Gimgak, perhaps you will find this of interest:
Alcohol: Exempt From Due Scrutiny?
There is no denying, that at this point alcohol is indeed an ingrained part of Australian society. While we are taught to steer clear of many things due to the ‘health risks’ involved, it seems for some reason alcohol will always be met with an overall assessment of being ‘okay in
moderation‘.
Undoubtedly it seems there is a major double standard, and one that indeed fails to make any sense at all. The danger that alcohol poses, to our society, to family life, the health of the individual, to crime rates etc. is no secret, and is well publicised. So why is it, that social norms seem to continually condone and even a lot of the time encourage it’s consumption despite it’s myriad of negative consequences?
There is a common misconception defense for alcohol, and that is that it in ‘moderation’ holds great health benefits. The most repeated of those probably being that it may help to ward off certain types of heart disease, and the risk of a heart attack, also one’s risk of a stroke, or diabetes. But for some reason the risks, despite by far outweighing the possible benefits, don’t seem to be mentioned nearly as often. They are known to include, to name a few, a wide variety of cancers, brain shrinkage, liver damage, pancreatitis, miscarriage/birth defects – and all of this is ignoring the accidents that may and often do come of drunken behaviour.
On the topic of accidents occuring due to drunken behaviour. According to
The Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation, the total cost of misuse of alcohol is now $36 billion annually. Which, really does put the argument against banning alcohol being in our nation’s best interests (due to the taxes it does indeed raise) into perspective, as undoubtledly the estimated financial cost of alcohol related incidents is largely due to yearly hospital and law enforcement expendature.
The figures, in relation to alcohol related violent crime are just as shocking. According to an
Australian Drug Federation an estimation of 41-70% of violent crimes in Australia have been linked to the consumption of alcohol. Also, close to half of all homicides have been labelled as alcohol-related.
Further to this, as we know, we have a big problem with drinking driving on our hands. The worst part of this is that it effects everyone on the road, drunk or sober and indeed is putting everyone at risk. According to the
TAC Victoria, in 2009 alone 42 Victorians were killed on our roads with a blood alcohol reading of .05 or over. And to add to this, on Victorian roads over 4,000 people were caught by the Booze Bus with a reading of over .05 (and personally, I don’t even want to imagine how many people aren’t caught.)
So again, what is this ‘moderation’ we are taught about by parents and high school health teachers?
Can it be defined? Or is it relative to the person?
Is there such a thing as responsible drinking? Or is it an excuse?
All in all, I think my views are obvious. While alcohol is a large part of Australia’s ‘cultural indentity’, it is simply due to the excuses made for it by society and insufficient education on the whole. The risks of alcohol, and it’s damages are all too overshadowed with an utterly nonsensical approval and even encouragement for all to partake.
We are raised in a society, where this is indeed a norm from the very beginning. And unfortunately, that seems to have come with a blind spot that is ultimately resulting in increasing detriment.
Deen il Islam
