Cauty,

and I am one of the few people
in Britain who don't drink.

That's how it feels anyway.

That's not to say I've
never tried it. I have.

I just never liked it.

Even as a teenager when all my
friends where out drinking,

I always preferred to be
out shooting silly films.

Making music.

Or sitting in my bedroom
trying to save humanity

from the latest
threat of Armageddon.

I even tried my hand
at pro wrestling.

I always had something
more interesting to do.

Alcohol just didn't
stand a chance.

But I saw the affects
of it all around me,

at home, on the streets.

Fuck off!
Fuck off!

You having a lovely time?

On TV.

In the news.

Britain's got a major
drinking problem...

...one in five of all deaths
are caused by alcohol...

...Britain's binge
drinking culture...

...binge drinking...

...binge drinking...

Forty Jaegers!

Wherever I looked, people
were getting pissed.

DRUNKEN CHANTING

So why do we do it?

The British drink more
than any other culture

because they can handle it.

And because we know
how to have fun.

Yeah it doesn't look that fun.
But maybe it's just me.

Alcohol is a potential
menace to community safety

as well as to his
personal health.

Absolutely, we should
ban it entirely.

The only obvious
thing to do is to

get rid of this
scourge completely.

Well that sounds like
a terrible idea.

Violence, wanton destruction
and utter lawlessness...

- I think we can all agree

we've built up a pretty bad
reputation for ourselves

when it comes to drinking,

but this obsession with
alcohol is nothing new.

It's something that has been
around for hundreds of years.

For most of human history,
and certainly until

the late
nineteenth century,

water was basically
unsafe to drink.

In the sixteenth and
seventeenth century,

tea, coffee and soft drinks
were all unavailable,

so you'd find that
old, young and

even children were
drinking beer.

They were drinking a variety
of beer called small beer,

perhaps a little bit stronger
than modern day Shandy.

Working men felt that it gave
them health and strength.

''Beer gives you muscle''.

Men in hard physical
jobs particularly

would be drinking
vast amounts,

drinking up to
three gallons of beer a day.

In the early eighteenth century,

gin drinking reached
what people have seen

as an epidemic or a craze.

Of course it's epitomized most
famously in Hogarth's Gin Lane.

Basically you could
produce it and sell it

more or less anywhere.

So not only public
houses sold gin,

but grocery shops and general
stores also sold gin.

You could go in and buy

some basic items and have
a shot of gin on the side.

They also used to sell the
stuff on the streets,

people would go
around selling gin

to the spectators at
public executions.

And then the First World
War had a big impact.

The government, and particularly
the Ministry of Munitions

and later Prime
Minister Lloyd George

identified drink as a real
threat to the war effort.

Famously he said

'we are fighting Germany,
Austria and drink,

but the greatest
enemy is drink.'

In the Second World War, the
Government saw drink and pubs

as essential to
maintaining morale.

It was thought
important to keep up a

reasonable supply of
beer to the troops.

There used to be a phrase
'beer and Britannia'.

The French were
identified with wine,

so the English were
identified with beer.

Well, yes, rather.

In more modern times, from the
nineteen fifties and sixties,

alcohol consumption
continued to rise.

From the nineteen eighties it
became a particular concern

the eighties associated
with football hooliganism

or the 'lager lout' phenomenon.

And then in the later
twentieth century,

the binge drinking phenomenon.

One of the Government's aims
in the 2003 licensing act

was to try and persuade
us to adopt a more

'continental style' of drinking,

where we drink sensibly as they
do allegedly in French cafes,

having cultural conversations,

rather than binge drinking and
falling out of pub doorways

as allegedly we are doing here.

I don't drink a lot of alcohol,

I drink sometimes once a week.

And only if I am
in a restaurant.

I never drink
alone, in my home or

if I am alone with my kids
or family, I never drink.

We don't drink to be drunk,

we drink to appreciate
the wine or the alcohol.

My opinion about the British?

The first thing I would think
about them, is binge drinking.

I think they don't
know what to do,

and there is no interest
in their lives,

and they think that the only
way to have fun is to drink.

I think the first time I had
alcohol it was for my birthday

when I was thirteen,
just one drink.

My daughter is fifteen and
she doesn't drink alcohol.

For their birthday
they have the right to

put a finger in the
glass and to taste it,

normally they hate it

and I am very happy about that.

Quite famously people know that
in France and Italy for example,

quite young children are
allowed or encouraged

to have a bit of wine with
dinner with their parents.

In the UK, young people tend to
have fewer meals with adults

than in other countries

and spend more
time with friends.

We tend to eat earlier in the UK

which means parents
often aren't home from work.

On the continent they
eat dinner later,

it sounds trivial, but
it completely changes

the dynamic of the
family environment.

In this country there
has not been a culture

of respecting alcohol or

respecting the
manufacture of alcohol

or the produce of wine
or things like that,

we have never had that culture.

You can be on the continent,
France, Spain for example,

and observe people in their
late teens or early twenties

happily socialising over
a coffee or a milkshake,

and alcohol isn't the
point of purchase,

it's the social contact
with each other.

Whereas it's quite unusual to
find that phenomena in the UK

in the early evening, that young
people would be socializing

in a non alcohol
environment in that way.

We are well known as a
nation of boozers.

Really in Britain there
really isn't any stigma

about being seen
drunk in public.

I think that's quite surprising
for people from other countries.

CROWD CHEERING

In the US, I don't think you see
that kind of binge drinking

public drunkenness culture
in quite the same way.

There is obviously the Spring
Break culture of going out

and getting absolutely wrecked
for about three or four weeks.

Spring Break y'all!

But outside of Spring Break

I think they are quite a
bit more disapproving

of drunken behaviour.

I don't think Americans
tolerate drunkenness

anything like the
extent that we do.

So the French seem to think
we are a bunch of piss heads,

but what do the Americans think?

PIANO MUSIC

So when you think
about Britain

and British culture
what comes to mind?

Err... Bangers and mash,
fish and chips, pubs.

Urm, soccer, drinking games,

Tea and crumpets
and bad teeth...

sorry. Urm Guinness!

The British like to drink,
I mean they love to drink.

They wake up in the morning and
first thing outta the fridge,

they're grabbing a beer.

When I was living in London,
I drank every day,

seven days a week and it
was definitely way more

than I ever drink in America.

It's like when you are there
at five o'clock everyday,

every businessperson
goes to the pub.

I think its kind
of ingrained

in their culture
that you work,

then to the pub, and
then you go home.

When I was in London,

I was amazed by the
fact that there

were no open container laws,

and that everyone was in
the streets drinking,

it seemed like such
a communal activity

that everyone could do
together out in the streets.

