Alcoholism and Homelessness

I posted a survey in the left hand column about the subject of selling alcohol to alcoholics. I you are reading this not long after I posted it, then it will still be there. Otherwise you'll have to search for it at the bottom of this page. I will try as much as possible, not to delete any of my surveys.

Surveys are tricky, if not fun, cause they ask a very simplified question, requiring the person answering the question to sift through all the info and personal experiences logged within their brains and come up with what they believe is the most appropriate answer. It's a great way to get people thinking, and hopefully engaging in conversation. I just may attempt, again, to open up a related discussion board for my surveys and blog posts.

For this particular survey, I received an email from a regular reader who stated, "About your poll--there are alcoholics galore in my family :( but we (society) can't play Big Brother--where would it end?."

Alcoholism has often be called "the slow suicide." Besides all the trouble that comes to a person's life for drinking, consuming alcohol, uncontrollably, causes irreparable damage to one's internal organs. And left unchecked, will lead to death. Our society has deemed it appropriate, even necessary, that we (society) intervene in such cases. When a person, for whatever reason, is doing harm to him/herself, then society is obligated to take steps to save that person. Even if it means saving them from themselves. I think that should include taking such steps as preventing an alcoholic, as much as possible, from obtaining alcohol. Sure, a motivated alcoholic just might find a way to get his drink, but there is no doubt that such measures by society will save many lives. As much as Prohibition was declared a failure, it actually did reduce the amount of alcohol people consumed. And, certainly, I'm not talking a complete ban on alcohol. What i think would be appropriate would be similar to the laws that are currently in place preventing people with violent histories from buying guns.

An additional benefit would be that the general public would not have to deal as much, or as often, with the "publicly drunk" alcoholic. And since panhandling is the means by which most homeless alcoholics have purchasing power, outlawing the sale of alcohol to known alcoholics would reduce panhandling.

If my little brother were an alcoholic, I certainly would play the role of Big Brother, and do all I could do to prevent him from killing himself. The longer I can keep my brother alive, the more chances he has of coming back to his right mind and getting the upper hand on his problem.

But, that's just my opinion.