Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
There's an area called the "Warehouse District" in Winnipeg; for example. Very much like the stretch we have along 9th ave and down 1st street. Same issues; 75¢ highballs until 9:00, people order up a tray of them, get smashed instead of just drunk. Then 2:00 hits and everybody goes staby-staby on each other.
Are there still stabbings there now? Of course; it's Winnipeg. But not nearly to the extent that it was before.
A big catalyst in Winnipeg was the number of bars near the rivers. People get drunk, fall into the river, and drown. After a university kid died about 8 or 9 years ago they decided enough was enough.
The big thing is there really weren't any losers in the situation. Bars sold fewer drinks but for more money; so they still made the same money. People get less drunk and go home and order pizza instead of puking on their own shoes or stabbing people.
The problem of not enacting this kind of law; and "staying out of private companies business" (which is a valid point BTW)- is that it forces all bars to do it at the same time. If left up to the bars, Coyotes would raise their prices but Ceili's wouldn't, so Coyotes would lose business to another bar.
And we see these types of safety issues in other businesses. For example, airlines. New safety standards come out, and everybody is given until X date to bring them in. That way Westjet doesn't bring them in; and have to raise ticket prices to pay for it, while Air Canada decided not to and leave their prices lower than WJ.
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Maybe the average CPer is significantly more intelligent than the average barstar, but what really stops a bunch of guys from slamming a 26 of vodka, and then going to the bar and resulting in the same thing? Thats what I've done when I've felt its time for a good bender, but don't feel like paying $6 a drink to do it. Go to Superstore liquor, pick up a bottle of hard alcohol, maybe some mix, take 'er down... then go and spend $6 on a couple maintenance beers. Of course, I don't go all ######ed and stabby, so we're not exactly talking target demographic.
Plus, don't most bars have unequal costs for their drinks to cater to different crowds? I've found a pint of domestic can range from $3.50 to $6.50 depending on the bar and time of day. I see a lot of places abusing this new law, especially nightclubs, cause they bank on the plastic tub tarts and "coolness" of the club to coerce people to spend $7+ a drink.
Also, in both political science and psychology classes... alcohol and tobacco have been classified as having a demand curve that doesn't mix with the typical supply/demand economic cost structure. Essentially, there's enough people out there who crave a beer and a smoke, and will pay anything to get it. Its almost akin to paying a ransom, or a man dying of thirst overpaying for water. Therein lies the logic for sin taxes being so high and yet having no effect on sales. Therefore, if some ######bag wants to get stabtastically drunk, they don't care if it costs $20 or $200 to do it. That's where I question if these implementations actually work... or if its simply implemented at a time that other safety features and laws are enacted.