Would you believe it, Britain has a drink problem
nadim April 2nd, 2009
Ever have one of those days where the media bombards your senses with one single theme? Where just about everything you see or hear is related to the same issue? For me, this day was Friday the 20th of March (yes, months after the U.S. presidential elections and weeks before the G20 economic summit).
I settled down in my train seat, free newspaper in hand, all geared up for the early morning commute to work. Being free of charge, it’s quite a challenge finding anything of substance amongst the pages of tabloid gossip, cheap flight promotions and stories of cats in trees. This particular morning though, I found two stories of the compare-and-contrast variety, both to do with alcohol. The first was a Japanese study which concluded that moderate social drinking reduces the risk of heart disease, as opposed to drinking in isolation which has less effect. All well and good, but this naturally leads to the question: does this study have more to do with alcohol or with social interaction? Replace alcohol with, say, grapes or broccoli, and the findings will no doubt be the same…plus you wouldn’t have to deal with all the harmful side effects. Not sure that the idea of social broccoli eating will take off anytime soon though. Seedless grapes might have a chance though 
.
So much for that. The next article highlighted the consequences of the growing binge drinking culture across Britain.
An ambulance for drunks will run all year in London to cope with the growing scourge of binge drinking.
Today London Ambulance Service announced its “booze bus” will operate every week to relieve pressure on other crews of medics and to save thousands of pounds…
Since starting four years ago, the service has only operated during periods of high demand such as weekends in December, New Year’s Eve, and the 2006 World Cup. But now a paramedic crew will trawl the West End each week in the Central London Alternative Response Vehicle, treating drunken revellers.
Among the more obvious repercussions of binge culture, to add to the growing list of medical crises related in some way to alcohol, is the dramatic rise in demand for liver transplants. Problem is, there is also a major shortage of liver donors. What’s more, the liver guardians (frequently a family member of the deceased donor) have the final say in who receives the organ – and quite often they will decide against donating the liver to an alcohol abuser, lest the person ends up going back to the bottle post-operation. One can’t help but feel sympathy for all parties concerned: the patient who requires urgent medical care, the doctors who are trying to help him, and the donor who feels priority ought to be given to someone who hasn’t “brought it upon themselves” and will genuinely treasure the second chance.
When people ask me why I’m a non-drinker, the usual question goes something like this: “Is it because of your religion?” My answer is a hesitant yes. Yes because my religion forbids me to drink. Hesitant because by giving a one-word answer, the practical and philosophical reasons get lost. The topic often changes immediately, and I’m surreptitiously cast into the pile of inhibited fellows whose “religion forces them to do it”, when actually this is far from the truth. I follow the law because firstly, it makes practical sense, and secondly because I believe in the Personage who brought the teaching, and believe he knows what is best, not only for us but for general society too.
Sitting in on a Ruhi class one day, in the presence of a group of people investigating the teachings of the Baha’i Faith, the topic of alcohol prohibition arose. Surely, pointed out one participant, the fact that there are millions of people out there who drink responsibly should be considered and that they should be afforded ther dues. Another participant responded that the line between drinking responsibly and overstepping the mark was very fine indeed, thereby we always ran the risk of irreperably harming our own physical/spiritual selves and the lives of those around us.
This conversation went back and forth for a while, but ultimately it came down to one question, one that all the participants were engaged in by attending the class: Was Baha’u'llah really who He claimed to be? Was he really the Divine Educator for this day and age? If the answer is affirmative, and each individual is free to decide that for themselves, then one has absolutely no grounds to argue against the laws He has revealed. For how can we, the puny and unintelligent beings that we are, argue against the perfect wisdom of the Divine? How can we with our limited comprehension argue against that which is limitless?
Regardless of what one ends up believing, if the truth really is enshrined within Baha’u'llah’s laws and teachings, then what is certain is that the wisdom behind them would become ever more apparent as time goes by. In other words, society is in a state of constant flux, and conditions would evolve in a way that only reinforces the rationale behind these laws.
The UK government has poured millions of pounds into failed drink reduction policies, and they certainly aren’t the only government battling the epidemic. The latest proposal by the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, is to raise the minimum price of alcohol in an effort to prevent young people from being able to afford it. In the comments section below the article, paulaxed from East Yorkshire is not impressed: “Its a cultural / attitude thing and playing with prices will not change it.”
Point taken, but to the cultural/attitude thing I would hasten to add the moral/spiritual thing. Because until we teach a deeper appreciation of our true selves, the reasons behind our existence and the heights to which we must strive, such scourges won’t be disappearing any time soon.
