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eaths of Australians
at the hands of terrorists have been comparatively few and rare, but some 15 others
from the “lucky country” die every day and hundreds are admitted to hospital in
the same 24 hours, all because of alcohol abuse.
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| The 'legal' drug tearing at the heart of society. |
Governmental and the essential social response has been sorely
missing as the nation has been stampeded
into a near state of panic about terrorists, while frighteningly little is
being done about our distorted consumption of a legal drug.
So, which is more damaging, or tears more at the fabric of
Australian society – the remote possibility that someone might die at the hands
of a “terrorist” or the undeniable, unequivocal reality that, as 2010 research
shows, excessive and long-term consumption of alcohol kills 5554 people and results
in 157 132 hospital admissions in just one year?
Alcohol is legal and is easily accessed and the damage it
causes both to those who use it and all those around them, easily surpasses
that of those drugs declared illicit and catastrophized by the media.
Heroin, crack cocaine, methamphetamines, marijuana or even
tobacco do not come close to the health and safety hazards caused by alcohol.
A recent discussion between friends about the use of methamphetamine
(“ice”) produced an argument for the doubling of police numbers, as a minimum,
to limit the spread of what was seen as a drug able to rip at the essence of
Australian society. No one mentioned the real terror – alcohol.
Coincidently the American-based website, “Wisdom Pills”
listed just five reasons why alcohol, the most dangerous of all drugs is not
illegal - all five reasons were about the economy.
Alcohol is deeply implicated in most every strata of society
and those who have the power to limit its use and restrict its easy availability
are mostly just like everyone else, they are “users” and so are stripped of
motivation to make the necessary changes.
So while our Prime Minister talks endlessly about “death
cults”, engages Australia’s armed forces in pointless confrontations and spends
without restraint to attend to the supposed safety of Australians, he sits idly
by as thousands die every year from a drug which is both legal and commonly
available throughout our communities.
Being a non-drinker, the title of wowser probably fits but
such a crown is uncomfortable as the driver is an interest in the facts, devoid
of emotion for any person, government or other institution genuinely concerned
about societal safety would strip away the sentiment and sensation and consider
objectively what it is that is killing so many Australians and what can be done
about it.
True, many Australians drink responsibly, but those who
oversee the sale of this drug need to act equally responsibly in limiting both
its sale and promotion, starting by emulating the cigarette example.
