I honestly cannot believe a remark that I added almost flippantly has stirred such vitriolic debate. But I stand by what I said. It's not necessarily the case that alcohol is the root of all evil. I never stated it was, I just made a simple statement which I hold true; that no matter what it does have an effect on the mind, lowers your inhibitions and (especially true in the UK as pointed by PH and Helter) happens to be a major factor of violent crime. This is fact.

I never said it was the only cause. I think that certain mind-altering substances also happen to play a part, as with gang culture and the like. But let's be brutally honest here, in the case of the UK, most reported knife-crime or stabbings take place outside of drinking establishments. Silver, you're quite right in defending the moderate drinkers out there, but please accept that those who cannot control their drinking, are usually the violent ones. It just happens that way.

The main problem here is that we're all discussing this from varying culture. So everyone... calm the hell down. It's not helping and is not exactly what this thread is about is it?