WHEN will the police and the Hongkong Government stop talking about underage drinking, and start taking action against it? Since the Lan Kwai Fong incident, Hongkong's papers have been filled with articles about what to do about underage drinking, asserting that the law is going to crack down on this problem.

On January 30, a group of friends and I camped out to buy Rugby Sevens tickets; About 70 per cent, or more, of the crowd were teenagers, and most of them were drinking alcoholic beverages. Groups of children that looked to be between 11 and 18, walked around with cases of beer and bottles of hard liquor. They drank all night. In America, the police would have confiscated the alcohol and those children would have either been taken to the police station or taken home to their parents. The police were out infull force Saturday night; our lane (the first) had around seven police officers standing in front of it observing the crowd for most of the night. Granted, the crowds were fairly calm, and I did not witness any unruly behaviour, but will it take another Lan Kwai Fong incident before the police start taking action against underage drinking? How are our kids supposed to believe that underage drinking is illegal if they are allowed to get away with it? Our children are being taught that underage drinking is OK. Is the crackdown on underage drinking only for the selling of alcohol in bars and grocery stores? Is it okay if you already have the alcohol and you are drinking it right under the nose of the law? If the police are ignoring the situation, it must be all right.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED I FEEL very sorry about the incident that occurred on New Year's Eve in Lan Kwai Fong.

It happened because of overcrowding. People were using spray foam on each other and some were even throwing bottles in the air. Consequently, some people panicked and in the resulting chaos, people died.