Ya think?
Conservatives want to abolish alcohol units system
- Thread starter dirtydog
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A drink with 7ml alcohol will measure at 0.5unit (yay marketing!). Three of those and you're at 1.5units, huzzah.. oh wait, no, you're at 2.1! Change it to 0.7cl (or 7ml) and you've got a more accurate measurement.
I'm fairly sure that is only occasionally true, in fact I have a bottle here now labeled as 3.4 Units - so it's likely down to manufacturers rounding rather than a fault of the system.
Do you think most people can really visualise 2cl of alcohol and know how drunk it is going to make them?
If anything I expect it would confuse people more. They might think their 500ml can of lager is very weak, only having 20ml of alcohol in it, when they previously assumed it had 500ml.
Yes I have bought stuff with 1.8 units and 3.75 units labelled before.
Seing as bottles have ml values on them, then yes it is much easier to visualise.
I bet if you asked the public, very few could tell you what a unit was in ml
Ya think?
So clamp down on alcohol producers lying about the alcohol content of their products?
I can't say i've ever seen such a flat out lie about alcohol content but if you could provide some examples of drinks where the ABV and units don't tally that'd be interesting to see.
I'd go further and say that, in this country, people don't know and they don't care.
Our culture of drinking is not going to be fixed by changing what we call things.
So clamp down on alcohol producers lying about the alcohol content of their products?
Or more likely change the law so they can't round. that still doesn't get over the problem, few know what a unit is, or visualise it.
Of course it's not but providing information is useless if people don't understand it, whether they notice it is a different discussion.
No, but it doesn't matter - they don't need to.
No, because the limit would be a straight number of 2cl. If you drink more than 2cl you're over the limit. Doesn't matter how much you wash it down with. You could drink a swimming pool with only 20ml alcohol in it, but that's put you at the limit.
I realise it works exactly the same as units, but the simple point is that there are *so* many people who don't know how much a unit is.
Do you think most people can visualise how much 2 units is or how drunk it will make them?
No, because the limit would be a straight number of 2cl. If you drink more than 2cl you're over the limit. Doesn't matter how much you wash it down with. You could drink a swimming pool with only 20ml alcohol in it, but that's put you at the limit.
I realise it works exactly the same as units, but the simple point is that there are *so* many people who don't know how much a unit is.
Drink driving limit has little to do with how much an individual actually ingests though.
The limit isn't '2cl', it's the amount on your breath or in your blood, which will vary from person to person.
No, because the limit would be a straight number of 2cl. If you drink more than 2cl you're over the limit. Doesn't matter how much you wash it down with. You could drink a swimming pool with only 20ml alcohol in it, but that's put you at the limit.
I realise it works exactly the same as units, but the simple point is that there are *so* many people who don't know how much a unit is.
You don't need to know how much alcohol is in a unit - you only need to know how many units you can safely drink, or how many make you drunk (which varies from person to person, everyone finds their own limits).
If you tell someone a drink has 2cl of alcohol, they aren't going to magically know what that means and how powerful it is.
Yes and no. Tell someone they mustn't be over 'x' at the time of breath test makes it very complicated. Tell them not to drink more than 'x' from the start is a lot more simple.
Do you think most people can visualise how much 2 units is or how drunk it will make them?
I don't know - I can and I think more and more people are learning the system, so to abolish it now is foolish.
I know an average pint of 4% lager has about 2.2 units. So I know if I see a can of lager or cider with 4 units in it, it's going to be strong and get me twice as drunk, or drunk twice as quick.
And so what difference does it make whether you're telling them they can have 2 units or 2cl?
Of course it does do you not think sensible drinking should be encouraged, don't you think it's pointless providing information the majority do not understand.
If you tell someone a drink is 2 units they aren't going to magically know what that means and how powerful it is, either.
Do you think that people will somehow magically understand how potent '2cl of alcohol' is in comparison to '2 units of alcohol'?
You misunderstand. You can learn the units system and learn how strong different drinks are, without ever knowing or needing to know how many cl of alcohol is present in those drinks. I am well familiar with units and I could accurately estimate the units in many drinks, from experience. (Not just the units, but also the effect those amount of units will have on me.) I have no idea what the cl content is though, it isn't important.
One is a more recognised and understandable measurement, which is used on every daya packaging and is used in schools and well.. everywhere. The other is this magic number that depending on who you ask represents a different volume, and is much lesser known.