As the anti-liquor movement in Tamil Nadu grows louder with opposition parties demanding prohibition in the state, Anna Isaac of CNN-IBN visited a de-addiction centre in Chennai and spoke to recovering alcoholics and experts on the real issue at hand and what can be done to tackle alcoholism.
The 46-year-old Ganesh is a recovering alcoholic. He had his first sip of liquor at the age of 15. A teenager’s vice grew into an addiction at 21 as alcohol took over Ganesh’s life.
But it’s even harder for the families of alcoholics. Take Latha for example…married to an alcoholic who spent his entire salary on liquor. The pressure of raising their daughter and earning a living fell entirely upon her when her husband quit his job and became a slave to the bottle.
Latha said “As I said, because of the alcoholism, and because of his behaviour changes, financial problems, I was not at all a normal person. Because it was the sudden pressure on me, the anger, short tempered, and so many things. Always I was in a bad mood because somewhere I knew I am losing my life”.
According to de-addiction centre officials while Ganesh and Latha’s husband are now sober after admitting themselves into a de-addiction programme. They point to easy access to liquor as one of the main reasons for their alcoholism. So the question is does the solution simply lie in shutting down the state-run liquor store? Many are asking.
Running a de-addiction centre for more than 30 years, Dr Shanthi Ranganathan says there has been a significant increase in the number of alcoholics. But prohibition she says is not the solution. With nearly 7000 state-run liquor stores across Tamil Nadu, Dr Ranganathan says the priority should be to bring down the number of shop. She says following points are the main reasons for growing number of alcoholics.
-Rational and scientific policy based on WHO guidelines required.
-Availability of alcohol should be reduced.
-Number of liquor shops should come down.
-Hours of working to be brought down.
While revenue from state-run liquor stores crossed 26,000 Crore rupees in 2014, in contrast, there are only 29 de-addiction centres in Tamil Nadu.All sponsored by the Central government. Experts say instead of demanding total prohibition the real focus needs to be on providing timely help for alcoholics seeking to quit.
Dr. Ahmed
For LDCC Deaddiction & Counselling Center.
Coimbatore
info@hca.org.in
The 46-year-old Ganesh is a recovering alcoholic. He had his first sip of liquor at the age of 15. A teenager’s vice grew into an addiction at 21 as alcohol took over Ganesh’s life.
But it’s even harder for the families of alcoholics. Take Latha for example…married to an alcoholic who spent his entire salary on liquor. The pressure of raising their daughter and earning a living fell entirely upon her when her husband quit his job and became a slave to the bottle.
Latha said “As I said, because of the alcoholism, and because of his behaviour changes, financial problems, I was not at all a normal person. Because it was the sudden pressure on me, the anger, short tempered, and so many things. Always I was in a bad mood because somewhere I knew I am losing my life”.
According to de-addiction centre officials while Ganesh and Latha’s husband are now sober after admitting themselves into a de-addiction programme. They point to easy access to liquor as one of the main reasons for their alcoholism. So the question is does the solution simply lie in shutting down the state-run liquor store? Many are asking.
Running a de-addiction centre for more than 30 years, Dr Shanthi Ranganathan says there has been a significant increase in the number of alcoholics. But prohibition she says is not the solution. With nearly 7000 state-run liquor stores across Tamil Nadu, Dr Ranganathan says the priority should be to bring down the number of shop. She says following points are the main reasons for growing number of alcoholics.
-Rational and scientific policy based on WHO guidelines required.
-Availability of alcohol should be reduced.
-Number of liquor shops should come down.
-Hours of working to be brought down.
While revenue from state-run liquor stores crossed 26,000 Crore rupees in 2014, in contrast, there are only 29 de-addiction centres in Tamil Nadu.All sponsored by the Central government. Experts say instead of demanding total prohibition the real focus needs to be on providing timely help for alcoholics seeking to quit.
Dr. Ahmed
For LDCC Deaddiction & Counselling Center.
Coimbatore
info@hca.org.in
No comments:
Post a Comment