And I definitely think there's
not as much of a stigma

as there is in the
United States.

I don't think
anyone gives a crap

in the UK when you
go out and drink.

It's a lot more acceptable.

I watched this
documentary

and they had an ambulance
that drives around,

I think it's London, and
picks up drunk people

and hooks them up to an IV

so that they don't die
that night.

I don't remember if it drops
them home or to the hospital.

But it's crazy.

- The age limit. It's twenty one
here and eighteen over there.

That has a lot to do with it.

So much more of being
young is drinking.

That's how they have fun.

I've talked to people who are
British and they are like,

'my brother brought a
keg at fifteen' so

I really think they are
just very relaxed about it.

As you get older here,
you drink a lot less,

but there, even if
it's just one drink

you kind of just have
a drink every day.

So, Yeah... pretty much
the same as the French.

You may see a
certain similarity,

at least on the surface,

between the famous pub,

and the corner bar in
the cities of America.

The pub which is practically
an institution in Britain

is something like the state side
corner bar only more so.

It's more like a
friendly club,

a neighbourhood
gathering place,

where men can meet to
share the quiet pleasures

of a glass of beer
and conversation.

Where nothing is hurried.

A little world all on its own.

It's changed completely. I
mean it's happened slowly

and fairly insidiously
and I think when

things happen so slowly,

you don't notice until you
turn around one day and think

' Oh my God, things
have really changed'.

All I have to say to someone is

'look outside your front
door, walk down the street.

What building do
you come to first,

which is a public
service, for the public?'

And often it's a public house.
It's a place to consume alcohol.

If you look at a typical city
centre or town centre in the UK,

it tends to be populated
by lots of pubs and clubs,

which has been brilliant

because it's spawned a
music culture here.

ROCK MUSIC

But what it doesn't have is
outside space for socialising.

On the continent you tend to
see big open town squares

where adults and young people
socialise in close proximity and

there seems to be an association
between that kind of socialising

and a healthier attitude towards
alcohol for obvious reasons,

because you see
parents and adults

consuming alcohol over dinner

in a more responsible
normal way.

So there's these countervailing,
very deep rooted forces at work

which prevent young people
from having the exposure

to responsible adult drinking

that you see they
have on the continent.

Out of the slime and
darkness it comes

to inflict its life destroying
poison on the careless,

the unwary, the unprotected.

No sane person
would deliberately

expose themselves
to its venom.

No intelligent
person would come

within striking
distance of its fangs.

Yet today, young people are
flirting with a poison

every bit as deadly
as that of the snake.

MENACING MUSIC

Thank you children, now
lets get back to work.

I think it all starts with
people being influenced by

either their parents, or
older brothers or sisters,

or your mate's older
brother and sisters.

You see them having a good time,
you see them getting drunk.

That's where it starts.

I'd say its more a
cultural thing now,

it's something that we
have grown up with.

It's something that
when you go out,

you automatically start drinking
alcohol now with your mates.

Drinking becomes almost
associated with having fun

people think to have
fun you have to drink

and so they get into
a cycle like that.

We had the school nurse come in,

she showed us different
bottles of alcohol

'Don't drink this,
it's bad for you'.

- Alcohol is bad, you
shouldn't drink alcohol,

and as for drugs well, drugs are
bad, you shouldn't do drugs.

- And telling you not
to do something as a

young person makes
you want to do it?

Can do yeah.

That first drink isn't very
enjoyable I can tell you.

It burns your insides and
its makes your eyes water.

We had more education
on how not to

climb up on an electric pylon
than we did on alcohol.

We got nothing on alcohol
until we were about sixteen,

in our last years of school,

by that time everybody had
done it so it was like

'why are you telling us now?'.

My children at the
age of eight and ten

haven't had any tuition in
that and I think 'why not?'.

School isn't just
academic ability,

it's about social
integration as well,

and I think that is
weak in this country.

It's not even mandatory,
it's an absolute disgrace.

We'll give them
all the academics,

we'll have league tables,

but when it comes to
doing practical work in schools

around health and wellbeing
of young people,

for their potential
that can actually fuel

the rest of the work
they do, it doesn't happen.

- They ask a few questions,
an hour in a year.

I don't know if we did have
any talks about alcohol,

I can't remember them.

Sixty percent of schools give
only one lesson a year, if that.

And what they are using in the
classroom is not evidence based.

At high school age, even
though your mind seems mature,

your body isn't and alcohol
is a violent narcotic.

I just question putting all the
responsibility on schools

because it's not like the other
stuff you learn in school,

like maths

it's not factual,
it's an attitude.

Whatever they say
in a lesson

can't really fight
against everything else

around you in the world
that you are learning.

I believe it's parents
and

generally the way you're
brought up at home.

Parents obviously
play a massive part

in how their
children grow up.

This is a middle class problem

that's behind
closed doors,

where the way we
behave around drink,

the way we
talk about it,

and the way we use it can impact
on the behaviour of our children

without realising it.

When a man can't or thinks
he can't measure up,

he looks for a crutch, something
to help him, he takes a drink.

Don't look at your
children's behaviour,

look at your own. Thank you.

We probably haven't
with our parents

spoken about drinking a lot,

other than maybe we've
come home after a party,

been vomiting everywhere
and they've said

'You really shouldn't
drink so much'

but actually we're not
dealing with the 'why?'.

Why did you absolutely
get off your face?

When I was around 20,

it was all going a bit mad,

I didn't understand that
I could do anything differently

because everyone
that I saw around me

was in the madness as well.

I think we could do with
educating our teens in Britain,

before they head off
into the madness.

MUSIC

As the sun goes down,
society fades away,

and what emerges from the
shadows is a monster

of low inhibitions,
aggression, and casual chaos.

It's almost like every
night we go to war.

With ourselves.

EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE

On one side you've got the
police, the emergency services,

the council and various
groups of volunteers.

And on the other side
you got, well...

everyone else.

BANG

Are you fucking videoing this?!
Fuck your mum bruv.

We fight and we fight, it's
just that nobody ever wins.

EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE

You go out to get off your face,

you go out and drink a load

that's what most people
understand by binge drinking.

Some countries will define that
as having six units of alcohol,

but that's only two thirds
of a bottle of wine.

That doesn't feel like a binge
to most British people.

It might to people
in other countries,

but to a lot of British people
that doesn't feel like a binge.

I drank a lot in the early
days when I first started

ten, twelve pints a day.

Every day.

I could go out and drink
twenty pints of lager

and walk home okay.

I see people who are drinking a
bottle and half of vodka a day,

I mean, that's a lot.

If you drank that right
now, you might die.

But to them they are just
maintaining an equilibrium.

