On Monday last, NBC news in the United States carried a story of a Roman Catholic priest in Florida who had been arrested the previous Saturday night after a breathalyzer test allegedly showed that he was two times over the legal limit to drive. And he had been driving. According to the report, police officers observed him swerving while doing so and followed him only to see him hit a fire hydrant and narrowly miss a ditch before pulling into his church’s parking lot.
Not counting the embarrassment to the church, Fr Joseph Gates’s alleged inebriated infraction hurt no one but himself, though it could have been much worse. Drunk driving is responsible for between 5% to 35% of global road fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The wide percentage range is because there are huge disparities/inequalities across regions. The statistics which the WHO gathered up to the end of 2017, showed that this continues to be an issue even though up to that point 45 countries representing 2.3 billion people had drink-driving laws that align with best practice. But it is a well-known fact that laws of all sorts are continually broken, and many are not enforced. Driving under the influence of alcohol is one such.
As devastating as drunk driving is, it is not the only ill effect of over-imbibing. Alcohol abuse/dependence has high rates of morbidity and mortality that have nothing to do with roads and vehicles. Abuse of alcohol exacerbates a wide range of medical and psychiatric conditions, shortening the lifespan of those afflicted and costing the health sector millions of dollars per year. It also contributes to antisocial behaviours that often lead to crimes being committed; murders, including those associated with domestic violence are among those crimes.
Ten years ago, it was announced that the then Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) had launched a project called Valencia. According to what was said at the time the project was to provide technical assistance and support for the adequate planning and implementation of strategies to impact alcohol consumption. Information available on the PAHO website said it was “being developed in Panama, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Guyana” and would also focus on “research on consumption and on injuries resulting from consumption, and training in interventions for professionals in primary health care.” It might not have gotten off the ground because nothing has been heard of it since.
Sadly, this means that Guyana likely has no formal statistics on the devastation of alcohol abuse on its human resources. It seems that no one saw any value in doing small inexpensive studies, such as those undertaken by university students, from which data could be extrapolated, or which would lend to the national conversation on this burning issue. While a massive research project funded by an international organisation would definitely have been wonderful, it would be just as great if we (collectively, meaning government and citizens) recognised that the old proverb: ‘one, one dutty build dam’ is applicable to almost everything. And in this case, the subjects are readily available.
Let’s face it, drinking to excess can be listed as a national pastime. Not everyone does it of course, but everyone knows someone who does or who might have done at some point. Some people drink socially, but very many, even among those who claim to drink for fun, use alcohol as a crutch – a means to take their minds off work or family problems. The problems do not go away of course but getting soused often enough drives them to the backburner for a bit. A lot of people have the capacity to function while under the influence of alcohol and will therefore do so, refusing to admit to being drunk, or to having a problem. Unfortunately, in such cases, by the time they do, it is too late for their organs to recover. And the damage is much worse than previously known.
A recent study done in the UK has found that people who drink heavily are at risk for alcohol-related brain injury, which is a condition similar to dementia. It causes confusion and memory loss and affects balance and the ability to process new information. It can be confused with dementia and patients whose histories are not known could be misdiagnosed. Any medication prescribed, if mixed with alcohol could very well be the last volatile cocktail a person takes.
It has been said, and it easy to say, that people who abuse alcohol, or become alcoholics do it to themselves. But in truth it is a disease that could be the result in some cases of genetic or environmental factors and one which is almost always impossible to manage alone – like with any other addiction, people need help kicking it, but our country has a deficit in this area. There are far more functioning alcohol addicts than there are detoxification centres and programmes. But there is no data to support this and since persons are unlikely to be arrested and charged for pouring alcohol into their systems, treating this disease remains an option.
