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I'm not saying anything new but this article around drinking during the pandemic is one of the most irresponsible things I've ever read. We live in a society and a country that normalises and encourages drinking to excess and it is not right. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8736973/amp/Confessions-corona-holics-writers-admit-theyve-hic-pandemic.html
It's not about being judgemental or standing on a soapbox - I drink too - but we have a fundamental issue around alcohol. We turn it into a joke, we shame other people who don't drink and it is the MOST damaging drug in terms of impacts on a person's life.
It doesn't mean you can't enjoy a glass of whatever, but we have this jolly approach to drinking that masks so much - the blackouts, fights with family, long lasting damage to families that we spend lifetimes trying to unravel.
Go into any greeting card shop and tell me how many of these cards joke and celebrate alcohol. Yes it is part of our society because we made it that way. I have sat in the rooms and seen how alcoholism has destroyed lives - those of addicts and their loved ones.
There is space for people who want to drink and can have fun with it. But there is also an overwhelming number of people who cannot. And we have to stop celebrating the use of a drug - and it is a drug, however much you'd like to imagine otherwise- as if life is dull without it.
Drink what you want, do what you want. But stop glorifying it when it has broken so many people. And for people wanting facts - read @ProfDavidNutt book on alcohol or this article about why alcohol is the most damaging drug out of 20 drugs studied: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660210
Lastly - for anyone wanting help - there are lots of online groups for those who have addicted loved ones via @AlAnon_WSO and those with addiction issues @AlcoholicsAnony and the amazing charity @WeAreWithYou https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/