We have this phrase
'binge drinking',

making out that in between
these mad sessions of alcohol,

people aren't using
anything at all,

but that's not
what's happening.

People are drinking
all the time.

I binge drink like hell,
I'm not going to lie.

I drink everyday, I'm going
to die soon,

but it's not too
bad, I live my life.

If we had no alcohol,
no cigarettes,

if we had none of that, this
place would be so boring.

It's like fast food. If we had
no fast food what would we eat?

We'd eat nothing. It
would be horrible.

MUSIC

If anyone makes a statement
that in Europe it's better,

I say 'where's
the evidence?'.

I think that Europe, as opposed
to Britain, Europe is different.

Well there is evidence, because
liver disease is going up here

and in most of Europe
is going down so

surely that suggests
that it is worse here?

That's possible.

In the past ten years, the
number of people under thirty

who are going to hospital for
liver problems caused by alcohol

has gone up by one hundred
and seventeen percent

and in particular regions of
the country it is even higher.

In the north east
of England,

it's gone up by four
hundred percent.

I mean these are
catastrophic levels

of liver damage taking place.

It's really unusual
in the rest of Europe

to see people in their twenties
or thirties with liver disease,

but it is something
that is happening

to a whole generation
of people in Britain.

MUSIC

MUSIC

Oi mate, you left some of your
Chinese on the floor.

LAUGHING

You will always see people
joking about a drunk and

thinking that's great, and
I laugh at that as well

and I
think it's very funny

but actually it's rather sad.

I'm not sure there are
many responsible drinkers

in this world,

I certainly can't claim to
be a responsible drinker.

MUSIC

The medics told us
to stop filming

while they help this
guy covered in sick.

Then they turned around and
started laughing at us.

They accused us of
wasting their time

because this guy
was only 'pissed'

and the fact that we were
concerned for his health

was apparently really funny.

It just goes to
show how normalised

scenes like this
are on our streets

and how we've all essentially
become numb to it.

Their ethos is

we could be attending
an incident

that could be far more serious,

but we've got to
be here with you,

and you have put yourself
in that condition,

and I totally agree with them.

Go to A and E any night

and it is full of people
who have broken things, or

have blood everywhere, or

who are completely
disorientated,

somebody's attacked them or
they've attacked somebody

and the person's hit back.

And they don't really know
how they've got there...

because they're drunk.

As a GP a huge
proportion of my time

is spent dealing with people
with alcohol problems

and not just dealing
with patients,

it's dealing with
their families,

it's dealing with the
social, psychological wreck

that results from one
member of the family

having alcohol problems.

I've seen patients where

I've gone in to talk
to them and made it

perfectly clear to them
that they are going to

kill themselves if they
don't stop drinking.

And their response is

'if those are my choices,
I'm ready to die.'

MUSIC

Violence is a significant
challenge for us.

Fifty percent of
that violence

we know to be
fuelled by alcohol.

It impacts families
and children,

it puts a load on our hospitals

and a huge load on policing,

and where would people
want their police

not policing bars
and clubs

at three or four
o'clock in the morning,

but to actually be
available during the day

to reassure people and
be solving crimes and

doing the sort of
things that police do.

So if fifty percent
of violent crime

with all the damage that it does

is alcohol related,
there is no case.

We must do something about this.

So in terms of economic costs,
what are we looking at here?

Alcohol costs this country 21
billion pounds every year.

That's the best
estimate we have

it's the one with the clearest
evidence base behind it,

but it's not perfect, and others
have estimated it's higher.

And that's broken down into
the cost of crime itself,

lack of productivity
and NHS costs.

In 2011, we had 1.2 million
hospital admissions

related directly to
alcohol in the UK

and that's an increase
in the last ten years

of about a hundred and
thirty five percent.

I mean, this situation
that we are in

at the moment is
absolutely horrendous.

If we don't literally
address this right now,

I wouldn't like to think of
where we are going to be.

APPLAUSE

Whenever a person
in the public eye

comes out and tells the world
they are in recovery,

it inspires thousands of people

to try and do the same thing.

I am therefore delighted
to nervously introduce

Russell Brand to you.

APPLAUSE

Hello Everyone, I'm Russell
and I'm an addict.

LAUGHING

I did that to weed
out other addicts.

Who here is prepared
to admit

to having a drug or
alcohol problem?

Oh fucking hell, I'm gonna
rinse this. It will be a doddle.

I'm not here as a famous person

or a celebrity or anything,

I am here as a drug addict.

As a famous drug addict
I can raise attention

I'm a professional
attention seeker, I do it

to a professional standard.

I've been highly paid
for attention seeking.

But I'm here today

Chip never fails to remind me

that I am a bog
standard drug addict.

Nothing special,

unusual, different, or unique
about my drug addiction.

I'm a very ordinary drug addict.

In fact when I first met Chip,

about eleven and a
half years ago now

I'm about eleven years clean.

I remember his words.

He was very condemnatory
and casually callous

and I remember being sort
of vaguely offended.

He said 'oh, you're a
complete garbage head.

If you don't stop
taking drugs now,

you'll be dead, in prison,
or in a lunatic asylum,

within six months'.

I thought, 'fuck me that's a
heavy verdict from this guy'.

But I still didn't think
'oh I'd better stop then'.

I just thought 'Oh no.'

I just felt a bit desperate.

I was hoping to go
on holiday.

LAUGHING

I drank initially because
I used to feel nervous.

I didn't like the taste
of booze at first.

Then I realised, 'oh my god it
makes me super confident'

it sort of gave me
another identity.

I've never been any
good at modulating,

moderating or
controlling things,

so I'd drink real cheap
booze from the off license,

like a seven quid
bottle of white rum

or some dodgy tequila, and
sip it throughout the day

and once in a while if I had
a particularly challenging

obstacle ahead, I'd
drink a whole bottle of it.

In a kind of stupor.

My mates here,
Sharon and Martino,

both knew me at that
time and I remember

a journey from Martino's
house in Rome

to Sharon who was meeting me
at Stansted Airport that day.

I nicked a litre of vodka
from duty free in Rome,

drank it, and it's
only a two hour flight,

by the time I arrived I was
like a giddy delirious idiot.

Sharon reminds me that
the security guard said

'can you keep your
monkey under control.'

I was in a right state.

You can really mess yourself up
with that legal drug alcohol.

It is a serious problem.

If you're drinking excessively

it's going to create
problems for yourself,

in the short term, the long
term, the medium term.

It's a problematic substance,

unless you got no proclivity
towards addiction at all.

That's something you need to be
aware of. That's my experience.

The only community I've ever

really felt
actually a part of,

not outside of, is the community
of drug addicts and alcoholics.

