As a society we have to stop treating alcohol addiction as a second-class illness
I’D like to concur with everything that Max Cruickshank set out in his letter (August 30) with regards to alcohol abuse. The raising of alcohol prices may well have its place in helping to curb our devotion to this drug but as has been shown, it is not the magic bullet and never was going to be.
Politicians have never told us the whole truth when alcohol deaths are published. As Mr Cruickshank states, the deaths from related issues to do with alcohol would blow the general public’s mind. Alcohol harm can affect not only individual health but also family life and public safety. A recent report from Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems estimates it costs the Scottish economy
£3.56 billion a year. That is an eye-watering sum.
So why have governments of all persuasions never taken this problem seriously? Even when the recent deaths from alcohol figures came out we didn’t hear the First Minister stand up and admit that they had “taken their eye off the ball” in this case, similar to what they had admitted when the figures came out for drug deaths. Could it be that people feel awkward when discussing the harm this flavoured ethanol actually does? In addiction that is called deflection. I believe it is time that Scotland got honest with itself and asked why we still have a laissez-faire attitude to alcohol and at the same time become judgmental when discussing people who develop problems with the drug.
There are many reasons why people become addicted and none more so than their mental
health. Yet in Scotland, we try to bypass this and tell the addict that they need to sort their addiction out and then we can deal with your mental health. Is it any wonder that so many people relapse when left in a state of anxiety after their crutch has been removed and no replacement found? We have some world-leading rehab centres in this country but access to them quickly can only be had on a private basis, leaving the rest of the addicts waiting to be accessed and then told that they can’t justify their entry because their bid for funds has been rejected.
I wonder how the people of Scotland would feel if they were told that you can only have your cancer operation once we find out if there is enough money in the pot and if you are ill enough to justify such expenditure? I suspect a revolution would be in the offing. We must stop treating
addiction as some second-class illness and instead treat the sufferers with empathy and understanding.
Fred Parry,
Glasgow.