Current Issue in Hospitality - Essay Example

Running Head: CURRENT ISSUE IN HOSPITALITY Current Issue in Hospitality s Current Issue in Hospitality Introduction By changing the drinking age society will have fewer problems with underage drinking, and young adults will have fewer problems with underage drinking. Additionally, this law remains unfair to these young adults who have all the other responsibilities of being an adult, yet don't have the privilege of drinking. With the legal age currently at 21, many downsides are being seen and many people are beginning to question the practice of this law. Drinking alcohol under age is often seen as rebelliousness which could be the cause of many of the teenagers drinking more than would be consumed if it was legal. Also many of the problems regarding alcohol use around colleges would be solved because of being able to better regulate alcohol consumption if alcohol were a legal substance for that age (Grube 2001 p5). Also if the drinking age were lowered it would allow the 18-20 age groups to be able to learn to drink more responsibly and in more controlled environments rather than garages, college dorms or while driving in cars. Analysis Parliament The issue of rising the age of drinking seems to be on the top of the agenda of the political circle and the government as the houses of Parliament are at present debating on an amendment in the law regarding the alcohol consumption and sale. The proposal put forth is regarding the increase in the drinking age from 18 years to 21 years of age. A lot of people believe that the raising the age for alcohol consumption would not be just , moreover whilst failing to handle the issue of under age drinking, could result in even more problems for those who are between the age of 18 and 21 9 (Malcolm & Caroline 2004 p14). However, a U.K government official said rising the drinking age would not solve the problem of adolescent alcohol abuse. "People are getting hold of alcohol under 18. If we rise the age to 21 it's not going to stop people managing to get hold of alcohol," said Meg Hillier, a minister with Great Britain's Home Office. "We have this attitude that it's ok to go out and get plastered, publicly and privately. It's not something that government or legislation or the police alone can solve; it's much more of an attitude in society. In the end, the buck will stop with parents."(http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/call-for-21-drinking-age-in.html) How can one debate on the issue that an individual who is 18 years old is old enough to Smoke, care for a minor , pay all taxes which are to be paid , get a license for a gun or to drive automobile , however they are not the right age as yet to purchase alcohol. The government's reason behind wanting to rise the age of drinking is that, in UK about one fifth of children whose ages are between 11 -15 years consume alcohol approximately once a week (Plant & Plant 1992 p 10). Government on may 5th promised "radical" measures to tackle the nation's damaging relationship with alcohol .A long-term strategy on alcohol misuse is due to be published shortly and is expected to contain significant plans to cut alcohol-related harm. But it is not clear if the measures will go as far as some campaigners would like, such as reducing the availability of alcohol and rising the buying age from 18 to 21. (news.scotsman.com/latestnews/39Radical-measures39) The Government as well as retailers of alcohol, are working together to make rule even more stricter sales of alcohol both sides signed a agreement, which was based on a plan to encourage sensible drinking and responsible retailing with the realm of license trade. As the most important alcohol retailers in the UK, the six top supermarkets of Britain are working with the Government in order to handle the issue of underage drinking. Retailers seem eager to promote their attitude of socially responsibility in order to improve their public image, after the numerous attacks by the British press regarding the increasing power and danger to the British High Street. The government and retailers have raised the existing UK fines and penalties intended for selling alcohol to children is set at a maximum of only 5,000 pounds (7,000) (Plant & Plant 2006 p 13). According to the Government's new alcohol strategy 'Safe, Sensible, Social', 30% of young men and 22% of young women aged 16-24 drink at a harmful level ; while 44% of young people aged 16-24 are more likely to binge drink than any other age group. As well as having an adverse effect on young people's health, there are also strong links between alcohol consumption and other risk factors such as teenage pregnancy, youth offending, and exclusion. (http://www.drinkawaretrust.org.uk/drink-aware-trust/news/uk-youth-and-drinkaware-launch-new-programme-to-combat-teenage-alcohol-misuse.html) In order for this to be successful will be a shared responsibility of all the departments of the Government. For this to work out Home Office Ministers and the Department of Health will have to lead the way. The strategy unit of the Prime Minister was specially made to create a strategy for alcohol reduction in England, with the cooperation of all a few other departments, as well as the Department of Heath and the Home Office. Implementation was led by the Home Office, the Department of Health, both departments also involved the with Department for Culture, Media, as well as Sports, the Department for Education and Skills, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and many other departments (Margaretha & Robin 2007 p 18). The actions mentioned below is what the government is doing at the moment regarding alcohol age: 1. The Department of Health and the Home Office, along with departments like the Departments of Education and Skills, Culture, Media and Sport, as well as the Food and Rural Affairs and even the Department for Environment, has set up an alcohol communications group to come up with best practices and strategies. This group will be based on the knowledge of stakeholders form outside as well as the organizations from the industry and voluntary organizations. 