At school I didn't
feel like I fitted in.

I didn't feel like I
fitted in anywhere.

I'm an only child from
a single mother and

I didn't feel like
I fitted in my family.

It's only one other
fucking person.

It's hard to develop an
identity as an outsider

under
those conditions.

I wasn't a recreational drug
user, not from the get go.

For me it was medicinal from the
first ever time I took drugs.

I was unhappy, I was miserable,

I felt lost, I felt alone and if
anyone could offer me anything

that would deal with that
feeling I'd have it.

When I was a kid
chocolate biscuits,

when I was an adolescent
pornography,

when someone came along with
drugs, I'd take it. I'd do it.

And I believe that for we
drug addicts and alcoholics,

we've got a spiritual
craving, a yearning

and we don't have the
language, the code

to express that in our society.

But the feeling won't go away
so you gotta nullify it,

anaesthetize it somehow.
I can't live with it.

I can't be alive

unless I'm living in love and
community with other people,

I can't cope with it.

My only other option
is to take drugs.

Because the feelings behind my
drug use and my alcoholism,

they haven't gone nowhere.

Some drugs are great fun, all
drugs can be fun used correctly.

Like booze as well.

It does a lovely job on
occasions, loosening people up,

but when there are
social conditions

like we have currently,

where there's a kind of
an economic deprivation,

and where there is no moral or
spiritual centre to our life,

I think it's really
easy for all drugs

to play too a significant
a role in a culture,

and I think that's happened
with booze in this country.

MUSIC

When I see bankers
taking people's money

and doing exactly what
they want with it,

and when they're in trouble
we bail them out.

Are you for real?!

We could start by shooting
all the bankers,

hanging all
the politicians.

A socialist society has got
to be better than this.

ROCK BAND PLAYS 'GOD
SAVE THE QUEEN'

Fuck the Tories, fuck
Margret Thatcher

and I look forward to
her being worm food.

ROCK BAND PLAYS 'GOD
SAVE THE QUEEN'

You are a hideous disgusting
excuse for a human being

and I'm so glad you're dead....
cheers.

In a society where people
are feeling lost, hopeless,

disenfranchised

then they are going to
turn to alternative ways

of dealing with it and

you can either choose drugs
or you can choose alcohol.

So when stuff in our
life get too much

we just turn to alcohol because
it's so easy to do that.

Even small amounts of alcohol

may provide an illusion
of relaxation,

the person usually feels
confident everything is alright.

Our government, has done
it's best to curtail

people's access to any
other forms of drug.

That's something that
needs to be understood

right from the beginning

alcohol is a drug, as is
Marijuana, as is coffee.

But it's a question
of having a look

at which are most constructive

and which are most detrimental.

Most of the information and the
facts that I know about alcohol

have come mainly
from Professor Nutt.

As he said in the BBC news,
alcohol is more harmful

than heroin or crack

when the overall dangers
to the individual

and society are considered

according to the
study in the Lancet.

So heroin is not dangerous?

Of course heroin is dangerous,

I wouldn't recommend
anyone to take it!

The media tend to take
a very sensationalist

and hysterical view about drugs.

- You've compared the dangers
of ecstasy to horse riding.

You haven't read the
paper have you?

Notorious drugs gangs.

Ecstasy and Speed.

Illegal drugs.

Drugs, drugs, drugs,
drugs, drugs.

Shoot the drugs!

So a few years ago
I started to get

interested in the
relative harms of drugs.

Why are some drugs legal
and some illegal?

And we pulled together
an expert panel,

and we used a new technique

called Multi criteria
Decision Analysis,

which looks at all the kinds
of harms a drug can do

whether it can kill
you when you take it,

to whether it actually causes
environmental problems.

We discovered there were
sixteen separate harms

and we ranked all the
drugs on those harms,

and then we weighted the harms.

And amazingly out of
that, to my surprise,

alcohol came top.

Alcohol is the most
harmful drug in the UK.

When you look at
the reasons for that,

you see that it's because
of the social harms.

The harms due to health costs,
due to traffic accidents,

due to violence in the streets,
and domestic violence

those are the things
that make alcohol

in the UK the most harmful drug.

- Anybody that fools around
with this, adult or minor,

is playing with dynamite.

The drug laws do not
reflect the science,

they do not reflect the harms.

Therefore they are wrong, i.e.
they are unjust.

Promoting that statement
to society is

a necessary thing because
unjust laws are bad laws.

What I've discovered was
that the government

did not want that message.

As I was promoting this
rational approach,

the politicians where saying

'this cuts right against the way
we want to portray the world'

and eventually they got
irritated and sacked me.

Do you stand by what you said
in 2009 that got you sacked?

Well yes I do. And since then
I've realised there have been

greater problems as a
result of some of the

failure to be
logical about drugs.

- It sort of implied
that governments

can do whatever they
like with scientists.

If they don't like the evidence,

they get rid of the scientists,
shoot the messenger.

Science is critical to defining
the scale of the problem

and finding solutions.

So if you're gonna
get rid of people

who say things you don't like,

you will most certainly
make the situation worse.

He hadn't done his homework.

It's those same weasel
words he's sticking to.

They even bought and
paid for his leadership.

Once again the Prime Minister
doesn't know his facts.

I'd suggest a different
line of questioning.

The question has been asked.
Let's hear the answer.

Thank you Mr Speaker,

I know the Prime
Minister will want

to thank all those
fantastic NHS staff

who are rolling up their sleeves
and doing everything they can

to reduce avoidable
early deaths.

They're asking the PM
for Minimum Unit Pricing

in order to help
them do their job

and stop people falling into
addiction in the first place.

Minimum Pricing is sitting
nervously on death row,

will the Prime Minister
give it a reprieve,

at least until we
know the outcome

from the Sheffield report
and the Scottish courts?

What we will be able to
introduce is something

the last government never did,

which is to say it should
be illegal to sell alcohol

below the price
of duty plus VAT.

That is something in all the
binge drinking problems

we had under Labour, they
never managed to do.

My Lords,

Minimum Unit Pricing will not
be taken forward at present

but it will remain a policy
under consideration.

I think Minimum Unit Pricing
is a big part of the answer.

So said David Cameron last year,

but when it comes to tackling
cheap booze in England and Wales

it seems he doesn't
have the support

he thought he had.

It's political suicide
to start talking

about raising alcohol prices

and I think when Cameron
came out in favour...

in fact, announced that
this was going to happen,

it was quite a surprise
for a lot of people.

The Government's own
department in 2008

showed that increasing
the price of alcohol

led to a step decline in
alcohol consumption and

was the most effective
way of managing it.

Why then has the Government
changed it's mind?