22. O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
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My wife and I throw lots of gatherings at our house. We have quite the liquor collection, a selection rivaling professional taverns, and alcohol has always been present at our parties. Yes, people (me included) got crazy from time to time, but nothing that would have been interesting or funny enough for a TV crew, law enforcement, or even YouTube.
When I renewed my interest in the Faith about a year ago, I quit drinking. It wasn’t difficult; I was almost always a social drinker. When I announced that I was quitting, I told everybody else that they were more than welcome to consume what remained of our collection at our usual parties. After all, my wife was never much of a drinker, the alcohol was purchased largely for party purposes, and people would think I’d gone off the deep end if I poured US$1000 of liquor down the drain. They would understand, if I did it and I was an alcoholic, but alcohol was never a visibly destructive force in our circle.
A year later, most of the alcohol still remains… much to my surprise. People are still drinking, but they’re drinking a lot less, and I can’t recall the last time I saw somebody visibly inebriated. I had an exchange with my best friend, a rum snob, that went something along these lines:
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Badhras: What’s up? My decision to quit drinking should have no impact on anybody else’s behavior. I’m not offended if you guys get drunk. You know I can’t stand reformed sinners that get preachy. I’m not about to throw rocks.
Friend: Nobody wants to be drunk, alone.
Badhras: But you’re not alone. This is a party, and you’re not only one who drinks. I’m not stopping you from getting drunk. The alcohol is free. I’m not ever going to drink it, so it’s not loss to me.
Friend: Yeah. But you made it fun. It seems lame when we do it by ourselves.
–
I never thought such a simple lifestyle decision, made wholly for myself, could impact my circle of friends.
Regarding Baha’i Law prohibiting alcohol and drug use… it’s my take that Baha’u'llah wouldn’t have revealed the law, in the first place, if it wasn’t a problem (e.g. society could coexist with alcohol without its adverse effects, its use being a crutch for mystical experiences, etc.). But that’s neither here nor there, just like any questions about whether a future Manifestation would ever abrogate the current law.
Societal effects from alcohol and drug abuse are widespread in many nations. It’s as much a health epidemic as it is a spiritual epidemic, with the latter ignored by most governments. Religious groups (not just Baha’is) pick up the banner for the latter cause, and people wanting to hear that message have often lost much to their heedlessness.
Badhras, those are some rich insights – thanks for sharing
. It’s always illuminating hearing different voices on a particular theme and reading people’s personal experiences, since we all come from such varied backgrounds.
Coming from a Baha’i family, the health and spiritual aspects were clear to me from an early age so it was logical, and really not too much of an effort, to follow the law growing up. The phenomenon you mention – the impact not drinking can have on your close circle of friends, is one that I’ve witnessed with some of my own friends. They always seem a little more cautious and more aware when I’m around…whether that’s done simply out of sympathy, or feeling self-conscious, or whether there is an unspoken understanding of the reasons behind it is open to debate. In any case it’s a clear signal, to me anyway, that drinking is intimately tied to social expectations (I wouldn’t use the term “peer pressure” because it’s seen as more of a norm than a vice). What this means if that if a critical mass of people started socializing without it, others would naturally follow. I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on this.
Your second comment was nicely expressed. The law certainly isn’t random – it’s a precious gift.
This is a great post. Thank you for logically and clearly sharing the Baha’i veiwpoint on drinking. Like you, I answer a hesitant yes when asked if my religion forbids me to drink. I’m hesitant because I know the person asking the question will misunderstand my motivation not to drink. Shine the light brother!
Haha…glad to know my hesitation is not just a personality quirk! Thanks for reading brother.
“The malign effects of the widespread use of alcoholic beverages upon almost every society in the world cannot but confirm every Bahá’í the wisdom of Bahá’u’lláh in banning its use, thereby shielding faithful believers from a legion of difficulties.” (Universal House of Justice, Abuse and Violence: Reasons and Remedies, p. 34)
I remember when I first became a Baha’i, I struggled with this issue. I too, didn’t understand what difference it made if people drank responsibly, but I did quit drinking. Years later I started to see how alcoholism had affected my family and the law began to make sense!
Like some of the other posters, people around me began to change when I stopped drinking: some positively and some negatively. My in-laws always served wine when we got together for family meals (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays), but when I stopped drinking, even though I made it clear it didn’t bother me if they continued, they stopped. No one made an issue about it. It just wasn’t available anymore. On the other hand, my husband and I socialized with another couple every month or so; sometimes we would eat at our place; sometimes at theirs. After I became a Baha’i, I took grape juice with me, and put it in my wine glass so I could continue to “drink” with them, but it made the wife so uncomfortable, that she terminated the friendship!
Amazing that in medieval times everyone drunk beer wine and cider, even children drank beer for breakfast.. It still keeps us sane!