Opinions - Alcohol is no drink

[Jeannie]

Our local Police are very concerned that 1 in 37 people breath tested are over the limit. It was also mentioned that the Police didn't understand why the message wasn't getting through.....

Could some of the main reasons be (and we have written this to the Government and Police, as well as drug bodies, over the past 5 years and yet they still don't get the message, and if they do realize it they don‘t pass it onto others)......that:


1) Alcohol is NOT a drink, it is a DRUG in a drink (the drink being water or milk or soda or soft drink - which, by the way, is also a drink with a drug in it, caffeine) but.....


2) People don't want to believe, nor do they want to hear, that when they consume alcohol they are actually in the process of DRUG taking. Sounds so much 'safer' when you call a drug a 'drink' or a 'beverage' or a 'top drop', 'coldie' etc. and know it in such endearing terms as, "All good, mate", and are told that it is the official drug...(oops, sorry, drink - they don't want to hear the other D word being associated with their drug) - of the NRL and other sport's groups, are told it's a huge part of the Australian way of life, and are told constantly to, "Double Up", "Buy two, get one free", "Save 20% on petrol by buying a particular ethanol drug" and so on.



The list is endless on how people get away with believing and getting others to believe that you can't have a life without alcohol.


3) In the 70's, we baby boomers thought we were bingeing when we only had 5 or 6 glasses or bottles of the drug, ethanol. Nowadays, it's classed at about 12.


4) The Government themselves refer to the DRUG ethyl alcohol/ ethanol/ ethane hydroxide as a 'drink' and talk about 'drink driving' (when it's actually driving under the influence of a drug), 'drunks' when they should be 'ethanol drug abusers', ‘alcoholic’ when they should be called chronic ethanol drug addicts sand known by the nice name of 'party goers and revellers' when they are really drug users, abusers and addicts, many of whom leave all sorts of problems and disaster in their wake.


5) Practically every show on tv has a scene in a pub (yes, even the ones before 8.30pm) or the mention of alcohol with a laugh or a joke. And don't get me started on the Footy Show! Kids watch that as well as other vulnerable people who take 'footballers' as the proverbial word of God, almost.



6) Then, of course, there are the Sport's Games, players, stadiums, etc. that are covered in XXXX, Bundy Rum, VB and others drug logos and slogans.


And we wonder why people are so obsessed with this drug of choice, the DRUG ethyl alcohol? A drug that is as cheap as chips, so easy to get a hold of regardless of age, and people reckon they can't have a good time unless they are 'drinking'!!


Perhaps when we stop pandering to the Drug Manufacturers, drug Dealers, Drug Takers of this drug, and call a spade a spade and treat them as what they are - drug users, drug abusers, drug addicts, drug manufacturers, drug traffickers, drug pushers (they even have their own drug making equipment in some homes) and drug dealers, perhaps people will begin to understand just why Alcohol should not be taken lightly, but taken very, very seriously when talking and thinking about drugs and acting on drug taking.


Stats: deaths from alcohol per year in Australia alone - went from 3,000 to 6,000 in only 10 years.
Hospitalisations - 74,000 per year.
Domestic violence - 74% a year
Child abuse - 45% a year (credited to the abuse of alcohol).
assaults - 75%


Those are fairly old stats, we believe the stats are even higher now., and they’ve been allowed to continually rise while ‘say no to drugs’ is constantly touted.



We did Drug Action Week last year, 85% of it solely on the subject of alcohol ("Alcohol is a drug...TOO!") and we were amazed (well, not really) at how many people had been abused by others when 'drunk', and (mostly women) felt that more should be done on the subject of bingeing, advertising, and so on.


The question is, 'Would the message get across and be taken more seriously if people were told the truth about their drug of choice (including the 60 medical conditions that come along with it)"? Surely it's worth a try?


By the way, we are not against the responsible use of alcohol, just the abuse of it.