It announced its intention
to increase alcohol pricing

that was widely welcomed.

Why does it ignore
the evidence

on something which
is very urgent

and which can save lives,
reduce hospital admissions

and reduce crime?

- What's happened to
it since then is

a fairly familiar tale of

what happens to
Government policies when

they run up against
powerful interests

that don't want them to happen.

And what you have is

who's got the most
powerful lobbyists

and how do they get their way?

It was interesting why
there was so much

opposition to Minimum Pricing.

I feel that there's a lot
more questions to be asked

than just the simple thing
of Minimum Pricing.

The young people who
go out every weekend

think nothing of spending
50 pounds or 100 pounds

with taxies and drink
and everything else.

This is an anti competitive
suggestion

which is only going to hurt
the legitimate consumers.

There is an evidence base
that Minimum Pricing works.

I mean, come on!
It's quite obvious.

So, countries where
it's happened

Canada is the most
recent example

see a huge improvement.

The Libertarian argument
about Minimum Pricing,

which is that people
should be free to choose

is sort of taken
away,

or mitigated by the
fact that with alcohol,

people drink and the harm they
do is not just to themselves,

it's to others.

SCREECHING TYRES

CRASH

Well, there's the
result

just another victim
of a drunk driver.

Part of the problem with alcohol
is our drug policy drives up use

alcohol is too
liberally available.

And the other drugs
are too constrained.

My personal opinion
on having drugs

illegal at this
point in history,

is it's a Medieval mentality

practised by
Medieval politicians

to punish an entire
class of people.

I don't have a great deal of
faith in Parliamentary politics,

so I went to speak to the
Home Office Select Committee.

Hello.

Hello.

Good morning Mr Brand,
please have a seat.

Whether or not it had an
impact, me talking at the

Home Office Select
Committee I would doubt it.

I think these things are about
display more than function.

For me, what's more
significant, is the way

that we socially regard the
condition of addiction.

It's something that I
consider to be an illness

and therefore more
a health matter

than a criminal or
judicial matter.

And drug addicts don't give a
shit if drugs are illegal.

It doesn't slow
the process down.

No one's ever going 'Oh No!'

Being arrested isn't a lesson,

it's just an
administrative blip.

You need to demonstrate an
awareness of the situation

or you seem like you don't know
what you're talking about.

- But the victims of crime...

We've talked about them!

You can tell what party they're
in by their questions, innit.

'What about the victims
of the crime!'.

The Government likes alcohol.

It likes the tax
benefits of alcohol,

it likes to essentially
continue with this image

that alcohol is a safe
drug if used responsibly,

and it likes looking
tough on other drugs

because that fits into
this sort of attitude

that politicians are strong
and can make hard decisions.

It's one of the great
public health scandals

of the last century, that we
do not properly take account

of what's happening in terms
of alcohol and health damage.

The singer Amy Winehouse has
been found dead at her flat,

the 27 year old discovered
at her property in North London

by emergency services,
at around six...

- We knew she
was an alcoholic.

She'd been in rehab, her
family knew about her problem

they tried to help her.

Why did the British
public refuse to believe

that a women we saw as a
walking train wreck for years,

that she did of alcoholism, 'Oh
no she must have died of drugs'.

I'd been banging on

that she hadn't taken
drugs for three years,

and everyone thought
I was in denial.

I wasn't in denial, she
hadn't taken drugs.

She was a tiny, tiny little girl

who drank like George Best
on a stag night every night.

Of course she died of
alcohol poisoning

but we don't want to see it

because it's too frightening.

We should be telling people
how dangerous alcohol is,

and we should be using
examples like her.

Like they say a lot don't they,
that anyone can get clean

and that actually
is really hard.

The first time
someone said to me

'try to get to bed tonight
without drinking or using',

I was like 'What?! What do
you mean? It's seven o'clock,

there's too much day
left for that amount

of consciousness and awakeness.

MUSIC

It's a strong drinking culture.

I think it's sort of expected,
it's almost a rights of passage

getting older,
your first pint.

I think it's something
you're expected to do,

and I think if you don't drink
you're outside of the norm.

FIREWORKS

Happy New Year!

Fucking drop it into
2k 14 in style!

It is incredibly entrenched.

The baby is born and you
wet the baby's head...

the eighteenth birthday party.

It's part of life, it's
part of everything.

It's so bound up.

It's a bit like the nuclear
bomb, we've got it,

we are where we are.

But that doesn't mean we
shouldn't ask questions about it

and ask 'why are we here, and
is it the right place to be?'.

I was trying to buy an
eighteenth birthday card

for a relative of
mine for last year,

that did not mention
drunkenness and alcohol,

and I had to look at
twenty five cards

before I eventually found
one that was alcohol free.

And that sums it up.

We get wasted when
we're happy,

we get wasted because
we're bored,

we get wasted because
we are excited, sad,

celebrating,
getting married or divorced,

because someone was born,
because someone died.

He turned water into wine,

it was important to Jesus
that the ceremony went well,

and that guests had
enough alcohol to drink.

Well these guests don't seem to
be having any trouble with that.

This guy's got loads of alcohol.

The groom is drinking,

and so is the bride.

And him.

And her.

And that old man over there.

Oh wait, its time for the
speeches! Shush be quiet.

I think I was less successful
in convincing Lucy

that she wouldn't need

half a bottle of
champagne this morning,

at home, before the
church service.

I s'pose I should blame myself

for turning you into
something of an alchie,

stumbling into the gutter on
the way home from your local.

I'm absolutely desperate
for a proper drink.

We always get there
eventually... the pub that is.

Keep your eyes set on that
goal, the great pub of life.

When in doubt or
times of stress,

find comfort in the
bottom of a wine glass.

Cheers!

- Yes, some real
good advice there.

It's almost like this day
was based around alcohol

and getting as
drunk as possible.

Are you really going
to that wedding

to watch Jack and Jill get
married? No, you're not.

You're actually going because
you think you have a free bar.

It's not about the
ceremony at all,

it's all about what's going
to happen afterwards.

For several millennia, the
Christian church has used wine

as a symbol of the
blood of Christ.

So it's part of
what is I suppose

the major defining social
cohesive group,

the church.

I often wondered what happened
to alcoholics who were Catholic,

who had to go and
have a sip of wine.

There wasn't an alcohol free...

so I think there is
something there.

Alcohol is not evil which the
bible doesn't teach that it is.

A Christian
taking some wine

or alcoholic drink
is quite legitimate,

as long as they are moderate
and self controlled.

I think religion has a very big
influence over people's lives.

So with that in
mind

and all the references
to alcohol in the Bible,

do you think Christianity
plays a role

in the UK's
alcohol problem?

