Decisions about what is and isn’t dangerous to life hinge mostly
on emotional media-driven arguments and rarely the brutality of the facts.
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| Advocates of alcohol never comment about its deadly dark side. |
Should the latter be allowed into the conversation, alcohol would
be banned tomorrow, or at least its sale and distribution severely restricted.
What are presently illicit drugs draw most attention for
there is something strangely, and dangerously romantic in the mystery that
surrounds them and the bizarre changes they make to human behaviour.
Alarming realities arise from the use of these
methamphetamines – the most common being colloquially known as “ice” – and
although they are unquestionably socially and economically damaging, they pale
when compared to the equivalent harms of alcohol.
Alcohol brings with it a litany of costs and social damage,
bettered only by the ferocity of nature unleashed, as is presently unfolding with
the changing climate to earth become less accommodating to humanity.
The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) only this
month released its “Alcohol Action Plan” and beyond pointing to an alarming
death rate of young people from alcohol – one in eight under 25, it listed a tsunami
of problems, suggesting that if it was new to the market, alcohol would be
banned and declared illicit.
Chairman of the ANCD,
Dr John Herron, said, “The level of alcohol related damage occurring in our
communities is simply appalling and the Council has responded by developing a
plan for action; for governments and communities to address the situation.
“The health, social
and economic costs associated with alcohol use simply cannot be allowed to
continue at the current level.
“We all understand
that the culture of drinking and intoxication has a long history in Australia
and we all agree that these levels of harm are unacceptable, however whenever
we speak of culture change the industries that profit most from this culture
run the same old fear campaign of a nanny state takeover,” Dr Herron said.
Alcohol consumption
has been normalized to become an accepted and an almost fossilized way of life,
but still with the criticality of tearing through the fabric of the society it
permeates.
We lack the
courage and intellectual skill to discipline ourselves and admit our addictions
and failings and so continue to behave in ways that give this drug oxygen, despite
warnings from those such as Dr Herron.
Viewed
through the prism of a lifelong non-drinker, the answer appears clear and
easily arrived at, but the idea of prohibition brings complexities that make brain
surgery appear comparatively simple.
Those with
the legislative power to control alcohol mostly enjoy a drink, and so it is
unlikely they would vote to restrict sales because of personal and professional
ramifications.
And so it
seems, it is only through education can we escape this self-enforced alcoholic arrest.
