Heavy alcohol consumption can have devastating effects, SAC PA told
The message of the larger socioeconomic effects of alcoholism on society is not being properly portrayed in popular media, a Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs crowd heard on Thursday.
Al Barnhill, a former professor of management at the University of Lethbridge and president of Able Administration Ltd., said in spite of the damage caused by addiction, popular media is filled with positive messages surrounding alcohol use.
“On TV, everyone is having a good time from drinking,” he said. “They don’t show effects of alcoholism and recovery.”
Heavy or even regular alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, breast, colon and rectum. There are also a number of issues related to drinking while pregnant.
According to the Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada, 2015, in 2013, alcohol-related health care, law enforcement and lost productivity cost Canadians $14.6 billion. Globally, more than 3 million people die yearly from causes related to alcohol consumption.
Barnhill has written five management books, an internet text and one about old guys’ hockey.
His newest book, “Irrepressible Maggie – rebounding from alcoholimpaired decisions,” was published in December 2017.
The book tells the story of a woman who used alcohol consumption to assist her with stressors and anxiety in her life, and became very successful only to have it crumble due to poor choices around alcohol — and how she received help she needed to turn her life around.