Having fun for the holidays with your friends and family? But after all these, who on Earth would be delighted to see deaths and
injuries all over the news flash due to violence in pubs and clubs or car
crashes by unsober irresponsible
bums? Well, neither do I.
The standard way of thinking about “alcohol
drinking” is natural to be part of everyone’s lifestyle. Even media and
literature exhibits this pursuit, to take a case in movies, books,
advertisements, T.V. and reality shows, and much more. Spaniards, known for establishing
Roman Catholicsm in the Philippines, introduced alcohol drinking along with
festivities and merry-making activities granting that it have already existed
for a long period of time. Labajo herself stated, “It has
been traditionally associated with happiness, success, thrill and sexual
prowess, especially for the males, contemporary images of the young and the
women emerging" (5). So to speak, Filipinos
drink to socialize, to relieve stress and pain, and to have fun which is
usually done during parties, birthdays, gatherings, reunions, and even quality
time for one’s self. It also reflects certain Filipino values and traits such
as brotherhood – camaraderie, bonding, and friendship. However, do these desires
and purposes actually take place to majority of the alcoholic users or will
just end up in exacerbating depression and anxiety?
Healing by means of alcohol drinking has also been
common before. This method is usually done in rural and remote areas. Some
Filipinos tend to believe that “tuba”,
fermented from the flowers of the coconut, cures tuberculosis and caters a
healthy start to the newly-born. Lately, I also learned that red wine is good
for the heart because it has an antioxidant that is capable of reducing bad
cholesterol. But technically speaking, do we have to drink alcohol merely to
recover and be healed? To be honest, instead of repelling the disease away through
alcohol drinking, it lures the disease to the inebriate more.
Alcohol beverages vary in units (10 mL) of pure
alcohol, and one unit takes about one hour to relinquish depending on one’s age,
gender, height, and weight. Its content serves as a depressant to
our body
where in it relaxes our muscular and nervous system, but this may build up to
tolerance and dependence once on a regular or heavy intake (4). For instance, Eva Cyhlarova from The Mental Health Foundation pointed
out that excessive consumption of alcohol have higher risks to mental health
problems. In addition, alcohol’s toxicity also produces cancer,
cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis and prematurity in
pregnancies. We are rest assured that this issue is definitely
a concern that needed to be stopped for it causes direct and indirect harm to our
society.
About a year ago, Weiss reported, “12-year-old Faith Carberry, of Longford, Ireland, filed a lawsuit against
her parents, Mary Carberry and Tommy Varden, after sustaining severe injuries
from a drunk driving
accident caused by Carberry, driving a car
purchased by Varden.” Faith here is not the only victim from this havoc brought
by Driving Under the Influence (DUI). She had lost her sister and her friend
while her very own parents were the ones behind the wheel. On the contrary,
some people are still not
afraid even if these disparaties occur. They continue to booze themselves with
beer, spirits and wine. In fact, according to
Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, 3% of the 86,602
vehicular accidents tallied in 2012 were drug or alcohol-related (2). Furthermore, accidents are the one of the ten leading causes
of mortality in the country ranking 9th with a rate of 11.2% in
1982, then ascended to 4th in place with a rate of 41.6% last 2006 proving that, indeed, the influence of alcohol have outgrown (3).
Besides the high rates of DUI, brutality and sexual abuse are
dominant in alcoholism. It is often said that once you are drunk, you can not
completely control your words and your actions. Our anxiety somehow helps us to
evade circumstances we do not wish to happen, and if intoxicated, it is
replenished. This often leads to confrontational situations, altercations, and
rape that also create deaths and injuries. Even in relationships, it
causes unexpected arguments if one of them is frequently engaged to a regular
or heavy pattern of alcohol drinking. Unfortunately, alcohol drinking is being
used as an excuse to justify such behavior in order to at least lessen or
settle the account. Summing it all up, this are just a few of more than 60 major types
of alcohol-related diseases and injuries and results that causes “approximately
2.5 million deaths each year” or in other words,
adverse effects of the said propensity.
