Is 'Drowning Our Sorrows' good advice from our Chancellor George Osborne?

Well, as you would probably expect me to say, no I don't believe that it is good advice!

You may have heard George Osborne during his budget speech announce that the proposed increase in duty on cider is to be cancelled. He then suggested that in relation to the coming England game, we could take advantage by either celebrating or drowning our sorrows. This may have been intended as a light hearted interlude, but it does have serious implications.

Previously Mr Osborne confirmed that there will be no increase in alcohol duty but that it would be looked at later in the year with a view to tackling 'binge drinking' and 'underage consumption'

You may notice that there is a void between the intended light hearted comments and the alcohol issues being targeted. I would suggest that the void is a lack of knowledge and a coherent message about alcohol. Unfortunately the chancellor failed to make the connection, and without the knowledge and understanding, it is an easy mistake to make.

Alcohol is a mind altering drug, and works every time if you want to quickly change how you view reality. Interestingly we are often taught by our parents and peers to 'self medicate' with alcohol. If the news is good we are encouraged to drink alcohol, if the news is bad we are encouraged to drink alcohol. In fact during any emotional event that you care to name during out adult lives, alcohol is somewhere in the mix.

The big question is why?

Alcohol reduces our ability and performance. So if we really are having great time' why would we want to use alcohol to dilute it? One reason is that we are taught that alcohol somehow enhances our already 'good' experience, when the truth is that it actually reduces it and progressively dumbs us down. But how can this possibly be true when our elders and society taught us?, please remember that our elders once taught us that the earth was flat and that burning alleged witches at  the stake was 'normal' behaivior

Alcohol is a recreational drug, not that different in many ways to other recreational drugs, except of course that its legal. We are dealing with a powerful, toxic, legally available drug that is responsible for the deaths of more than 22,000 people a year in the UK, and that does not included the related indirect deaths such as accidents and violence.

We use alcohol to change the way we think and feel, usually because someone we respect taught us and it's considered 'normal'. So please bear in mind that when we drink alcohol, we deliberately drink a poisonous toxic substance that always damages some part of our body, progressively reduces our ability, and we have to buy it! Realistically we can achieve the objectives we use alcohol for by changing our thinking  but we are not usually taught how to do it as part of our upbringing. So generation after generation, we just keep on doing it! without too much in the way of questioning.

I would suggest that if we apply some intelligent thought to what we are really doing, and disregard the past, we may find that something that we have done for thousands of years is actually all a bit odd.

I am ready to work with the UK government to provide real understanding and some low cost alternatives that really work.

I'll let you know if I get the call!

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