Not long ago, Postimees got a phone-call by the troubled reader who told a story of apple trees on a lot next to an apartment-block in town. The apple-trees, she said, are old and nice, but whenever it rains drunks gather underneath the braches for shelter. «What to do?» there followed the traditional query. «Do I ask the town government to cut the threes down? I pity the trees, but how do we turn this around?»
In Postimees today we are reading about how Tallinn City Centre government has removed and hauled to other locations about a dozen park benches in Uus Maailm part of town. For the very same reason: the benches became popular among the open-air tipplers.
Since start of July, problems of this sort have become more abundant all over Estonia – for the obvious reason of entry into force, as of July 1st, of the new Law and Order Act – prescribing that it is now allowed to consume alcohol in public places while the activity disturbs not local population. At places, more clarity has resulted: what used to happen secretly is now in plain sight. And, let’s be honest, the sight is not pleasant.
The law allows local governments to specify areas for children or health promotion where alcohol is not to be consumed; several towns and communes have opted thus to act. «I don’t think the Estonian person is as civil and cultured as to know how to drink,» Tallinn vice mayor Kalle Klandorf told Postimees last week.
Cutting down trees and removing benches, as well as the occasional local decisions to set up restrictions may ease the situation for the few people in the areas; by nature, it’s still like Don Quixote going after his windmills. The alcohol-related problems go much deeper and this takes a state-level decision that not everything alcohol-related can be self-regulated.
The trend towards a more liberal and less regulated state is good and European. Even so, some regulations are unavoidable, when alcohol comes in play. By the state, consumption thereof can be controlled by tax policy, sales restrictions, advertisement, campaigns etc. The critics are right: up to now, the legislative power has acted rather random. Come next year, a buyer of low-alcohol beverage will pay 16–17 cents of excise per bottle, instead of the current 14 cents. By this, even the promised price rise will not happen.