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Buying alcohol in the Netherlands is child’s play

17 April 2015

Despite rules restricting the sale of alcohol to people aged 18 and over, a group of eight 17-year-olds were able to buy over a four-day period 850 litres of beer, wine and spirits as part of a University of Twente experiment. The teenagers were only refused in one in 10 attempts.

The sale of alcohol to the under-18s has been banned since January 2014. Mystery shopper experiments usually involve sending - according to a strict protocol - teenagers to buy a small amount of alcohol. University of Twente researcher Joris van Hoof asked his guinea pigs to buy as much as they could carry, without using a shopping trolley and paid them a bonus for every litre they bought.

In total, the team bought 580 litres of beer, 230 litres of wine and almost 40 litres of pre-mixed cocktails in 134 visits to supermarkets. State Secretary of Health Martin van Rijn told the Telegraaf he was shocked by the results and will carry out independent research.

Source: dutchnews.nl.

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