Foundation says fight alcohol not drugs
I'm going to publish this transcript of ABC radio's AM program.
It has been newshawked in the NAP NT Drug News Vault, but published on 26 July and with a heading about alcohol it may not get the attention it deserves.
Along with most of the world's governments, the Australian and Northern Territory governments are vocal in their War on Drugs (and drug users) but neglect to address the very real alcohol problem in the NT ... and not just in the Aboriginal communities but that is the most visible.
The transcript follows - bold/italics are mine.
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TONY EASTLEY: A group that's ploughed $90-million into fighting alcohol abuse over the past five years says governments have lost focus on dealing with the problem.
The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation says it's an uphill battle trying to lower the rate of alcohol related deaths in Australia, especially in the Northern Territory.
Sarah Hawke reports from Darwin.
SARAH HAWKE: It's almost midnight in one of Darwin's well-off suburbs.
(sound of man speaking)
SARAH HAWKE: Have you been drinking?
MAN: Yeah, probably, yeah.
WOMAN: Not all day.
SARAG HAWKE: A group of long grassers, or people who live on the streets, have been drinking in a park in Fannie Bay.
(sound of car engine starting)
A police patrol takes some of the group away, while the others look in the bushes for grog they've hidden from the police.
Groups like the one last night are a regular sight in Darwin.
The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation says alcohol is the most harmful of drugs.
It believes governments can do more to help groups like this one combat alcohol abuse.
The Foundation argues governments beat the drum on fighting illicit drugs, but say virtually nothing about alcohol strategies.
The Foundation's Daryl Smeaton estimates governments have spent $2.4-billion since 1997 on illicit drug programs. But only $100-million has been spent on alcohol abuse initiatives.
DARYL SMEATON: Even at its peak, in 2000, it was only 900 overdose deaths. It's back down to 400. So we've done really well, but 10 people die every day as a result of alcohol related things. Governments are just not recognising that.
SARAH HAWKE: The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation finances projects that combat alcohol misuse and promote responsible consumption.
Foundation chairman, Professor Ian Webster, argues governments receive significant alcohol tax and more of that needs to be ploughed into prevention and rehab programs
IAN WEBSTER: The major issues around alcohol is controlling access and availability, and at a national level it's about taxation. That's been shown universally across the world as to be the most effective things you can do. Governments are inclined to fund glossy, glitzy education programs which get on the television screens but have virtually no enduring effect at all.
SARAH HAWKE: The Northern Territory has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in Australia.
The Foundation calculates that alcohol-related harms cost the NT almost half a billion dollars a year.
TONY EASTLEY: Sarah Hawke reporting there from Darwin.
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fi here agen:
$2.4-billion spent on illicit drug programs but only $100-million has been spent on alcohol abuse initiatives.
And how many have died from drug-related deaths in the NT? I don't have the figures, but I'd be surprised if there was even a dozen.
Alcohol is responsible for so much misery, disease, poverty and death. But it's a good tax earner. No matter how often the price goes up, drinkers will still pay for their drug.
I rteally don't understand why the government doesn't legalise pot so they can tax the shit out of it, it'd be a sure-fire earner and it wouldn't cost so much in health, rehab and car accidents.
One day they'll talk abpout back in the old days of Prohibition as they smoke their state produced tailor-made marijuana cigarettes.
And it will still be illegal to grow it for yourself I bet.
