We must tackle drink problem on a wider front

ARE you aware of anyone smoking 20 cigarettes, then getting behind the wheel of a car and killing someone on their way home as a result of the ill effects of cigarettes?

Have you ever heard of a person smoking 40 cigarettes going home and terrorising their family as a result of their habit?

Unlikely - and thankfully we as a society had the courage to deal with the plague of smoking in a brave and decisive manner.

Yet there is a drug far more insidious and socially destructive than nicotine. But we seem incapable of, or unwilling to, embark upon similar intolerant methods when it comes to alcohol.

Nonetheless there appears finally to be a decent attempt to sort this out, and I hope the measures are successful.

While the proposals for tackling the curse of drink-driving are most welcome, I fear we are losing an exceptional opportunity to combat the overall chronic alcohol problem in our society rather than snapping at it in isolated cases.

Failure to have a nationwide campaign promoting a concrete definition as to what constitutes an alcohol problem, and adequate intervention measures involving offenders and those living with them, will ensure that we will be faced with this problem perpetually.

It is also time to take on the alcohol pushers themselves.

Allowing them to lecture problem drinkers on ‘sensibility’ and ‘responsibility’ is not healthy. Their campaigns are frequently the equivalent of telling a dog not to bark.

Selective promotion of alcohol, while ignoring the social carnage it causes, is in itself grossly irresponsible and shows a miserable lack of sensibility.

Furthermore, allowing them to avoid accountability, leaving those affected to stumble towards recovery unaided, is a blatant shirking of civic and moral duty.

Education on the negative aspects of alcohol is the first action required.

Then we should have effective legal intervention and accountability by both promoter and consumer.

And please drop the ‘nanny state’ opposition as a tactic to ignore this chronic problem. There is ample evidence to show that when it comes to alcohol consumption, boundaries need to be set and enforced for the common good.

The recently-announced measures are welcome but appear to have yet again missed a significant opportunity to really tackle the problem.

Gerry Hickey

Counsellor/psychotherapist

44 Adelaide Road

Dublin 2