The word “alcohol” comes from the Arabic "al-kuhl", which was the name of what was believed to be a body-eating spirit.
The English "ghoul" comes from the same word, or to be under the control of a demon or “spirit” which is where the word to describe strong liquor derived.
Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I can clearly remember a culture of alcohol consumption that seemed to pervade every social occasion. As a kid, no party big or small seemed complete without a teetering table heaving with a wonderous array of various cans and bottles of all colours, shapes and sizes, waiting patiently to be consumed. I’d look at these mysterious bottles at Christmas gatherings, New Year’s parties and weddings, in sheer wonderment of what would happen, and what could be achieved with the imbibing of the varied and mysterious contents. Could I too one day become a living legend for my drunken hi-jinks just like the inebriated uncle, air-guitaring to Dire Straits with a tie wrapped around his head? The future seemed set to be magical with the help of these wonderous concoctions that only the grown adults were allowed to consume.
Sobering figures
It is not without a degree of irony that in fact both of my parents rarely ever drank at all, however the general attitude towards the occasional recreational alcohol binge, was purported widely as one of harmless fun and even went so far as to be seen as a “rite of passage” for all young men. In that regard, nothing has changed at all in the last forty years. And neither have the disastrous consequences of such indifference and acceptance of a substance that has killed and maimed more people than every war humanity has ever fought combined, at an average of three million people dead globally every single year. It is a shocking and sobering figure.
It is also estimated globally that 237 million men, and 46 million women suffer from various alcohol abuse disorders, with the highest concentration in Europe.
In 2019/20 in England alone, there were over 600,000 recognised alcoholics, with only a fraction of them receiving any treatment at all, with many of them homeless and living on the streets. There were just shy of one million hospital admissions directly related to alcohol consumption within that same period. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the figures are even more depressing.
Non-essential
Unsurprisingly, the monstrous “lockdowns” and the continuing psychological attacks on us all have exacerbated this situation further. Remember also, that while the State forced schools and businesses to close, prohibited the purchase of non-essential items such as shoes and clothing, locked our parks and arrested and fined us for walking down the street, the off-licences remained open and well supplied. Supermarkets likewise had large sections sealed off, but those long shelves of alcoholic drinks remained fully stocked and available for purchase. It seems that the pure cruelty and true motivation behind those lockdowns considered inebriation, as helpful in their aims of creating a fearful, despairing and subjugated population.
A great many of us have known people that have slowly been destroyed by alcohol abuse or indeed, been the direct victim of it themselves. I use the term victim, because that is exactly what it is - to have fallen foul of that culture of accepting and excusing its abuse it as “normal”, when any other type of substance abuse would have been met with outrage and rang alarm-bells by family and friends.
I can remember in the early 90’s and my time in the services, where consuming sometimes enormous quantities of beer in the NAFFI or local town was almost openly encouraged, and those rejecting of it seen as outsiders or somehow strange. I could never understand why this was allowed to continue unchecked, even though it was well known that many young people would leave the services with alcohol issues, which would go on to wreak havoc in their civilian lives.
Today, the UK holds the title for having the greatest binge-drinking problem in the world, and we do not have to look far for evidence of it. Yet still, so little is done to recognise and tackle the issue of alcohol abuse in the UK, even though the problem is often right in front of us.
Alcohol dependants will very often refuse to acknowledge the issue at all, but will instead manufacture excuses for their often extremely destructive behaviours, quickly blaming others around them without missing a beat. This patten of behaviour can be seen repeated with nearly all people afflicted with alcoholism. It is, by its very nature, a demonic possession - the true light of that person inside has been smothered while the demon is busy destroying everything they are, were, or could possibly be in the very cruellest of ways. I personally have watched this illness peel away the layers of a person one by one like an onion, until there was little left at all.
It’s time to step up and fight back!
Our children are everything, and to our community our very essence and future. We must educate and ensure they all understand fully the very real dangers that alcohol abuse represents to them.
No longer can we accept that it is normal and acceptable for our youth to be drawn into the lie that drinking alcohol is an appropriate and necessary part of growing up. We must expose and critically challenge alcohol peer pressures, advertisements and their mechanisms within our society, and the pervasive alcohol culture as a whole, which is always very happy to welcome new recruits.
Do not forget that the alcohol industry in the UK alone is worth a staggering £46 billion a year, which is around 2.5% of total GDP, to national income. The State will simply never directly threaten such a generous cash-cow, it will at best continue to pay lip-service to addressing the devastation it causes, just like it always has.
We must find the personal courage within ourselves to recognise if we believe we have an issue with alcohol. Likewise, we must ask the ones we love how we may help them if we see there is a clear problem; without judging or condescending.
We need to be there for one another, because as a community this is all we have.
Matt Single
HOPE Sussex Community
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk - 0800 9177 650
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