Avia Ustanny, Freelance WriterJingle bells, tinkling glass, pour the wine this way. No way!
THEY CANNOT have even one drink. The swilling of rum-spiked sorrel and wine in the hoopla and festivity of the season is a direct threat to some, a threat to their new found peace of mind and dryness of tongue. Just one glass of sorrel could reverse the good fortune of a life no longer ruled by alcohol.
Recovering alcoholics are always in that mode, and cannot afford to accept gifts of alcoholic wine, or to go clubbing without their thermoses of coffee, or their chilled bottle of spring water. While their friends celebrate, this will be their drink.
This week, our visits with members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and from talks with those who provide psychotherapy, reveal that the battle with alcohol dependence is difficult more than ever, a personal one. Not even friends can be relied on as gatekeepers. They may offer you a drink when you need it least! Victory only comes in that defining moment when the alcoholic decides that he or she wants to go dry, or when death makes the decision for them. When the commitment is made to change, it is a promise that must be kept at all costs. Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychological and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. This disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterised by continuous or periodic: impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial.
Figures indicate that more and more here are succumbing to dependency on alcohol. In the 2000 report, Patterns of Substance Abuse and Use Among Post Primary Students, by Ken Garfield Douglas (based on surveys done in '97-'98), increase in usage, and dependency, was related to an increase in the production of the substance.
The available figures indicate that it is the substance of abuse of choice. In 1994, 51 per cent of addicts were alcoholics, 0.6 were using cocaine., 0.1 were on crack and 11. 5 per cent were addicted to marijuana. Seven years later, the margins of use have shifted and blurred somewhat, but the general pattern remains constant.
Alcohol-related problems far exceed problems related to any other psychoactive drug found in the Caribbean region. The psychological effects of drinking extend to almost every social sector in society.
Ken Garfield noted that children and adolescents
have started to use it more over the last 30 to 40 years, at an earlier age, and in increasing quantities, plus with greater frequency. The report noted that earlier onset of alcohol use is one of the strongest predictors of a dependency problems.
Situation Analysis of Drug Abuse in Jamaica - 1993
Age Group by diagnosis
Age Group Alcohol
Psychosis
15-24 years 12.5
25-3 4 years 8.3
35- 4 4 years 20.8
45- 64 years 41.7
Over 65 16.7
This week we remember those who walk the tightrope of self-control, and bear in mind the consequences when they lose out. It was a medical doctor, Dr. Anthony Vendryes, who recently reminded us of this fact. "Every Christmas season several men, women and children suffer or die as a direct result of alcohol consumption over the holidays. The price is great when one considers the disruption of family life, motor vehicle accidents, crime, decreased productivity, and mental and physical disease. Of course, the problem has been happening all through the year, but it accelerates at Christmas time."