2. The Department of Health continuously does a re-evaluation of the present "sensible drinking" message, which is paying attention to developing a easier format for the message, as well as one relates to daily life (Raistrick etal 1999 p 32). 3. The Department of Health is working in cooperation with other departments and organizations both inside and outside the Government in order discover the most useful messages to be utilized regarding binge and chronic drinking, and the most helpful media for spreading these messages. The Government communications group is working is continuously developing such messages. Pressure Groups Pressure groups say that there is a big problem with underage drinking in England. What they fail to mention is that pubs are not the cause of the problem, but off-licenses2 are because the sales staff have no come-back for the actions of their customers. However, pub licensees do. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A266942) A good example is of a pressure group is Alcohol Concern they support the government in rising the age of drinking to 21, because they believe that number of young people who utilize alcohol by the age of 13 is more then don't , Public Policy Research , the British Medical Association and the pressure group Alcohol Concern felt the need for a modification in the law Britain must change in regard to change the drinking age to 21 (Thom 2001 p 14). Another pressure group Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems is also aims to increase the age of drinking him drinking age is 21 they argue that already there are numerous debates regarding a lowering the age to alcohol age to 18 or even about completely removing the legal drinking age nevertheless, the drinking age must be kept at 21 years. The pressure groups are protesting on media and giving out pamphlets of information. But still till when this issue will be resolved none knows. The Arguments Given By Pressure Groups In European countries along with others there are 3 main characteristics about alcohol consumption: 1. it's seen as a neutral substance, not as a type of drug or poison. 2. They either don't drink or drink in moderation. 3. it's not acceptable to abuse at any age. They learn to drink responsibly from an early age at home under supervision. Therefore, don't feel the need to abuse it at a later point in life or in an uncontrolled environment. Both pressure groups argue that if allowed to drink at a younger at it would only add to the problems of alcohol. The opposition states that the high age limit for drinking might dispirit teenagers from drinking alcoholic drinks. They say the laws that force merchants to refuse to sell alcohol to persons less than 21 years of age will help stem the 'problem' of underage consumption (Raistrick etal 1999 p 15). They believe this will make it virtually impossible for people under 21 to obtain alcohol. The opposition has a strong believe that the laws regarding which discourage underage drinking of alcoholic beverages will discourage the youth from consuming alcohol. One good reason both groups are fighting to keep the age at 21 to keep the drinking age at 21 is the physical effect that appears by the use of alcohol. Alcohol starts to play a big role in the early stage of someone's life. It can be deadly if it's consumed in large amounts. But even in little amounts alcohol can have harmful effects on the brain, liver, heart, stomach, and the kidney. Both groups know that Drinking and driving is not the only problem with underage drinking. The brain carries on developing throughout adolescence till the individual approximately turns twenty years old. It is also proven that the brain responds differently to alcohol during adolescence then during adulthood and thus this is also one reason both groups are fighting to keep the age at 21 (Brownlee 2002 p 40). Alcohol affects many other parts of the body as well, the nervous system, reproductive system, gastrointestinal system, immune system, and circulatory system. The affects that alcohol may cause on these systems could cause death, even with only one drink. Beyond the health risks of drinking, education is another element affected by alcohol. Drinking alcohol will not substantially lower your intelligence, but it may weaken your attitude towards school and schoolwork, causing your grades to drop. Both groups realize the fact that Alcohol can be linked to another prevalent problem in our society today which is sexually transmitted diseases. Amongst all sexually active teenagers, those who average five or more drinks are less likely to use condoms which place them at a greater risk of contracting STD's. It has also been found by Commissions of Substance Abuse at Colleges that "sixty percent of college women diagnosed with sexually transmitted disease were drunk at the time of infection". If we could cut down on the number of underage drinkers we could also cut down on the spread of sexually transmitted diseases by almost two-thirds knowing all this makes them more intense when they argue to rise the drinking age. So with all of these negative affects of alcohol, why do teens think that drinking is cool and that it is something they must do to fit in with the rest of the crowd this is one of the arguments both pressure groups are giving so that the age of drinking can be rise. So to sum up all their arguments it can be said that they base their arguments ob keeping the road safe this may be considering we hear this from our parents all the time, and on the fact that brains don't completely develop until around the age of 20. In fact, the last thing that develops is involved with the ability to plan and make complex judgments. Underage drinkers will impair their brain from the skills they