Yeah alcohol in Christianity

is a little bit of a
controversial subject

but I don't think it
is anything to do with

Christianity in the UK.

You could go to America where

Christianity is
quite prevalent and

you don't have the
same problems there.

It's something to do with the
mind set that we have here.

A lot of youngsters
that I talk to,

especially here in our city
and around our community,

have no aspirations, no visions,

nothing to aim for,

and their lives seem
hollow and empty,

and they try to fill that
void with all sorts and

it's drugs, it's sex
and it's alcohol.

MUSIC

We live in a culture now where

in many other walks of life,

we're expected to
consume excessively.

We're told consumption's
a good thing

and we're supposed
to desire things,

especially when they're cheap
and pleasurable.

There's so much evidence of
the psychological effects

of exposure to advertising
of branded goods

which give you a sense of
what it is to be an adult,

or a sophisticated individual.

I think it impacts on young
people's attitudes to themselves

and their self esteem.

I think one of the most
insidious changes we've seen

in the last twenty years

is the way the drinks
industry has

tried to get to it's consumers
younger and younger.

So the invention of alcopops,
the marketing of alcopops

by the alcohol industry to
attract a new type of drinker.

Designed specifically at
getting young people,

particularly girls, into
alcohol in their teens.

It's in the streets, next to
schools, on our televisions.

It's advertised around sports.

Gerrard! He's got it!

Oh Steven Gerrard!

We know that it does get
through to young people.

We recently did a study of
ten and eleven year olds

and asked them to
recognise different

types of brands and logos,

and ninety five percent of
the ten and eleven year olds

recognised Fosters
and Stella Artois,

but they didn't recognise
cake and ice cream brands.

Even we at alcohol concern were
surprised by those results.

I just see a pattern
where in countries

where advertising's banned

and the advertising industry
behaves more responsibly

in the marketing of goods,

young peoples lives are
less commercialised,

they're less exposed
to those influences

and they tend to behave in
a more responsible way,

with regards to alcohol,
consumerism, and other products.

FRENCH ADVERT

In France, you're allowed to
advertise alcohol products

but you can't have
all of the imagery

and exotic nature
surrounding the advert.

You can advertise on the basis
of what's in the product,

where the product was made,

and the strength of the product.

But you can't have a story
line and characters

and they also don't have alcohol
sponsors of sporting events.

So the Heineken cup in
France is called the 'H Cup'

and we think something similar
should happen in Britain.

SPORTING CROWD AMBIENCE

Let's go fucking
mental, la la la la!

Your point is to stop
drugs and alcoholism

by people
never starting?

You two believe in this
fantasy of addiction

in which
people lose...

- Fantasy of addiction?

Oh a complete fantasy,
in which people

lose all power over
themselves and

become victims of this
terrible, frightening disease.

I'm a person that if I
have a drink I can't stop,

and so if I follow your ideology
I'm choosing to do that?

That I'm choosing...

- That's exactly my, not my
ideology it's my belief yes.

You do choose.

It's an obsession of your mind
and an allergy of your body,

so this is what happens to me,
I start thinking about alcohol,

I can't stop
thinking about it.

- What's the objective physical
proof of this inability to stop?

I think it's very difficult
for people who aren't alcoholic

or don't have a
problem with alcohol

to see what it's like
to be an alcoholic.

It just looks stupid, it
looks ridiculous. It's like

'just stop it'.

It won't happen to everybody, it
happens to a minority of people.

I think that is why
it's difficult

for people it doesn't happen to
to get their heads round it.

I have an obsession of the
mind that compels me to drink,

and when I do drink I have a
physical allergic reaction

which manifests itself in
the phenomenon of craving.

I was a cheat, I was a
liar, I was a thief.

I was full of resentments
and I was full of fear.

If you are the person
who is dependent,

who has to wake up every morning

and your first thought is

'I feel ill,

I feel shaky,

and I know what will work
is if I have some alcohol

I will immediately feel better'.

That's in some ways quite
a simple existence,

but it's really frightening.

People who you might imagine
are pillars of society

are often hiding all
sorts of stories.

The only way we can
even get a hint of that

is in the kind of confessional,

either of the church
or the therapy room.

Images like this have become
synonymous with our country.

But there's a whole other side

to alcohol abuse
that we don't see.

SIGH

Fucking hell man.

This is my uncle John.

So I'm probably an alcoholic.

Probably.

Yeah I've got a bit
here, but that's it.

It's just a sip.

What is that? Is that whisky?

That's whisky yes.

Do you want some?

No.

LAUGHING

OK, no problem.

I used to drink wine and beer

and all kinds of
fucking rubbish.

But I don't anymore, I drink
just a little bit of whisky,

that's all.

But I'm just a sipper,

I'm not a swigger.

I just sip,

you can see

I've hardly touched it.

Whether he sips it or not,

he gets through two bottles
of whisky every day.

This comes to about
eighty units of alcohol,

which is twenty six times his
recommended daily limit.

He's been diagnosed with
Wernicke's Encephalopathy,

also known as 'The
Disease of Alcoholics'.

It affects me in many ways,

I haven't left the house

in more than six months.

I can't.

I can't even get to the
corner shops these days.

All right, so...
Yeah, Yeah, I, I've...

I don't wear shoes anymore,

there's no point.

Maria, my wife has to go out
and do all the shopping.

And my son...

COUGHING

has to go to school by himself.

But that's OK. It's working.

Everything's working.

What, so sometimes
he's better than this,

and sometimes he's worse?

So how long have you
been like this?

God.

COUGHS

Quite a long time,

quite a long time.

I would say about maybe a year.

I just fucking lost
all comprehension

of everything.

Maria would come
in with some food,

which meant nothing.

I didn't understand it.

I'd look at it

and I'd have not a clue

what I was supposed
to do with it.

I could still drink some whisky,

that was OK.

But I couldn't understand food

at all.

I couldn't understand anything.

So you didn't eat for
quite a long time?

Yes, a very long time.

Do you eat now?

I'm trying.

Trying to force feed myself,

trying to learn how to

eat again.

Here you are!
- Here we are, yes.

John, are you going
to come eat with us?

No, I'm OK. I've
got some whisky.

I couldn't fucking
figure it out,

I had no idea what the
hell was going on,

and that's when I
went to the hospital.

To Liverpool hospital.

God it was horrible.

How long where you there for?

Nine days.

They found a little
bit of brain damage,

not much.

Then one of the nurses said

'everything you've
taken in your life

has caught up with you',

which I personally
don't believe.

It's some kind of

God knows what.

SPITS

Urm...

Christ...

It was a...

COUGHING

fucking hell... I can't remember

what it's called.

