Everyone encourages you to have alcohol

Everyone encourages you to have alcohol – producers, your friends, and the government too..
Kerala is India’s tippler state. It has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol over eight litres per person a year.. Alcohol helps in giving Kerala’s economy a good hike. Shockingly, more than 40% of revenues for it’s annual budget come from booze. Kerala State Beverages Corporation, our state-run monopoly curiously named to breed drunkards runs 340 liquor shops, open seven days a week.Harthal or Bandh never affect their function. The role model que where perfect socialism, mutual understanding and patience is observed. Each shop caters on an average an astonishing 75,000 clients. Revenues from alcohol to the state’s exchequer have registered a whopping 100% rise over the past four years. The monopoly is so professionally run that consumers can even send text messages from their phones to a helpline number to record their grievances. That’s not all. There are more than 750 privately-run bars in the state and more than 6,000 shops selling toddy , the local brew. There is also a thriving black market liquor trade. Despite a growing number of people who demand a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol, there is an equally spirited group of hard-core drinkers who lobby for cheaper and more widely distributed liquor.
Drinking is killing a lot of people and exacting a heavy social cost. Rising numbers of divorces in Kerala are linked to alcohol abuse. Hospitals and rehabilitation centers are packed with patients suffering from alcohol-related diseases. The situation is so grim that, ironically, the Kerala State Beverages Corporation itself has to plan to open a hospital specializing in treating alcohol-related problems.
Why do people of Kerala drink so much and so heavily? A societal problem what possibly means is that drinking liquor is almost a social rite of passage, taken very seriously? Perhaps more important reasons could be high unemployment, easy access to alcohol and the fact that drinking has become a part of upwardly mobile living. Prohibition is not at all the solution as it just drives buyers and sellers underground. The solution possibly lies in introducing methods from every level possible to make the drunkards love and live with family than do it with alcohol and bars . Since drinking is also a cultural problem, people need to be made aware of the havoc that alcohol can wreak on their lives. Until then alcohol will continue to dominate the lives of many of Kerala’s people – and boost its exchequer’s finances. Kerala has the highest percapita consumption of alcohol in the entire country. Almost 8 and a half liters of alcohol for every man woman and child in the state per year!
How alcoholism affects family? While alcoholism can negatively affect one’s marriage and family, it is sad that marital and family problems also catalyse drinking. Not surprisingly, alcoholism is most common factor among couples who seek marital therapy, and marital problems are common in drinkers who seek a cure from alcoholism.
How does the alcoholic transformation take place? Drinking is deceptive. Initially it starts as a social experience. Next it seems an enhancer of these experiences. Then, one turns to it for relaxation, or stress reduction. Finally, one just drinks for getting drunk. And before one knows it, one turns into an alcoholic!!! Alcohol only provides a veil that clouds life’s realities by distorting the true picture. If one continues to seek the false security of this veil, one is no longer a responsible person. When alcohol seems vital to handle any stress, one becomes a real alcoholic !
Habitual drinking is slow suicide. And the craving for alcohol will turn into a crime against those who love and depend one, as he is stealing what is their due, to spend it all on alcohol.
The alcoholic trend in our state is getting from bad to worse with each passing year. Despite all measures to control alcoholism, there is only an increase in the craze and consumption! It’s said that Keralites spend more money on liquor than on rice. While the liquor industry is worth Rs 7500 crore a year, rice consumption is worth only Rs 2880 crore, notwithstanding the annual hooch tragedies killing thousands and making innumerable others go blind.
60% of the road accidents happen due to drunken driving. The cases of drunken driving and the accidents that ensue are now almost a permanent matter in daily news reports. They say that because of the pervasive nature of young drinkers, many are flying their vehicles rather than driving and the issue of alcohol abuse among them is much larger than previously imagined. There is a confirmed link between adolescent’s alcohol consumption and antisocial behavior or poor social performance.

Alcohol is also the gateway for drug use. It is sad that even when attempts are made to educate people and make them know about its ill-effects, only a few pay attention to it. We take pride that there is high literacy in Kerala but this does not mean high education. The trend is so bad that many of these young people get so addicted that they steal and tell lies at home for the money. The slightly more grown up ones spend more than they earn and end up taking loans to support their habits. 18% of alcoholics lose jobs in 1 year. Once jobless, they get an authentic reason to drink more! Alcohol is the most widely used anti-depressant. Females too are increasingly on the alcohol roll and it has become socially acceptable too. When they take on it, they really get into it. Social and family acceptance to occasional drinking encourages the youth to embrace it even otherwise. Alcohol is now part of marriages, birthdays and other parties. These youngsters later on resort to drinking to overcome anxieties rather than facing life and overcoming obstacles with their own skill-sets. Alcoholism is a demon and it affects not only the body, mind and productivity of the person but also affects the entire family too, not to forget, the society in general. The cost of treatment and the social cost paid are colossal in comparison to the revenue that the government sees filling its coffers. Talking about its effects on the family, it seems the atrocities on women have increased four-fold in the last seven years. Almost a quarter of Keralite women suffer from some kind of violation. In fact many more women just endure this violence and harassment very silently because of the nature of the relationship with the perpetrator. Most of it never is brought out into the open. : The kids not only lose their dad to alcohol but also much of the money that would have come their way for their welfare and well being. Sometimes, the grown-up kids get dragged into the physical abuse when they try to protect their mothers from their alcohol inundated fathers. Several more commit suicide to call curtains to the never ending saga. Many of these drunkards show off their manliness before their women but do not have the spine to face the financial mess they get into because of their habit and finally they resort to the pathetic getaway of suicide.
There is no doubt that broken marriages affect children. Over 50 percent of kids are going to see their parents breakup. A large percentage will never even see their parents together in one room. It isn’t an incredible leap to say that the breakup of a marriage could lead kids to abuse alcohol?