I found a disturbing story on the BBC news website this morning:
A critically ill teenager being treated for liver failure after binge drinking left his hospital bed and went to the pub for a drink, it has been confirmed.
The father of Gareth Anderson, 19, is fighting to overturn NHS rules, which means his son has to be alcohol-free for six months before a liver transplant.
But at the same time, a publican confirmed that Gareth went to her pub last Wednesday looking for a pint.
He was still in his slippers, and he had the needle from a drip in his hand.
Staff in the Old Moat Inn opposite the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald refused his order and alerted hospital staff who took him back.
The teenager from Newtownards, County Down, was transferred to King’s College Hospital in London on Friday, and doctors have told his father, Brian, he may have as little as two weeks to live.
Mr. Anderson Snr told the Press Association: “I don’t know what he was thinking about; I don’t think he knows.”
“He said, ‘I don’t know why I did it. I just walked out and walked across to the pub.'”
Mr. Anderson Snr said his son first told him he had a coke but, when pressed, admitted trying to order alcohol first.
“I said, ‘What were you thinking about, son?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know; I just don’t know’.”
More: https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8220301.stm
Alcohol dependency is a serious problem but, regrettably, is often viewed as a moral issue; many people still consider alcohol dependency to be a moral, personal, or character weakness.
Many drinkers themselves think it is because they lack “willpower”, and I am often asked by drinkers to help them be able to “just have a drink or two and then stop after that”.
I’m not sure how realistic this is – for me, this is akin to heroin addicts asking to be able to carry on using heroin but just not to have the addiction.
Addiction is a powerful problem; heroin addiction destroys lives and rapidly turns normal people into career criminals as they steal to fund their habit.
What is interesting to me is how different drug addictions produce different outcomes – heroin addicts tend to steal, crack cocaine addicts tend to prostitute, and alcohol addicts tend to shout and scream in the street on Friday and Saturday nights and fight and break stuff.
Yet for some reason, as a culture, we “ban” heroin and crack and continue to imprison dealers, yet alcohol dealing is still perfectly legal and is even encouraged. Should it then surprise us that young people are increasingly having a problem with alcohol?
I am often saying the same thing. The damage done by alcohol to the brain, the body, people, families, property, communities, the NHS . The list goes on and on.
The immorality of alcopops? At least we could only imbibe so much as kids, due to being unseasoned to the disgusting taste, now it's all too easy for young people to OD.
Lately alcohol has become some kind of Artistry, with even young people acquiring a sophisticated knowledge of the ever increasing different types of gin, vodka, rum etc available in everyday bars.
I imagine alcohol plays a massive part in the problems we now face as a country, but putting a stop to it, will never appear on a party manifesto. We might lose billions in taxes if alcohol was illegal, but ultimately we'd have a far more useful and reliable population.
It'll never happen in my lifetime and it's one of several major worries I have for my grandchildren. Should we all still be here when they reach the age of consent, that is …
Rant, never over!