Well I never the charity Addaction have made a startling statement.
1 in 4 children have parents with drug or alcohol problems and they are SEVEN yes 7 times more likely to develop the same problems as those parents.
This is not new news but 2.6 million children in the UK living with a hazardous drinker is a time bomb waiting to happen. And the study claims that a third of social workers have no understanding of this. A third! they're being generous I think. I have reviewed Social Work training in the UK and to be quite frank there appears to be no mandatory training in undergraduate courses on substance abuse. Lots on the law and Social Work, lots on reflective writing but virtually nothing as far as I can see on alcohol abuse.
I am absolutely convinced and I shall be always convinced that if you want to change the culture of any society then you have to make that society want to change and that starts with an individual being educated. Simply telling people to change is not going to work you have to inspire change.
With the government looking at a minimum pricing strategy as it's focus on dealing with alcohol challenges it shows how little they listen. Even their own MP, David Burrowes who chaired the commission looking at this would appear to be saying it's about treating the cause of the problem not the treatment post problem that matters.
What you do with addicted parents if you drive up the price of that addiction is make them poorer or drive them into crime and ultimately make their children suffer as you do not stop the addiction. David Cameron's minimum price strategy is therefor likely to see a detrimental effect on nearly three million children and what will that do for the long term health and wealth of the United Kingdom?
We can make a change and we can make a difference but for goodness sake get the politicos out of the loop. They are only interested in the next election, not the next generation. Help us who work tirelessly to educate and make a difference by providing us with the resources and we shall show you change. It will not be in an election cycle it will be generational but if we don't start now we cannot hope to protect those children. Stop thinking about votes and start thinking about people.
Inspiration not castigation, education not thought control.
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You are absolutely right, Trace, but of course, as you know too well, those polititians HAVE to worry about the electoral term or they won't be there in a few years time to see these things through. This kind of long-termism is not compatible with a modern democracy. I imagine you are socialist in nature, though you keep left/right politics out of your arguments, but the only way I can see your suggested path working in the real world is in some kind of communist system. If the Chinese government instigated a long term plan like this, of education and changing attitudes, it could be successful because it does not have to worry about elections and it can be pretty confident it will still be around (as a governing entity) to see through the results. Unless you have some proposals to change the way the entire political system in this country works, keep up the good work, but you are screaming into the wind.
ReplyDelete(P.S. I am not advocating a communist system here! I am centre-right in nature and a confirmed capitalist pig-dog!)
S
I too do do not wish to live under a totalitarian state Stevie and my politics lie to neither the left nor right preferring to be thought of as an educationalist rather than politician. I do however believe that countries like Sweden (that also has a similar political system to ours) have overcome the left/right challenges in favour of national need so it is possible.And ultimately I do not seek to abolish alcohol merely to educate people into using it in a less harmful way.
DeleteDoing this though requires a level of understanding in political circles that is quite often beyond the comprehension of the average politician.
As far as changing the political system I believe that we need politicians who do their job rather than try to save their job. Mandatory voting should be brought in with a box at the bottom marked None of the Above. If that box wins then all in the above ballot are to be prevented from running in another ballot. That way we may prevent some of the pseudo politicians who are out for themselves. Radical? perhaps, practical? unlikely as too much at stake