Problems with alcohol destroying our future
They were not hobos who had been abandoned by society. Neither were they lacking the intelligence to understand the risks of excessive alcohol consumption. In fact, both were brilliant in their respective fields, yet drink killed them at an early age.
One attended university in my time and I wondered if we have all conspired to create a culture of acceptance around consuming alcohol. At the time, like now, having a lot to drink was deemed part of being one of the lads.
We were, like now, surrounded by highly sophisticated advertising and sponsorship by global drinks companies that made alcohol ultra-cool. Those ads were full of beautiful men and women with perfect teeth and skin as they imbibed while laughing. Subliminally, we all wanted that style of life.
I was remembering this while hanging around Cork city last Saturday night. Far from being an easygoing convivial atmosphere on St Patrick’s Day, it seemed an inordinate amount of people were inebriated. When driving through the city after a meal, it was like a cross between ER and a bad night in Fallujah during the Iraq war.
Aside from the idiots who were too drunk to stand up, there were others stumbling across streets, avoiding the ones throwing up. This is the new St Patrick’s night vibe in Ireland. Get smashed, menace innocent people and then claim a loss of memory when questioned the next day.
I witnessed it a couple of years ago in Dublin city too and it seems to now dominate our cities on supposed special days.
Why are we, as a society, allowing this to happen? It is a fact that alcohol consumption per head in Ireland is among the highest in the world. It is a fact that our hospitals are deluged with drink-related cases every weekend. It is a fact that too many Irish families are being destroyed by alcohol. Yet we appear to be sleep-walking into more generations of misery without any radical actions.
Why is alcohol the primary sponsorship vehicle in sport for example? What message are we sending very young people when us adults refer to leagues, championships and cups by their alcoholic brands? Why is it that music festivals are increasingly referenced by the drink companies that support them. Ireland has tolerated the colonisation of these areas by drink brands.
Fighting this is a hard battle. First, you are pigeonholed as a crank for questioning “investment” in sport and music.
Second, there are lots of jobs in the industry that could be threatened by lower consumption.
Third, the fig leaf drinkaware campaign is rolled out as the industry’s responsible approach to the problem of excess. Well, I’m sorry but that campaign is not having the desired effect because alcohol continues to ravage our society.
In the middle of a recession, it is easier to sweep this under the carpet. Jobs are at stake and alcohol is a useful anaesthetic to the dreadful economic and emigration trends that are upon us. But that would be a cowardly stance for any policy-maker or politician to take.
We need radical plans, possibly akin to those deployed against cigarettes, or else more of the brightest men and women in our land will have truncated lives.
Ireland has a reputation globally for its culture, friendliness and openness. It is easy, in that context, to explain our penchant for alcohol as an enabler of our warmth and kindness. That would be a bad deduction.
If you care to know the truth, visit any emergency department & on a Saturday night, hang around cities on St Patrick’s evening, or visit a grave or two of those whose premature departures came early in the land of a thousand welcomes.
