Driving me to Drink
The other day in the paper there was an article about a 22 year old English man who died due to liver failure. The doctors were quoted as saying “He had the worst case of cirrhosis they have ever seen”. In fact his alcohol consumption was so bad that he was denied a liver transplant on the basis that it was felt he could never kick the habit enough to treat the new organ properly.
The mother has come out saying that he “made a mistake” and was not “given a fair chance” at a transplant. He also “didn’t know what he was doing … He didn’t know he was going to die.” The articles stated he started drinking at age 11 and binge drinking by 13. I am never one to trample a man’s grave, but does anyone else see anything wrong with this?
Just yesterday I was treated to a wonderful article linking alcohol to cancer. Wow. It sounds like this alcohol stuff is the worst substance on this planet! Killing humans! Causing cancer! We should definitely fear this beverage! It’s almost as bad as dihydrogen monoxide*!
But then, a little bit of my faith in humanity was restored, with an article talking about how a drinking age of 21 in the US is hurting society, not stopping any drinking.
The truth is everything is harmful. You can die from drinking too much water (DHMO?), people are struck by lightning by doing nothing more than standing outside! Hell, LIFE KILLS YOU! Every notice that 100% of lives, end in death?
The problem here is not the substance, whether it be alcohol, pot, tomatoes, red meat… the problem is the over consumption and lack of education about a substance.
I hate to say it, but one thing the government got this one right with the Canadian Food Guide. Having a moderate amount of various foods. Another example where our government succeeds?
Check out these 2 pages:
Drug Enforcement Agency (US) Drug Facts
Canada explains in calm and clear statements what we need to know about drugs. Click on any of the drugs listed and they use phrases like: ”May be addictive”, “Scientific studies are not complete”, “Smoking can lead to bronchitis”.
The US site in contrast uses phrases like: “It’s like playing Russian Roulette.”, “can lead to addiction, impairment and even death.”, “far better not to start, not to experiment, not to tempt fate.”
See a different approach here?
Moderate consumption of any and all substances is fine. Binge drinking is bad, period. We’ve all done it, I hope not at age 13 and hopefully not every day, but we have all done it. Smoking tonnes of pot, while popping e? Yeah, probably not an ideal hourly activity. But remember your 21st Birthday? Yeah, neither do I.