Booze ban sobering for town's teenagers / Observer, 18 May 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/may/18/drugsandalcohol.health
Paul Kelbie
"Seven weeks ago Armadale in West Lothian became the first town in Scotland to introduce a ban on selling alcohol to anyone under 21 between 5pm and 10pm on a Friday and Saturday from off-licences. It was a six-week pilot scheme and the figures regarding its success appear to speak for themselves: there was a 57 per cent reduction in recorded assaults, a 54 per cent fall in vandalism reports and a 55 per cent drop in complaints from residents about antisocial behaviour. According to the police and the local authority, the scheme has been such a success there are plans to roll it out to other areas. This weekend - the first since the ban was lifted - the town's residents were waiting to see if incidents would jump again."