Alcoholism and other drugs abuse in The Bahamas

Alcoholism – The Hidden Scourge
The Bahama Journal Editorial



That we live in a place and in a time when drugs and alcohol abuse is rampant is the commonsense of the land.

And for sure, the time has come for those who lead to address this problem; since it is the one problem that relates directly to the problems we now have as regards public safety.

What we know for sure is that if this and other problems are to be resolved, those who have the power to tax and authorize spending, should – if only for ‘conscience-sake’ understand and live up to their social responsibility – that being to help the alcoholic and drugs addict get up from under the rubble.

But as we appreciate so very well, most Bahamians just seem not to get it when they are told that, there is [in truth and in fact] a vitally important connection to be made between public health and public safety.

And so what we have is a situation on the ground where practically everyone we know seems content to obsess themselves with the murder count and nonsensical conversations as to what the police should be doing about the so-called crime problem.

In the interim, some of these people ignore the fact that, there are certain social practices that lead directly to what is perceived as the “crime problem’.

Highest on that list of practices would be the indiscriminate and often profligate consumption of liquor, other spirits and a nasty mix of other drugs, licit and illicit alike.

In this regard then, we would suggest that, Bahamians of all strata and all other social conditions, routinely use alcohol as part of their family and community rituals; and for sure, even as very many of these people consume alcohol because it tends to lubricate social intercourse; few of them understand that use can and does sometime lead to abuse.

In addition, abuse sometimes slouches into a full-fledged medical crisis – alcoholism.

Here we suspect that, this problem is far more widespread than many people might recognize and that it may very well help explain the horrendous impact, drugs and alcohol have as regards impairing a person’s judgment; and thus and thereafter the carnage on our streets that comes with all those car crashes that maim and kill so very many people.

In addition, there are all those other instances when intoxicated men and women - with inhibitions lowered – routinely resort to this or that besotted display of so-called masculinity; with this or that knucklehead vowing that he can –as the saying goes- hold his liquor.

Here as night follows day, the person in question poisons himself; this is what intoxication is all about!

And so, there you have it, some of the more god-awful actions are thereafter committed by people who are lurking somewhere or the other on the borderline of insanity – as induced by not only alcohol; but this drug in combination with ganja and pharmaceuticals..

In combination, these produce a veritable witches’ brew of concocted nastiness.

It is this nastiness that leaves families in distress; threatens public safety and which – in and of itself – can be associated with the problems now facing those charged with ensuring public safety.

It is always cause for the greatest distress for us as we visit this or that community or settlement throughout our archipelago when we come across men and women whose lives have been left ravaged and ruined by drugs and alcohol abuse.

Indeed, whether reference is made to some of the settlements in Eleuthera, Exuma, Andros, Abaco, Acklins, Crooked Island – or islands and cays further away – the fact remains that there are far too many of our men and women who are being destroyed by alcohol.

But even more tellingly, as alcohol ravages family life; despoils community and otherwise threatens to upend national development; few people seem to know what is to be done about the matter at hand.

As a necessary consequence of this failure, we now have a situation on our hands where –as the price is totted up – the conclusion beckons that, those who can do something about the matter are either blind to it and its implications; or that they could care less.

Here suffice it to say that, we are absolutely convinced that, the government in concert with its social partners and other interested stake-holders can and should wake to the reality that – if left unchecked and therefore unaddressed – the alcoholism scourge will continue to undermine most of their other efforts.

Evidently, there is a role for the government to play in dealing with this twinned crisis – one where there must be a keener understanding that when a person has been felled by alcoholism or by some other drugs abuse; they need help.

That effort should be led by the government; and thereafter supported by all other right-thinking Bahamians and residents.

November 30th, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International