 BOOZE prices should be tripled to combat Britain's damaging binge drinking culture, according to a top North Wales cop. Deputy chief constable Clive Wolfendale revealed around half of the region's violent crimes were alcohol related and the majority of offenders were teenagers. He claimed, without a big hike in prices, extended pub and club opening hours would inevitably lead to a rise in violence. He also revealed the licensing changes, due to come onto force in November, would divert officers from daytime patrols to "fighting off drunken louts" late at night. Mr Wolfendale branded the problem of binge drinking a bigger day-to-day challenge to police than the threat of terrorism. And he blamed the legacy of a "flawed education system" for "gangs of idiots roaming around town centres". His comments came on the day an advertising campaign showing the risks of binge drinking was announced by the government. Mr Wolfendale said: "Binge drinking is the singlemost significant challenge in terms of crime.
 "We have got the threat from terrorism and extremists, but in terms of day-to-day policing, this is the biggest challenge. "Karl Marx once described religion as the opium of the masses. In Britain today, alcohol is the opium of the masses. "There is a northern European propensity to drink recreationally. It exists in this country and also in Scandinavia. "The reason we suffer the problems we do is that in other countries, the problem is controlled by price. "What's happened here is that alcohol has reduced in price dramatically. It is quite possible to consume as much alcohol as you want, it's so cheap. "Put that tendency for heavy drinking together with relatively cheap alcohol, and you extend the opening hours, and it's a recipe for the situation we have got into, which is lawlessness, ill-health and mindless escapism. "It is a release, but not one born of poverty, but through a lack of imagination to do anything better with their life. It is the legacy of a flawed education system. "We have got 15 and 16-year-olds dropping out of school, with no interest, no education, no purpose and their only raison d'etre is getting paralytic. We are literally picking up the pieces." | 