What happened to your face?

Last night,

I had a fall in the bathroom,

a bad one,

fucking blood everywhere.

I've broken my nose,

which is OK, it's straight

so that will heal by itself.

COUGHING

So I'm not worried about that.

I'm starting to get a bit
drunk, so that helps.

That helps does it?

Yes, it does.

I spend most of my time in bed,

in here.

I'm living down here in bed

so I can get to the bathroom,

because I have to go about
twenty times a day.

Sometimes it's not possible
to get to the bathroom.

That's pretty difficult.

I normally wear,

not jeans but...

bathroom...

what do you call them?

Pyjamas?

Pyjamas, yes.

That's what I normally wear,

because it can fall through

onto the floor and then
I can clean it up,

which is not very nice.

You know, having to do
a shit on the floor

is not that easy,

but I'm sort of
getting used to it.

Just poo comes down here.

How does Patrick feel
about your drinking?

Err...

Err...

Err...

nothing.

I don't know, I
really don't know.

Ouch. This is really hurting.

Do you think you'll
ever get better?

I don't know,

I really don't know.

I have no idea.

It doesn't look good.

I really don't think
it looks good...

MUSIC

My uncle hasn't always
been like this.

This was the first time I'd
see him in three years

and it was shocking to see
how much he had changed,

but for me the most
disturbing thing of all

is the lack of treatment
available for people like him.

Access to treatment
is a huge issue.

Compared to drug treatment,
alcohol is way down the list.

Well this is a political
issue really.

I think the Government has
focused on opiate users

heroin, cocaine and that
sort of class of drugs.

I think there's a
real stigma still

in accessing treatment
for alcohol.

It's still perceived to be
something to be ashamed of,

something that people are
afraid to admit to themselves

and to others that
they've got a problem.

- About 1.6 million people in
England are alcohol dependent,

yet only about 6
percent of people

with an alcohol
dependency problem

are receiving treatment.

That's not because the other
ninety four percent of people

don't want to receive it

there is very little alcohol
treatment available.

In this town, and its
only a small market town,

there is us who deal with
drug and alcohol problems.

Next door there's a sort of
drop in, fuck about, play pool,

don't change your drug use,
come in and do something,

load of bollocks.

But there is that
facility

which is being funded by the
Government... for drug problems.

There's a Methadone
distribution centre,

where you can get
your Methadone script

and various other
bits and pieces,

which is staffed by
about twelve people,

which is managed at county level
by the local drug action team.

For alcohol, there is one person
that works up the road there.

Actually, I think
there's two now.

And they deal with the entire
alcohol problem of the county.

It's ridiculous.

But for drugs, which isn't
even half of the problem!

Thousands of people die
of alcoholism, thousands.

Hundreds die from
drug dependency

but we've invested
everything in drugs.

APPLAUSE

It's really nice to
see you all here,

for what is a celebration
of recovery and

I suppose the one reassuring
thing is that we are still here.

A lot of rehabs have closed

one called ARA,

which had been around for
twenty years closed last week,

and small independent rehabs are
closing very rapidly indeed.

So it's getting
harder and harder,

and those people who have
been funded through treatment

you are getting
luckier and luckier,

because it's becoming
something that's

gonna be very difficult
to do in the future.

Focus12 taught me
to ask for help,

and to not be ashamed.

It doesn't make
you a bad person,

it makes you a stronger person

by having the strength
to ask 'I need help'

and to be able to do that.

You know the last
rehab I went to

they were tucking me up in
bed, reading me a bed time story

it didn't make sense.

But at Focus12, there's
something unique

about what Chip has formed
in that treatment centre

that just seems to work.

They just made me believe
that I can do it.

90 percent of the counsellors
have been through it themselves.

There's just something about
Chip, he is very persuasive.

He will look you in the eyes and
say 'I did it. You can do this'.

What you have all independently
achieved is an incredible thing

and the more people
you tell the better.

Having had a previous
experience of alcoholism

is incredibly important
in this work.

This is a condition
that responds

very well to being treated

by somebody who has
had the condition.

I wanted to use
every single day,

and I don't think there was
a day in eighteen years

when I willingly
went without a drug.

There were days when I did

because I was locked
up in a prison cell

or police custody or
something like that,

but never willingly.

Anecdotally, Chip was
an armed robber,

in and out of nick
all the time

I hope you don't mind
me telling them this...

What's interesting when
you see Chip and Noreen,

people who seem
immensely capable,

and who have had an incredible
impact on countless drug addicts

and alcoholics, is when we
listen to their stories,

both of them were fucking
hardcore nutters weren't they?

Chip sometimes, when he
reminds me of his using,

I always think

'remember to include that
when you take his advice

that you're listening
to a mad man'.

I have been put in front of
psychiatrists, psychologists,

probation officers, various
drug workers, alcohol workers

all these people, and there was
always a part of me that felt

you don't really
understand what it's like

to live on the street.

You don't understand what
it's like finding somewhere

to sleep every night.

You don't understand that
you've got to steal sometimes,

you don't get that at all.

So being able to talk to
somebody who you knew

had that experience, made being
open and honest about it easier,

because you knew you weren't
going to get judgement back,

you were going to get somebody
having empathy for you.

- You don't feel as weird or

as ostracised by
society when you're

surrounded by
like minded junkies.

Before I was at Focus,
my life was absolute hell.

I had an awful
childhood growing up.

I grew up in a family
full of addicts,

it just seemed like the
normal thing to me.

Focus has completely changed my
life and I'm ever so grateful.

I'm grateful to Chip. Thank You.

APPLAUSE

There is still a perception in
this country that an alcoholic

stereotypically sits on a
park bench in a dirty mac,

and just sort of mumbles
hysterically into their beard.

Crazy drunk drivers.

I hate the term 'functioning
alcoholic', but I was one.

I had a good job, lovely house,
lovely kids, lovely wife...

but I was an
alcoholic,

I couldn't do without
a drink everyday.

Ironically, I gleamed some
form of success in my career,

but by that stage I was already
a full blown alcoholic.

I lost everything
my marbles, everything,

I ended up in a hostel, had this
tooth knocked out by someone

because I asked them to
turn their music down.

I was picking up butts
off the street.

I was picking some butts off the
street around Oval station.

I had this trick of bending
down, tying up my shoelaces

and picking a butt up
and pocketing it,

and doing the same trick because
everyone was passing by.

I had just picked a butt up
and put it in my pocket...

and I was still quite
presentable in a way,

and somebody said 'Oh excuse
me'. I went 'oh hello'

and thought 'oh fuck they've
seen me pick up a butt',

and he went ' are you the
guy in The Office, and I went

'oh yeah'.

