Alcohol addiction - The industry must share the burden

In recent years there has been much hype about our drugs problems, but usually when people talk about drugs, they are not talking about the most prevalent and most abused drug in the country – alcohol. Irish people spend more on alcohol annually that any other people.

That is not a problem in itself, but there are outrageous problems associated with it. It is estimated there are 250,000 alcoholics in this country, and the problems associated with alcohol abuse are costing the country an estimated €960 million. Alcohol-related deaths have doubled in the past 10 years. Liver disease is up by 147%, while admissions to psychiatric hospitals due to alcohol are up at a time when available beds have been decreasing. Many of those problems are now being treated in general hospitals, or in the community.

Those are just the apparent consequences. There is also the untold misery being inflicted on the families who have to watch helplessly as loved ones destroy themselves through alcoholism.