Should Alcohol Usage Be Controlled?

Alcohol is generally a fermented drink or a beverage which intoxicates a person. Since ages it has been consumed all over the world. It is entirely one’s choice to consume it or not. Some drink it for enjoyment and others because of dependence on it. Anything in excess is harmful for health. Consuming alcohol in moderation will not cause as much harm as consuming it excessively on a regular basis. Then it becomes an addiction (Legg,2017). Moreover it is a big problem when it becomes a social menace. Then the government steps in to control it by banning the sale of alcohol or declaring a State dry.

According to World Population Review, 2022, many countries have imposed a total ban on alcohol selling and consuming it such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Maldives, etc. Even in India it is banned in Bihar,Mizoram,Gujarat etc. but controlling alcohol consumption through bans have backfired as illicit liquor sale, criminal activities, sale of spurious liquor,corruption,,domestic violence, depression ,etc. have arisen.

Banning liquor alone will not help. Awareness campaigns ,counseling can help to some extent but unless and until people  realize themselves, controlling alcoholism is difficult. One such example is Chandrapur in Maharashtra  where ban on liquor proved a total failure and finally it was lifted in June,2021(Jha,2022). Another example is the state Kerala where banning liquor was a great loss to its tourism, economy and led to drug use amongst the youth(Anoop,Satheesh,Denny,2018).

The global average consumption was 16.18 liters per person in 2022.Globally 2.8 million premature deaths are reported per year because of alcohol consumption(Ritchie,Roser,2018). Another survey by WHO, alcohol contributes to 3 million deaths each year globally. Inspite of knowing about the harmful effects of alcohol, it is being consumed in large. More than bans on liquor, a different approach should be followed by the government as suppressing someone from doing what they enjoy or love is not a good idea. 

Along with awareness campaigns on ill-effects of liquor, people should be counselled about the ways to control it by limiting its use, imposing stringent laws and punishments for anti-social activities under the influence of alcohol, by introducing chapters about the ill-effects of alcohol in senior classes, by opening de -addiction or healing centers for alcoholics and providing services free of cost, generating employment for youths, increasing the price of alcohol, limiting or fixing the number of alcohol shops per state, monitoring the areas where liquor consumption is high and taking help from the community people. Only with dedicated and sincere efforts can alcohol consumption be controlled to a great extent if not completely.

References

1. Timothy J.Legg (2017). Stages of Alcoholism. Healthline. Available on 

https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-alcoholism  (Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)

2. WHO,Alcohol.World health Organisation,ND.https://www.who.int/health-topics/alcohol#tab=tab_1

          (Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)

3. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2018). Alcohol Consumption. https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption

(Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)

4. Ramnath Jha (2022).Experiments in Alcohol Prohibition: A review of Maharashtra’s Chandrapur experience.

http://www.orfonline.org/research/experiments-in-alcohol-prohibition/?amp

(Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)

5. World Population Review (2022).Countries where alcohol is illegal 2022.Available on

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-alcohol-is-illegal

(Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)

6. Midhun Anoop, Sangeetha Satheesh and Deepthi M Denny (2018).Liquor Ban In Kerala.

http://www.jmraonline.com/uploads/121/4771_pdf.pdf

(Accessed on 5 Dec 2022)