Well if he doesn't mind
us laughing at him

what harm's been done?

I went through this whole
game of shaking his hand

and I just thought 'oh my
God, if he knew the truth'.

Do I look like an alcoholic?
God no.

Do I look like I'm
recovering from alcoholism?

Probably not actually,

but what are we waiting for?
Who the hell does?

If I don't look like an
alcoholic who the hell does?

Who are we waiting for?

Who is it that's got the
big sandwich board saying

'party time'?

Nobody looks like that.

It's delusions like that that
we have to cut through.

- We use terms like
'regular drinker'

when we mean 'alcoholic',
we always try

to minimize the possible

understanding of the
harms of alcohol,

while we maximize our perception
of harms of other drugs.

When I talk about the person I
was when I was an alcoholic,

it feels like I am talking
about a different person.

The life I have now compared to
the life I had while drinking

is incomparable.

I don't look the same,

I don't recognise myself
when I see photos.

Everything about my life
has changed so much.

I'm very happy now,
life is bigger.

I see things now, I
experience things.

I have interests which
aren't inside of a pub.

The personal transformation
that I've undergone

from being a hopeless, hapless,
ridiculous drug addict

with no future, no chance,
and no hope, to being

an equal, valid member
of this community

is perhaps something
we can spread.

You all know what it was like
when you were out there using.

Even those of you who
aren't junkies or drunks,

you know people that are,
and it seems desperate,

it seems hopeless.

It's horrible when
someone in your life

is suffering from
this disease.

There doesn't seem
like a way out.

Well there is, through the
practice of certain principles,

and the support
of other addicts,

there's a way out of it.

I ended up coming to
Alcoholics Anonymous.

I saw guys in their teens, I
saw girls in their teens,

in their twenties,
their thirties,

men and women from
all walks of life,

and these guys seem
to have a solution

and I was attracted
to what I saw.

I don't know why I'm an
alcoholic but it's not relevant.

The thing that is relevant
is that I found a solution.

I know that my story
isn't unusual at all,

because I set a website up and I

talked about the really grim,
horrible things that happened

to me in an average
day, and it went crazy.

It went insane.

I had emails from

places I've never been,
people I've never seen

saying 'that's how I feel'.

I'm shocked by the
21 year old girls

who email me,
and boys saying

'I've been an alcoholic 5
years, my parents don't know,

I live at home'.

I'm shocked by the 22 year old
girl that says to me

'this is my third go in rehab.

I'm gonna die but my parents
aren't taking it seriously'.

I always think 'oh nothings
going to shock me today',

and then I hear another story.

We're facilitating alcoholism,

we're killing our children,
we're killing our young people,

and it's fine

because for one person to
admit they have a problem,

is for everyone to admit that

we all have a bit
of a problem.

It's crazy we're
in such denial

when it's
all around us.

The UK is not alone when it
comes to problems with alcohol.

But there is something
about British culture

that seems to foster illogical
attitudes to drinking.

- I think drinking
in this country

is seen as something
that's very humorous.

The first time I
got drunk,

I was nine at a
new years party.

My relatives just
thought it was funny.

LAUGHING

It's become a cultural
thing now you know

'lets go out and get pissed'.

INCOHERENT CHANTING

There's a lot of pent up
aggression in people,

and it's a way of
releasing it isn't it?

Oh she fell over, she's been
drinking way more than us.

- The damage alcohol does to
British society is immense.

It's the biggest public
health disaster we face.

SIRENS

I think there are a
particular group of factors

about the UK that aren't
instantly linked, but

when put together you kind of

understand why we
are where we are.

A large part of it is actually
to the British stiff upper lip

not talking about
our feelings.

We're not taught to
open up and just cry...

or hug your dad!

Or show your emotions.
It's all kept in,

and the only way to release it
is through drink and drugs.

SHOUTING

To me I think a lot of
it has a lot to do

with that British
attitude to life

to Britishness. And that
strength and that steel.

- This is England, the
mighty powerful Britannia.

We're so proud, Britannia
rules the waves.

If there's a pre existing
emotional or spiritual condition

like if you're a bit unhappy,

alcohol can easily be seen as
something to fill that gap.

- I think that we're bored.
I think we're depressed.

I think we're
scared, and I think

as a nation we're medicating.

If you looked at
the British media

you would get
the impression

that drunkenness is
completely unacceptable.

We're obsessed with
how awful it is,

and youth anti social
behaviour is a major focus.

But I would say that by focusing
on it, we have glamorised it.

Current policy in Britain seems
to be largely the strapline

'drink responsibly'.

Yet everyone knows that
alcohol takes away

that sense of responsibility.

- It's embarrassing if anyone
really believes that's a policy.

Until we take on
the drink industry

and their vested interests

we will not see the problem
resolved the way we need it.

- Who in this room would
like to see prohibition?

Were we suddenly
to remove alcohol,

there would be an
awful lot of people

who would be
really struggling.

Prohibition in the United
States created more

death and murder in
American history

than at any time other
than the civil war,

so prohibition is
certainly not the answer.

A lot of people are
just stupid.

Put some antibiotics in the
water, get rid of it all.

It's not going to go away.

We have a love
affair with alcohol.

Alcohol is a lubricant. It's
like the blood in our veins.

Drinking is absolutely
embedded in culture.

It's kind of everywhere.
It's part of our religion.

It sounds silly but I think
weather is a big part of it.

There is often bad weather
and people socialise inside.

There was a time where
the pub was probably

the only place on the
street that was warm...

...and that had amenities

that you would associate
with socialisation.

Greater state intervention,
higher taxes,

more commercial restrictions

do not address the societal
attitudes that we must alter.

We aren't teaching our kids how
to be responsible around alcohol

because we aren't
responsible around alcohol.

Who's going to teach us?

- I think the way forward
is one of education,

to help people understand the
damage caused by alcohol.

I think there's a lot more
that we could be doing

in honestly educating
people about drugs.

It's no good just
going into schools

saying 'drugs are
bad, stop it'.

People seem to need
to take drugs and drink

one way or another.

We need to provide these people
the support that they need.

It's one of the easiest
areas to cut funding,

and no politician is
going to stand up

and propose for greater care
of the addicts and alcoholics

in this country.

We can't be judgemental,
we can't be pejorative,

we shouldn't be punitive.

Until we have a compassionate,
empathetic approach

we won't solve the problem.

- That's enough, it is enough
now for us to say stop.

If anybody could come
up with a solution,

you'd be a millionaire.

How many more people
need to end up

like my uncle?

How many more
people need to die?

Britain has an alcohol problem,

but what's it going to
take for us to admit it?

To put down that bottle,

to wake up,

without a hangover.