rely on for learning. Implications for the Hospitality Industry The hospitality industry must support the rise in alcohol consumption age, as this would help them strengthen their public image apart from this it would definitely help increase their guests as guest who thinks that a hotel that cares about them tends to come again. The hospitality industry should recognize that they play an important major part in imposing sales of alcohol to stop young people from getting alcohol from the hotel bars and pubs. They should also follow the challenge 21 initiative of the retailers to help stop underage drinking and only give drinks to those who are 21 years of age. Thus the guests of the hotel s who look as if they are below 21 years of age should be asked for identification, if the guest cannot provide official id they will be not given alcoholic drinks from the bard and pubs of the hotel (Brain& Parker 1998 p 25). This helps in solving the problem of identification of age and by means of training bartenders who serve the drinks in the bars and pubs in hotels not to make underage sales greatly lessens such sales. Thus if the hospitality industry also follows the 21 challenges incentives it will be able to survive the new change in the law, not only that it will even attain a better image They must also give information to their guest on alcoholic products to strengthen their messages regarding consumption in a responsible manner hotels have to make sure that their bars and pubs have only those bottles which have alcohol label that is recommended by Department of Health Like the retailers they to should the hospitality industry should be active in active in helping the Government as well as other stakeholders to gain information regarding alcohol consumption. The in entire industry should become party to the Social Responsibility Standards intended for Sale of Alcohol in the United Kingdom. These principles were formed via Government as well as stakeholders in the year 2005 and are entirely based on the social responsibilities for any industry that sells alcohol (Coggans, & McKellar 1995 p 38). Conclusion Drinking age at 21 ought to not just be implemented, but also must be imposed by means strict laws. The target age group of advertisers should be more restricted. In order to lower underage drinking, government funding of programs that implement alcohol awareness in schools needs to be increased. Parents also need to step in and try to monitor their children through parent education and communication Alcohol is a dangerous drug that can easily damage the mind of an immature brain. It can cause serious damage to a teen's life. Rising the drinking age to 21 is only for the protection of the youth. We have to give our youth ample education regarding drinking and implement extremely strict policies regarding underage drinking. It is our duty to facilitate our youth so that they can have a good future .Government already is working to stop, reduce and handle the outcomes of the harms which are the result of alcohol. For instance, Government gives valid information regarding sensible drinking, health services and treatment programs to binge and chronic drinkers. By makes the laws stricter the Government handles criminal and anti-social behaviours of juveniles that might be a result of underage drinking. To sum it all up if you want to see a lot of our talented youth die every year due car accidents, more teenage pregnancies, a spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and more alcoholics in our country, then go right ahead and send a letter to the government to propose lowering the drinking age. If you would rather see the next generation grows up healthier, smarter, and more responsible, then leave the legal drinking age where it is. In the past legal age of coming alcohol was 18 but currently it has been stated via Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety that approximately seventeen thousand lives have been saved due to bringing the legal drinking age up to twenty-one. Why lower it again Have you ever heard the phrase "history repeats itself" References Brain, K.J. and Parker, H. (1998), Drinking with Design: Alcopops, Alcohol and Youth Culture. London: Portman Group p25 Brownlee Nick (2002), This Is Alcohol (Addiction), London: Sanctuary Publishing, Ltd p 40 Coggans, N. and McKellar, S. (1995), Alcohol, Aggression and Adolescence. London: Caswell p38. Grube, Joel (2001); drinking in the USA and Europe: Comparison of Drinking Rates and Problems. Globe: International Alcohol and Drug Problems 1: pp11-12. Old Series. Special Issue on Youth and Alcohol in Europe p5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A266942 retrieved on 11 May 2008 http://www.drinkawaretrust.org.uk/drink-aware-trust/news/uk-youth-and-drinkaware-launch-new-programme-to-combat-teenage-alcohol-misuse.html retrieved on 11 May 2008 http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/call-for-21-drinking-age-in.html retrieved on 11 May 2008 Malcolm MacLachlan & Caroline Smyth (2004) Binge Drinking and Youth Culture: Alternative Perspectives, Dublin: The Liffey Press p 14 Margaretha Jarvinen & Robin Room (2007), Youth Drinking Cultures: European Experiences. Hampshire: Ashgate p 18 news.scotsman.com/latestnews/39Radical-measures39 retrieved on 11 May 2008 Plant, M., & Plant, M. (1992), Risktakers: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex And Youth. London: Tavistock/Routledge p 10 Plant, M., & Plant, M. (2006), Binge Britain: Alcohol and the National Response. Oxford: Oxford University Press p 13 Raistrick, D., Hodgson R., and Ritson B (1999), Tackling Alcohol Together. The Evidence Base for UK Alcohol Policy, London: Free Association Books pp15-32 Thom, B. (2001), a social and political history of alcohol. In N. Heather, T. Peters & T. Stockwell (Eds.), International Handbook of Alcohol Dependence and Problems. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd p14. Read More