Alcohol Abuse

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 12 June 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:35, 12 June 2018

I think that's a very good idea. When I first started, many years ago, as a lawyer, it was often the case that where we had two young men—it was inevitably young men—who might have been fighting with each other in drink on the Kingsway in Swansea, which in those days was quite a venue for such things, if it was felt they wouldn't trouble the police or the courts again, they were often bound over, which meant they didn't have a criminal conviction. They were scared, frankly; it scared them from coming back into court and it was, in effect, a way of ensuring their good behaviour. This goes a step further, because it helps people to understand the effects of alcohol and alcohol abuse. In some ways I suppose it's the extension to speed awareness courses, which  people—not myself I add, but some people—have found themselves part of. It's a good way of educating people. If we can educate people out of behaviour then that's better than punishing them without addressing the root cause of that behaviour.