Noooo...we don't have a problem

I find it at times really hard to fathom that there is the level of denial in this country surrounding the existence of a drinking culture than there is. The excessive drinking of alcohol and even the secret nature of the drinking in some instances that have caused tragedy from which if I was in that position don't know how I would recover.

I recall from recent memory the death of the Kings college student James Webster. His death while a personal tragedy for the parents of this young man who had a massive future ahead of him from what I could see and from what I have read, because of his own choices and those of his friends around him that potential can never be realised.

So...who is to blame because there must be some responsibility somewhere. The same is the argument with guns...guns don't kill people, people kill people. Alcohol it may be said, does not kill, the people who take it do. Somewhat of a specious argument some would say but a valid on in the eyes of some.

James Webster died of alcohol poisoning. Sadly, the choice was his to deceive his parents into believing he was somewhere else studying for exams. It was his choice to drink to excess, to a point where his body could not handle the toxins in the quantities he was consuming them in. Because what may have been Vodka going in, turned toxic. Its the same with anything...eat too much it can kill you...exercise too much, it can kill you.

The plain and simple fact is that New Zealand drinks too much and its killing us...particularly the younger generation. Alcohol has never been more available than it is now. A recent article from the Waikato Times says that the locals are in an uproar over yet another liqour store opening in Hamilton East. Mardon Road to be exact. That block of shops is dodgy at the best of times, now someone is wanting to open another bottle store in the middle of a residential area.

Not that I want to bog down on business owners making a dollar, but there are already four other bottle stores within a half a kilo-metre from that location. Do we need five? And the council says its hands are tied. According to this report, Hamilton city already has 68 off-license booze shops, 21 of which had their trading licenses issued in the past two years.
(see http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/4211141/Hands-tied-in-booze-shop-battle).

I'm in no ways bucking for abolition. I certainly don't drink and I am not in favour of such a large level of availability of the product. Especially when I know there are some of those retailers who are less than honourable in their dealings and sell them to kids to make a buck...and also when I know there are some parents out there who don't give a toss where their kids are or what they do. There is though sadly a reasonable expectation of responsibility that is largely ignored.

I'd like to know what percentage of beneficiary income is used on booze. I'd like to know how many people on the DPB, male or female who drink to excess use their money which should be for food and support on booze. A few years ago I lived in a block of 6 flats. It was not uncommon on rubbish day for there to be upwards of 7 green bottle recycle bins filled to over-flowing and if not more boxes of empty beer bottles most weeks. There was in the 2 and a half years I lived there at least one major uproar where bottles were thrown and a major fight broke out in the early hours of the morning...fortunately the agitators were evicted days later and an alcohol and no party policy was brought in by the landlords.

I'm not opposed to people drinking. Certainly provides me with cheap entertainment, but has provided me with first hand sadness and a firm belief in why I personally perhaps more than my own religious beliefs stipulate, why I will not drink. Those commercials on TV while done by actors reflect real situations I have seen firsthand. Stealing money from the partners purse or wallet to go and drink. I've seen a host floor a friend who was helping clean up out of the blue. In the worst case, I have had a friend die behind the wheel because he chose to drive while blind drunk.

It is amazing we have the level of denial we have here about the problem of drinking. Is it not a problem? Is it that we just do not care? The question is how many have to die before we acknowledge there is a problem.