My discussion of the consequences of alcohol drinking is
addressing the larger matter of valuing lives and safety of millions of people
because if this pursues and increases, it would greatly affect the economy in
terms of health, environment, and other premises. Other countries have already taken action regarding this issue using advanced technology and science to capture suspected drunken drivers. Urine and blood test were thought of as ways to
detect alcohol levels, but of course, they were very impractical. Meanwhile, their policemen are currently using "Breathalyzer", invented by Dr. Robert Borkenstein of
the Indiana State Police, to determine the blood
alcohol concentration (BAC). Moreover, breathing is much appropriate since it gets absorbed from the mouth, throat, stomach and
intestines into the bloodstream. Alcohol is
not digested upon absorption, nor chemically changed in the bloodstream. When
the blood goes through the lungs,
some of the alcohol moves across the membranes of the lung's air sacs (alveoli) into the air. And then, alcohol will
evaporate from a solution which will be volatile. With that, the concentration
of the alcohol in the alveolar air is
related to the concentration of the alcohol in the blood. The ratio of breath
alcohol to blood alcohol is 2,100:1; meaning 2,100 milliliters of alveolar air will
contain the same amount of alcohol as 1 ml of blood. In United States, 0.08 is the legal standard for drunkenness. In other
words, it’s 0.08 grams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood (1). Hopefully, one day, Philippines will adopt this kind of system or discover cheaper methods in response to people's concern.
However, President
Aquino then signed Republic Act No.
10351, known to be as the Sin Tax Reform Law last December 20,
2012. Indicated in this law is the setting
of higher prices in alcohol and cigarettes, so that some of the buyers will be
discouraged or be controlled. “In its first year of implementation, the measure
is expected to generate for the government additional revenues worth P33.96
billion, of which P23.4 billion will come from cigarettes, P6.06 billion from
distilled spirits and P4.5 billion from fermented liquors” (2). As
a Filipino, I do agree with this policy, but I do hope that the tremendous amount
of tax the government bound to receive would be allotted for monitoring,
surveillance, public health services, and community action. However, companies
and small businesses producing said products might have massive job dislocation
and and the fact that Filipinos will eagerly find more ways to buy them. Hence,
if industries still proceed to collect millions and billions of pesos while Filipinos
are being killed from the unceasing detriments of alcohol
and drug use, then this will be madness for our country's state.
Restrictions on the sale of alcohol, preventive measures of alcohol delinquencies, and the consumption of people below legal age
group are less evident compared to other countries which I think should also be
given attention and focus by our government. Philippines have only allowed an
age bracket of 18 years old and above for service and selling of alcohol. But I
have seen a lot of convenience stores selling these products even to kids!
Thus, there should be a proper government-sanctioned licensing systems that
will obtain licenses from limited producers, distributors, and sellers of
alcohol to prevent its widespread use. And one more thing, haven’t you noticed a
plenty number of commercials, billboards, magazines, and calendars that showcase
alcohol? There should be at least a regulating sector regarding the
advertising and marketing of alcohol. Therefore, reliance to cessation of
alcohol consumption is possible with global strategies at hand and essentially
a need to have a sober world to live in.
References:
(1) http://www.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/breathalyzer.htm
(2) http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2012/12/21/888415/sin-tax-bill-signed-law
(3) http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/198.html
(4) https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/mental-health/alcohol-a-cure-for-stress#adverse
(5) http://www.ihra.net/files/2010/05/02/Presentation_23rd_M10_Labajo.pdf
(1) http://www.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/breathalyzer.htm
(2) http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2012/12/21/888415/sin-tax-bill-signed-law
(3) http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/198.html
(4) https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/mental-health/alcohol-a-cure-for-stress#adverse
(5) http://www.ihra.net/files/2010/05/02/Presentation_23rd_M10_Labajo.pdf
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