MALAPPURAM: Sinoj (name changed), a native in Thrissur district, had been a heavy drinker for several years. When he turned 35, the doctors identified that he had liver cirrhosis and advised him to stop drinking. Sinoj tried hard to come out of the habit, but it was very difficult for him to cope up with the new situation. The alcohol withdrawal symptoms took a toll on him and he ended his life on a piece of rope.
Kerala is on the verge of such shocking incidents. The State Government’s decision to shut down the bars in the state without taking precautionary measures for the rehabilitation of heavy drinkers will result in such incidents, warn experts in the field. The state is not yet serious about chalking out arehabilitation plan for the alcoholics even after it imposed the first stage of liquor ban in the state on October 2. So far, there is no headway regarding the promise of Health Minister V S Sivakumar to start de-addiction centres in every primary health centre. Experts in de-addiction and rehabilitation field forecast a massive social impact due to the lack of preparation to deal with the consequences of reducing the availability of liquor.
Alcohol addicts have to deal with various kinds of mental and physical issues due to the sudden withdrawal from the habit. An individual has to face a set of syndromes, known as alcohol withdrawal syndromes, when he or she suddenly reduces or stop the consumption of alcohol after prolonged use. The normal symptoms involve depression, hallucination and ‘delirium tremens’. More shocking is that it can become life-threatening in some cases. “The government has to study the impacts of sudden withdrawal from alcohol consumption before implementing a blanket ban. Alcoholism is a disease and there should be a project to deal with those affected with it. Around 20 per cent of the tipplers in the state are addicted to it and they cannot survive without liquor if they have not undergone proper de-addiction treatment. So the best way to reduce alcohol use is to help these people come out of the addiction by giving proper treatment rather than imposing a hasty ban,” de-addiction expert and Punarjani de-addiction and rehabilitation centre managing trustee Johns K Mangalam says. Psychologists have the opinion that the method adopted by the government to reduce the use of alcohol would only produce a negative impact in the society.
“The use of drugs increased to 40 per cent when the A K Antony government banned arrack in the state in 1996. The situation will be the same if the government imposes a complete ban on liquor. The government should deal with the actual causes of increasing number of alcoholics in the state instead of resorting to such barbarian acts.
“The major social impact of shutting down bars in the state is that people will start consuming alcohol from their homes and their children will be influenced to follow the practice,” psychologist Dr K S David says.