INTELLECTUALLY, many Islanders recognise that Jersey has a drink problem. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean that a great deal has been done to solve it. Consumers of too much alcohol – who range from those who instinctively make for the cocktail cabinet as soon as they get home from work to weekend binge drinkers – just carry on consuming.

As the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Rosemary Geller, attests, the high level of alcohol consumption in the Island has grave effects on far too many people’s health. Directly, the consequences can include liver disease, dementia and some forms of cancer. Indirectly, drunken incidents ranging from falls to fights make a major contribution to the workload of the General Hospital’s accident and emergency department.

There are, meanwhile, the implications of drinking for law and order. It is, of course, true that many assaults and serious driving offences would not be committed if everyone drank in moderation. It is, however, also true that drunkenness means that the police are obliged to divert scarce resources which, in more favourable circumstances, could be better employed in preventing and investigating other sorts of crime.

But the adverse effects of too much alcohol are by no means restricted to the realms of health and law and order. Poor productivity at work and disruption to family life are just two of the other problems that can be traced back to drink.

Although Dr Geller might see matters principally from a medical perspective, she quite rightly makes it clear that a concerted onslaught on the drink issue is sorely needed. What she is proposing falls far short of any drive towards prohibition, which would be unrealistic, but she has identified controls which could improve the present situation. Increasing the price of alcoholic drink, increasing the age at which it can be legally bought and banning ‘happy hours’ and two-for-one offers all make sense.

That said, what is ideally required is a general reversal of attitudes that have been prevalent in the Island for many, many years. It is difficult to imagine that patterns of behaviour will alter dramatically until a vital message finally gets through – that although alcohol can be a friend as a personal pleasure and a social lubricant, used in excess
it soon changes character and becomes the mortal enemy of individuals and
society.