3.1.16
Increase
the amount spent on health education from the paltry one per cent
With a national medical bill of £4,000m each year where the focus is on repair as opposed to maintenance is it not time to increase the amount spent on health education from the paltry one per cent? If the previous argument is accepted that food and drink need to be taken together there is little point in trying to work out the amount spent
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on health
education. If the previous argument is
accepted that food and drink need to be taken together there is little point in
trying to work out the amount spent on alleviating the drink problem. Bearing
in mind that the tiny allocation has to cover related campaigns such as
'anti-smoking' and 'take more exercise' the amount spent on drink is probably
less than the drop left in an empty glass.
3.1.17
Government takes in income from drink £24.4m a year
Looking at more detail at the Government's role in all this it is important to re-assert that there is no national policy on health education let alone anything on the use of alcohol. (Apart from the secret Central Policy Review Staff report referred to by Jean Viall in a letter to The Times, June 27, 1983.) While there should be no need for a 'compulsory seat belt' approach to determining health education policies we at least need far more nutritional leadership backed up by the proper resources. The paradox is that the Government takes in income from drink (£24.4m a year – Petty: 1984), (more than it gets from North Sea Oil in a good year – Jones: 1980), with its left hand while its right hand is not digging deep enough to repair the damage done to individuals and society by the misuse of alcohol. This 'damage' takes in that which is easy to see such as the physical harm done to body and property. It also includes the less easily quantified long term harm to body and mind, and ultimately, to the fabric of society.
3.1.18
Well over
half of home accidents had an alcohol component
While we wait for Whitehall to get down to the problems we will continue to rely upon local initiative. The Greater London Alcohol Advisory Service (GLAAS) drew attention to its own problem areas in early October 1984 explore and pointed out through the medium of an exhibition at County Hall, various dreadful statistics (Chanteau: 1984). If there were a nationally coordinated force drawing local attention to the issues affecting those in the local community the Government would be let off the hook to some small degree. Through the GLAAS clearly was shown that well over half of accidents occurring at home had an alcohol component somewhere. A quarter of hospital admissions, both general and psychiatric, are attributable to alcohol as are cases of absenteeism from work. GLAAS also supports the 'in moderation' approach. It is with such concerns as these that Government could have a far greater involvement rather than leaving it to local enterprise.
3.1.19
Government
is gaining annually over four times the cost of alcohol mis-use in
society
The Which? Report on Drink published in 1984 makes similar points to those featured by GLAAS and more graphically in this type of discussion. Since the war the increase in alcohol consumption has risen remarkably – wine by 240 percent, spirits by 95 percent and beer by 22. Alcohol-based hospital admissions between 1965 and 1975 are up by 200 percent. Which? explore catalogues a whole series of statistics showing, amongst other things, that government is gaining annually over four times the cost of alcohol mis-use in society. Before we have another sip and conclude that nobody we know is drinking any more than they used to we have already heard Rutherford's view that it is the sensible majority who gain benefit from drinking alcohol. Prentice, in The Times on 26 June 1986, points out that "A growing percentage of alcohol's casualties, evidence suggests, are essentially law-abiding, respectable men and women, often with good jobs and a better than average lifestyle". explore Perhaps the availability of drink needs to be looked at first.
3.1.20
Scotland
took the cloth off the pump recently
There is a demand to change the licensing laws (Morris, The Times, Oct 4 1984) and to draw upon the Scottish experience of a more flexible system to meet the local situation. Scotland took the cloth off the pump only relatively recently and already there are signs of improvement. (Harris, Times, 18 September, 1984.) The indication is that although no less alcohol
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is being
consumed there is a better distribution due to fewer shouts of 'taim gentlemen
please'. ? If the Government wants revenue from this
source it would probably find that there is an increase as tourists, not to
mention ourselves, are constantly frustrated with outdated drinking laws. We
should be encouraged by the fact that there is less than half the number of
drunks in Scotland (as opposed to Scottish drunks!) since the flexible system
was introduced.
3.1.21
The alcohol-lake in which we wallow
But, if a similar effect could be seen in England and Wales only half the scandal has been scotched. The same number of drinkers (probably more) consuming the same amount of drink (as a minimum) with the bonus of half the amount of drunkeness and less money spent on police and in the courts etc. There is little compensation, however, for the same or probably higher average amounts of alcohol being consumed and the scandal will only be reduced when Government and producers are working in unison to reduce the depth of the alcohol-lake in which they as well as we ourselves wallow in.
