Alcoholics
The true Alcoholics are not usually those found making merry in bar on a Friday evening. Drinking in moderation is considered normal and is seen as being alright by doctors. Socializing with your friends and have a few drinks is an acceptable form of entertainment. It is fine as long as your consumption of alcohol is within reasonable limits. It is once your intake get beyond normality that it becomes a problem. This disease can creep up on someone over a long period of time, leaving them with delusions of being in control of their life while being in the grip of alcohol.
Some Alcoholics can function normally to a degree but generally have a bad family life. They spend a lot of money drinking and buying liquor. They often lose their jobs and may not be able to pay their bills and mortgages. This can cause them to lose their home to the banks, and their family to become homeless. Often this leads to family breakdown and separation.
Others have a gloated ego and overconfidence which leads them on a path of ruin. They lose the respect of their peers and friends and often abuse their wives and family both physically and emotionally. This is usually a factor of the loss of self esteem, confidence and dignity. They start moving away from friends and families who are not on the same destructive path as themselves.
Often Alcoholics constantly break the law without realizing what they are doing. Driving while drunk or using equipment while under the influence of alcohol, they can cause injury to themselves and people around them in everything from traffic accidents, industrial accidents and physical abuse. Traffic police are ever vigilant about drivers who have consumed alcohol beyond the permitted limits. You can easily be detected by erratic driving and lack of judgment well before a blood alcohol test is taken to determine if you have had too much to drink. A conviction may lead to steep fines and jail terms or worse charges of manslaughter of worse if a life is lost.
There is a host of crime that came be linked to alcohol incidents. Assaults, fights, vandalism, theft and sexual abuse are common without taking in to account driving offences. While a lot of these are dumb mistake and bad judgment on the behalf of young people anyone who has a history of this over a period of time needs help if their problems stem from overindulgence and sometimes lead to heavier problems such as drug abuse.
Problems are compounded where homes and shops are broken in or cars are broken into or stolen to provide money to support their drinking habit. The cost to our communities is enormous, not just in the lost goods but the social cost of dealing with the victims on both sides. While our law enforcers have a duty to prosecute offenders our governments are spending huge amounts of money on rehab programs, and rehousing and education programs.
With the help and understanding of the community and groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a majority of Alcoholics are able to be rehabilitated from their addiction and become fully functioning members of our society again. We just need to give them a chance.
