Alcohol ban won’t work; education will

REPORTS that hospitals were admitting more patients in trauma units have put a damper on the euphoria generated by the lifting of the ban on alcohol sales, leading to unwarranted calls by the EFF for its reinstatement.

The chief executive of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital says that a day after the lifting of the ban, the hospital saw a spike of almost double the number of trauma patients compared to the day before.

She said most patients were drunk, adding: “We saw patients with stab wounds, gunshot wounds, and injuries from general assaults.” She said the hospital was going to face serious challenges as a result.

The South African Medical Association said it would place more pressure on the health-care system. Police Minister Bheki Cele must feel vindicated, since he had expressed his desire for a permanent ban.

What the Bheki Cele-led anti-alcohol brigade fail to realise is that alcohol is a legal recreational beverage than cannot be wished away. There are different categories of drinkers which render it unwise to condemn drinkers. Those who engage in violence will invariably have underlying factors that influence their behaviour.

South Africa does not have a drinking problem but a drunkenness problem. This should be addressed through education instead of prohibition which has proved to be ineffective. The EFF’s call for the government to reinstate the ban smacks of intellectual laziness.

Prohibition boost illicit sale which will drain our tax revenue. Let us rather teach our children from a young age about alcohol and the issues related to it, and avoid having to deal with adults who misbehave and give alcohol a bad name.