3.1.22
£12m
spent by Guinness on one twenty-month advertising project
The sobering thought is that we can't have our beer and drink it. The flexible licensing system could create 15000 new jobs in England and Wales (Harris, op cit) and a corresponding addition to the more negative statistics. And what of commercialism? Perhaps there needs to be some curbs on the amount of profit which comes from the sale of drink with encouragement to contribute towards the cost of research into alcoholism. The profits are obviously high if £12m can be spent by Guinness on one twenty-month advertising project (Kay, The Times, 27 Sept 1984). (This statistic might suggest that the Which? estimate of an annual advertising bill of £100m for the entire industry is too low.) Some would argue that the production organizations are hand in glove with Government. It has already been established by Cannon (Times Three Day Series on 'Healthy Eating' in June 1984 heralding his and Walker's book "The Food Scandal") that such concerns have a direct bearing on the limited amount of governmental policies.
3.1.23
The
alcoholic may die in isolated oblivion
Further attention needs to be paid to the undue influence of advertising which if correctly channelled (?) could do as much good as it does by way of influencing purchasing decisions. Clearly, the advertiser's hand cannot be said to be on the pump in the strict sense and it has to be aware of the hand that feeds it. The success of the 'don't drink and drive' campaign illustrates that such forces can yield beneficial effects and the motoring idea suggests another paradox. If people buy cars which travel at over twice the legal limit and are killed it's 'their funeral' but those involved in accidents at a mere 30 mph receive little recompense. The alcoholic may die in isolated oblivion but those of us who are steadily shortening our lives will receive little comfort from that idea. It is all very well to point the finger at the drinker but there are so many pressures upon him to drink and TV advert producers and advertisers do not absorb all the guilt. We are all to blame in this respect and much more research needs to be done into the social factors influencing drinking patterns.
3.1.24
Low credibility for the conflicting health education messages
But this is where we start moving into the health education arena again and before we tackle the social issues we ought to grapple with the problems within and surrounding health education itself. As is often asserted here it needs to get more organized within itself. There is low credibility for the conflicting messages which it puts out. Although the medical dimensions are themselves often at variance (witness the cholesterol debate) this need not draw health education away from its primary objective of improving the nation's health.
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3.1.25
Concern over increasing teenage drunkenness
In
recognition of the responsibility which parents carry for the 'drinking
careers' of their offspring, young people will go to great lengths to spare
them from the shock of finding out the truth. For example, the setting up of a
teenage drinking party involves a) obtaining the use of a large house b)
ensuring that those parents agree to spending most of, if not all night, away
from home c) ensuring that all parents believe that there will be none, only a
little, or not very much alcohol available d) ensuring that all parents believe
that what will occur will be 'above board' and therefore acceptable e) ensuring
that all chauffeurs believe that the worst aspect of the evening is the loud
music f) ensuring that all who attend the party act on the basis that the
loudness of the music is inversely proportional to the number of chauffeurs who
will dare enter to investigate the proceedings g) ensuring that all who attend
the party keep to the same story as to its purpose since many of their parents
will belong to the same club, pub or church. (From a discussion with a
teenager.) These comments are not meant to generalise. Dorn (1980: 70) thought
it "... nonsense to lump all teenagers together and to generalise about
their cultures, their drinking, and other aspects of their lives. There is no
such thing as teenage-drinking-in-general." But there is concern over
increasing teenage drunkeness.
3.1.26
Enormous
pressures on the young to drink We have to accept that for young people there are
enormous pressures on them to drink including those stemming from both the rock
group culture and the general process of growing up. Like their parents they
are imbued with the idea that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for the success
of a party or many other social activities. The foundations of later drinking
patterns are beginning to take effect at this stage and the adverts really do
not help when they invoke the masculinity factor with strong leanings towards
conspicuous consumption. (The 'controls' over advertising are voluntary,
remember.) We should be aware that the incidence of under-aged sex is high (The
Times, 26 September 1984), yet that for drinking is really much higher due to
the apparently lower immediate risk.
3.1.27
The road to good health is paved with good intentions
Health education is not a once and for all event like learning to ride a bike but it is dynamic whereby new information, attitudes and values have to be accepted by people at whatever age. It must break free from the shackles of moral intervention and come up with the behaviour-changing goods. The road to good health is apparently paved with good intentions which can be, and are ignored by most. The workmen on that road are seen as misguided goody-goodies and they do not communicate enough with other gangs further along.
3.1.28
Impact of
disingenuous advice is negligible
Everybody knows what he likes to eat and drink and the impact of numerous research reports and disingenuous advice is virtually negligible. Better ways need to be found to influence what the individual likes and to make him accept responsibility for his own body maintenance rather than encouraging an expansion of the nutritional AA service. The fact that there is a specific AA service to the alcoholic seems to detract from acceptance of individual responsibility and the responsibility which we all carry for the health of others.
3.1.29
Need to
distinguish between sound advice and opinion
Directly after the 'Healthy Eating' exposé in June, 1984 referred to above, R.Hoffenburg, President of the Royal College of Physicians wrote (The Times Letter Page, 15 June 1984) with the valid comment concerning the need "... to distinguish between advice that is based on sound evidence and that which is less secure and therefore a matter of opinion". But not that many of the reports make "categorical statements": most, however, try to link the obvious to the guesswork which has gone before and point the way to better health.
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