CHANGE PUSHES SOCIAL ENGINEERING' 

New and startling changes are coming as a result of courts moving into the field of social engineering. The power for change unleased from this source can be staggering.

Recent rulings in the U.S. and Canada make the host, either private individual or a corporation, hotel, bar, ship (Over 60 per cent of all B.C. drownings are alcohol-related), or other public place liable for damages done by a motorist that became intoxicated at their location.

In New Jersey a recent court ruling said that a host serving liquor in his own home was liable for damages caused by a third party when the host served liquor to a guest when they were under the influence of alcohol. Shortly thereafter the New Jersey court extended the ruling to corporations which give parties at which liquor is served!

Damages of more than $1,390,000 were awarded by the Supreme Court of Ontario when a hotel was proven to have supplied liquor to a driver - and a minor at that - when he was already intoxicated. In this case a car passenger became a quadriplegic.

In a 1973 Supreme Court of Canada case it ruled that a tavern owner did not fulfill his obligations to protect patrons from injury. This case involved a regular customer who was hit by a car while staggering home. The court assessed one-third responsibility to each: the tavern, the staggering drunk and the driver.

A study by Robert Solomon and two colleagues from the University of Western Ontario found that "the courts are moving toward imposing a general duty of care on tavern (liquor dispensing) to protect their intoxicated patrons".

In Victoria, a blitz by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) that covered 28 bars convinced liquor outlets to move fast before they got into deep trouble. They now are working on a scheme to lend money to customers too broke to pay for a cab. They are also starting a unified, hard-sell campaign they hope will spread and keep one million impaired drivers off B.C. roads every year.

"Happy hour" has now been eliminated in both B.C. and Ontario. In Hawaii it's one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for parents who knowingly permit minors to have intoxicating liquor "while on property under their control".

Look for further control of liquor abuses in the future. In the U.S. legal beagles are watching actions that allow cancer victims, who got that way from smoking, to successfully sue tobacco companies under United States product laws. There has already been one victory.

Change is coming from unexpected directions. Survival instructions? Learn to walk on quicksand! More information: Alcohol-Drug Education Service, 245 E. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5T-1W4.

Phone: (604) 874-2229.

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