Madam, - Are you aware of anyone smoking 20 cigarettes, then getting behind the wheel of a car and killing a person on their way home as the result of smoking? Have you ever heard of a person smoking 40 cigarettes, going home and terrorising their family as the result of their smoking? Unlikely; and thankfully we had the courage to deal with the plague of smoking in a valiant and brave manner.
Yet there is a drug far more insidious and socially destructive than nicotine. We seem incapable of, or unwilling to, embark upon similarly intolerant methods when it comes to alcohol. At last there appears to be a decent attempt to sort this out and I wish the enforcement every success.
While the new 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.
The failure to have a State-wide 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 we took 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.
On a societal, holistic level, education about the negative sides of alcohol is the first action needed. Then effective intervention through legal means and accountability by both promoter and consumer are the way forward. And please let's not have the "nanny state" line as a tactic to ignore this chronic problem. There is ample evidence that, in the area of alcohol consumption, boundaries need to be set and enforced for the common good.
The new measures are welcome but we appear yet again to have missed a significant opportunity to really tackle the problem. - Yours, etc,
GERRY HICKEY. (Counsellor/psychotherapist), Adelaide Road, Dublin 2.