Why is it that in order for someone to qualify to drive a vehicle or fly an airplane he or she has to pass both written and practical examinations before obtaining a government controlled licence, but he or she doesn’t have to perform written (or practical, for that matter) tests in order to purchase ethanol-based beverages upon reaching the age of 18 or 19 in Canada’s various provinces and territories?
If any venue licensed to sell ethanol in a province or a territory was forced to use a drinking-licence bar-code scanner to check, not merely for age of majority status, but also if a potential patron has had their drinking licence suspended, it might be a way to help reduce the billions of dollars worth of mayhem that overindulgence of ethanol causes to our society.
Imagine the beautiful consequences, if the RCMP or any other group of police officers had the legal ability to suspend the “drinking licence” of people in their twenties who consistently prove they are at risk to themselves and others.
Christian Torbik
Whitehorse