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Comment by lvoudour | Hacker News Reader

>In Greece, we don't check IDs for alcohol use (in practice. I think we're supposed to be doing it, nowadays). There are also no on-premises laws for alcohol.

That's not correct. The law states clearly that alcohol purchase and consumption in public are illegal for underage people [1]. It's also illegal to enter premises where alcohol is served, without being escorted by an adult. Unfortunately the problem with Greece is not the lack of laws, it's enforcing them

[1] https://www.taxheaven.gr/laws/law/index/law/213 (in greek)

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I'm not convinced it's reasonable to call it a problem. Prohibitionists have done little good, particularly when it comes to lighter drugs, such as alcohol or marijuana.

It's not as big a problem as in northern Europe (alcoholism), but it's still a problem. Alcohol has claimed significantly more victims than all hard drugs combined. I agree prohibition is not the answer, only a change of culture will deter you from e.g. driving when you're drunk. But taking the drunk drivers off the streets or shutting down premises that systematically serve alcohol to kids, is not a bad idea

The farther away from the root cause something is, the less I can get behind it. For example, I'm against banning underage drinking, but I'm for educating teenagers about knowing their limits.

Drunk driving is something that's already illegal (obviously), and the bac threshold is quite low here, although I do wish it was (much) more stringently enforced.

I could get behind more stringent drunk driving enforcement if it wasn't already used as a cash cow in a lot of places.

You can't throw law enforcement at a problem when it itself is a problem in a lot of cases.

> the problem with Greece is not the lack of laws, it's enforcing them

Hey, you don't have to tell me, I'm still waiting for smoke-free bars. Underage drinking is enforced even less than that, but it's a much less widespread problem.

The lack of "on-premises" laws is especially of little concern, as we very rarely get public disturbances because of drunk people.

Smoke free bars? How about smoke-free restaurants first :)

To be fair though I'm witnessing a shift the last few years, at least in restaurants/tavernas/fast-food joints. You can more easily find places to eat these days where smoking inside is not allowed.

Yeah, over here in Thessaloniki we have smoke-free places which I try to support by frequenting. I guess we know the answer to the question "how much of your population needs to do something before it becomes unenforceable?". It's 30%, the percentage of adult smokers in Greece.

I think the law is flawed when it incorrectly assumes everybody's mental age progresses at the exact uniform rate.

They don't. Some people even at 20s, 30s, 40s, haven't had the necessary mental/emotional development.

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