[welly]

> South of the border you will never see anyone sniffing glue and I doubt there are many people in England who wake up in the morning with a burning desire to sit in the street sniffing glue

This is quite an unsubstantiated claim. Never? Of course you will, and do.

> There is also 'Bucky' that alcohol that is not sold south of the border.

This is patently false. It's made in Devon at Buckfast Abbey, so of course it's sold south of the border. And you see it south of the border all over the place. I know several places off the top of my head in Leeds and London where you can buy it. You can buy it on Amazon as well.

https://www.buckfast.com/stockists

[mywacaday]

Buckfast is also sold in Ireland and it always had a reputation for getting people messed up when drinking.

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_Tonic_Wine

1 bottle 750ml @ 15% alcohol + caffeine equivalent to 8 cans of coke, that will do it alright.

edit good god just found this, why? https://www.dailyedge.ie/buckfast-easter-egg-3300036-Mar2017...

[Theodores]

You are nit-picking here.

I have spent a lot of time in the scummier parts of London and yet to step over some kid sniffing glue. In Glasgow it is an all too common sight. You can check the health statistics and I am sure there are a few parts of North England and Northern Ireland that are similarly blighted but glue is not a problem south of the Watford Gap in the way that it is in Glasgow.

Sure Bucky is now stocked by Booker and therefore available in corner shops in England, however this is a recent development. Five years ago it was near impossible to buy the stuff in England. As for today, good luck buying bucky in a normal supermarket - Tesco, Waitrose, Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl etc. or even in a pub. It isn't marketed in England in the same way it is marketed in Scotland.

[AnotherRainyDay]

> I have spent a lot of time in the scummier parts of London and yet to step over some kid sniffing glue. In Glasgow it is an all too common sight.

I studied in and now live and work in Glasgow. I've been here for a total of 7 years. I walk to and from work across the city. I'm out late in either the City Center, the west end, Finnieston or the Merchant City at least once a week. I'm maybe out twice a month for past 1am nights and I'm up early for the gym a few mornings a week too. I have not once seen anyone sniffing glue or doing any kind of drugs openly on the city streets.

[vinceguidry]

Cities are weird beasts. I live in Midtown Atlanta and walk to and from work, I am also out and about sometimes in the evenings. It's one city at these times. But if I'm out late at night, every now and again I'm froggy for a late night walk, I see packs of people just hanging out. I have no idea where they came from, where they live, Midtown is an expensive place, or why they feel like Midtown is a great place to bring your private outdoors party, but I don't encounter it unless I'm off my routine.

It's possible that open drug use might be happening right under your nose and you're never around to see it.

[sokoloff]

Maybe the glue point was nit-picking as it's fairly unreasonable to interpret your text as "literally exactly 0 people sniff glue in England", but "is not sold south of the border" -> "um, yes it is here and here" does not seem at all like nit-picking to me as it's far more reasonable to read that text as absolute.

[GordonS]

> It isn't marketed in England in the same way it is marketed in Scotland

Scot here - Buckfast is certainly notorious in the central belt, but I've never seen it actually advertised anywhere, in any medium?

[7000skeletons]

Buckfast isn't really something that gets marketed in Scotland, as far as I've ever seen. It's more just garnered that reputation as a drink that will get you buzzed on a night out really fast. I drank it when I was younger, but these days the hangovers just aren't worth it.