The madness in the streets at the moment is all very sad.

It is great to see community minded people getting together to try and bring some sanity back into things.

I have noticed that late night licensed venues are getting most of the blame at what goes on. While some criticism is justified and regulation is definitely needed maybe there are a few points being missed.

For a start, all venues should be responsible whether they shut at midnight or 3am as it is my opinion licensed clubs contribute to the problem as well.

A lot of young people meet at clubs earlier in the night because their drink prices are a lot cheaper than entertainment venues.

Which brings me to my other point, the Beattie government outlawed the advertising and promotion of cheap drinks a couple of years ago because of ongoing violence in the inner city.

The law was designed to stop venues from encouraging binge drinking, and I am all for that, but in my opinion it was over the top.

All of a sudden there were licensing officers banning pubs, clubs and restaurants from the advertising of any type of drink promotion.

The law was all about officer’s interpretation, some were even stopping venues promoting sponsored wine dinners, etc which was ridiculous.

Now my question is has this actually made the problem worse.

Now this may sound ridiculous and it also you may think I have self interest in the subject because I make my living in the hospitality industry.

But to set the record straight I have no interest in selling dollar drinks or all-you-can-drink nights, I understand the damage it can do but during a conversation with my son who is home on a short visit from London he made a comment that made me wonder about this whole subject.

He was telling me about a large nightclub in London near where he works that thousands frequent on a nightly basis.

He has been keeping an eye on the delivery truck that comes to replenish the stock.

Most deliveries drop off three pallets of water and one of mixed alcohol.

He went on to explain that it is general knowledge over there that a pill of some description off some dodgy drug dealer costs about two pound, while a round of drinks can be very expensive depending on how many people.

For instance for half-a-dozen drinks it can be 50 quid or more.

So doing the math it is easy to see why there is plenty of water sold.

Now it may be way off the mark, but what it is is the same over here, a pill that might cost $20 is certainly a lot cheaper than a night out drinking.

Now the reality is a fair majority of young people and the not so young have been having a drink since time began, it would appear to me that they are better off doing that, if they must in a controlled environment than taking substances that not even a team from CSI would be sure what is in it.

A couple of weeks ago I made comment on line about bringing Ranger Pat back to Mooloolaba.

Now I cast my mind back a few years ago when there were moves afoot to set a up a Ranger network the length of the coast to assist the police and community groups with the emphasis on entertainment sectors and young people’s behaviour in general.

But in my opinion someone must have thought that someone else was getting too important and the whole thing was squashed.

CCTV, visible police presence, an accord and community input will all help, but it needs to be a co-operation of all parties and youth need to have their say as well.

Maybe they need to lock up the disrespectful on a regular basis and make them sit through a presentation on how drugs, alcohol and violence affects families, victims and themselves, a bit like the initiative that has been run on road carnage.

It is not going to be fixed overnight and it’s not going away, we just need a concerted effort by all parties to manage the process, and maybe it would be a good thing to leave the egos at home.