“Harm per Litre”

“Harm per Litre” and how can we help

Alcoholism is a world-wide epidemic. It is legalized, unregulated, socially accepted and even promoted. It is the only psychoactive substance that has no regulatory framework for control. I have been very interested in world-wide double standards when it comes to this disease. Governments are torn between compliance to international  guidelines and their want for revenues generated from this industry.

Recently WHO published a report detailing Alcohol’s prevalence in geographies across world, measures taken by Nations, WHO goals set worldwide and the progress against them. The data also points to the fact that a developing country, has highest increase in commercialization of alcohol and that in-turn increases the % of drinkers. 

What is amusing is that the EU region has a sustained decline in the per capita alcohol consumption numbers over the last few years. What is also worth noticing is Asia is on the rise (China and India leading here too). It is also stated that the alcohol-attributable disease burden was highest in low-income and lower middle-income countries (India one of them!!) when compared to upper-middle-income and high-income countries.

What struck me most, from the 500 odd pages in the WHO report is “Harm per Liter”. Harm Per Liter is a measure of harm caused by a given amount of drinking in various demographic. No points for guessing that Alcoholism is affecting the poorer sect of society the most. The reasons, as you all can guess are varied; No medical help, easy accessibility, economic conditions pushing them towards seeking solace in temporary effects of drunkenness, high chance of co-morbidity and more.

The most effective ways to regulating alcohol addiction for Governments are licensing systems, alcohol policies, measure to achieve international targets, all of which are done by India, on paper. However, the number of licenses given are only increasing and policy execution is questionable. The system is rigged to favor the rich, and the price is paid by the poorer citizens.

Alcoholism is the only disease which has roots in almost every family, directly or indirectly. I know that every single middle-class Indian would have come across at-least one helper/maid, who has spoken about experiencing alcohol-led atrocities. Without beating around the bush, I am talking about domestic violence, household money crunch, alcoholic partner going jobless, absconding, redundant and more. This is the story of a large percentage of rural/ urban poor societal sect. 

The question that is most pertinent here is how can we help? Frankly, it won't be wrong to say that we want to help as much as possible with no disruption to  our "BAU" life?

Educated part of the society has the power and access to “INFORMATION” which is the most important tool.  Alcoholism is not only a disease, it is the most dangerous form. It  creates extreme resistance to treatment in all possible forms - mentally, physically, psychologically and clinically. It kills your will to recover and has social stigma attached.

There are some simple things that I can list down here, which we should know as general knowledge and pass on to anyone who might need help and can't access it.

There are two types of alcohol dependent people.

First, there are those who seek help. For them we have the below support structure available, that can be leveraged.

1.      Support : Alcohol Anonymous – Fellowship of people who once had alcoholic problem who come together to help one another and offer support

2.      Medical Help : Rehabilitation centers in your locality – Low Cost rehabilitation centers will give you help to achieve abstinence, through medicines and restrictions, when you need it most

3.      Self awareness of the recovery process : recovering alcoholic faces extreme withdrawal symptoms in the form of aggression, hallucination, uncontrollable urge, delirium and more. Preparing the family to tide over these, will help.

     Second type of alcohol dependent people are the difficult type. They have "zero" will to change. They have gone so deep into it that nothing is as important as that drink. For them, there is possible help but direct family member will have to invoke it. Upon request, Rehabilitation centers might forcefully take the raging alcoholic into their center for treatment and keep in confinement until he sobers down(in clinical terms). There are long stay centers, where a patient can he housed for as long as 6 months, until he stabilizes, if the family senses risk of relapse.

For a poor family, an alcoholic is not just a cause of sorrow and fear. He is emptying the family earnings and resources that could have been spent on education of children, healthy food and more. This going unchecked is having a bearing on our future generation. 

We can make a difference in our little way!