Professor Joe Barry:

Alcohol use is used as an inappropriate defence in lots of criminal activity. We have had situations such as high profile rape trials where people cannot remember the victim. Anybody who goes to an accident and emergency department will find it can be quite a distressing place and if people are drunk, there is the law of the land. If a crime is being committed, prosecutions can be taken. We could end up criminalising a huge section of the population because this culture is so tolerant and all-pervasive but alcohol is used inappropriately as a defence for anti-social behaviour quite a lot and a huge number of crimes are linked. If alcohol was not a defence, it would be much better.