Alcohol not for beaches

In my opinion and from what I have noticed occur in our city in the past and currently regarding drinking, I believe that being lenient on alcohol laws poses a risk for youth, a risk for the consumer and it also puts strain on the police force.

The beach is a public place, this means that there are many people who frequent during the summer months, such as: families, unsupervised young adults, as well as tourists from various backgrounds. As a community, we need to keep this in mind, especially when one demographic is appealing for a change in laws that affect the whole community. As a community we need to take an initiative to protect our youth, some of whom are at risk from people who are bad remodels. Drinking changes your perception, and alters your behavioural patterns and depending on what mood you consume your alcohol it will either make you a "happy drunk" or something less desirable and more vulgar.

The beach is a place for the community to be able to unwind. It is supposed to be a safe environment, where everyone can enjoy the water, snacks, and some water and beach activities without becoming exposed to inebriated people who may or may not pose a risk to young adults minds and or bodies. Everyone should have the freedom of visiting our wonderful beaches, without wondering whether or not one will encounter a drunk on the beach who will pose a risk to them either morally or bodily. Some actions that are common to drinking activities include: actions which counter our moral standards of behaviour and which involve ludeness, rowdiness (which includes fighting). In my opinion, what goes on in a frat house should not be made legal to occur on beaches. Some may assume that because drinking is allowed on beaches, other forms of drug abuse will be as well. In fact, I feel like in some cases our city already turns a blind eye to pot smoking and drinking on some beach accesses.

Drinking is not a public sport and it poses a risk for the consumer as well. Many people do not monitor their drinking consumption and do not follow the golden standard for drinking laws, which include: (moderate drinking) 2-3 drinks per day for men, and 1-2 drinks per day for women, with no more than 14 and 7 drinks per week for both men and women, from what I have seen very few people keep to that limit. 

Drinking causes the person to become intoxicated which alters your state of mind and prevents the consumer from being able to discern what is safe and what is dangerous, and it also cause alcohol abuse. Part of Lobatt, Mosaic, and ACOSTA's model, is to drink responsibly. This does not include drinking while performing water activities which poses a risk of drowning to the consumer, as well as other sports injuries. There are many examples of encounters of drownings due to inebriation in the Okanagan valley. For example, one women from Kelowna died after taking heroin and going for a swim. For this reason, I believe that drinking should be an activity performed in a more safe environment (at home), away from the water, for both public and consumer safety.

Drinking poses not only a risk for public and consumer safety, but it also puts more strain on the police force. A change in bylaws on beaches would mean that the police force would need to take their attention off of more pressing issues. More unneeded checks along the beach accesses for drunkenness would occur, which would not only cause stress on the force and community but it would make our beach accesses more busy and harder to get to.

To conclude, in order to maintain public and consumer safety, I feel like it would be better for us to keep the bylaws as they are, because it would prevent the younger generations from becoming exposed to lude behaviours that portray drinking and drug use in a positive light and it would protect the consumer from encountering and causing harm both to themselves and the public.

Barbara Kay