I am powerless infront of alcohol

International Day Against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking

Take the first step: accepting the reality

Approximately 2.5 million deaths each year and almost 4 per cent of all deaths worldwide are attributed to alcohol according to the reports released by World Health Organisation Global status (2011) on alcohol and health, exclaims Devika Rani, founder of Amrita Foundation Society, a de-addiction and rehabilitation center in Old Bowenpally.

Devika says that according to reports released in 2011 by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), alcohol consumption in India will cross 19,000 million litres by 2015 from 6,700 million litres witnessed in 2011.“Every alcoholic says ‘I don’t drink’. In the next stage he says ‘I do it occasionally’.

When he is caught red-handed with a heavy drink, he justifies it by saying he has a reason to drink. This strong desire towards alcohol and failure to control is called ‘alcoholism’,” Devika explained. “It’s not the reasons that make people consume alcohol. Rather it’s the alcoholics who find reasons to consume it,” she added.

Sheetal Bidkar, clinical psychologist from Amrita Foundation, says that most people claim that beer has low percentage of alcohol compared to whisky. “It’s not about the percentage of alcohol found in it but what happens within your mind and body when you stop it that is the concept here,” she said.

Dinesh Upender, a former alcoholic who is now a counselor at Amrita Foundation, opined, “Alcoholism is an ocean. Accepting that you are an alcoholic is tough and visiting the doctor doesn’t seem necessary. This is how alcohol consumes a person.”

The 42-year-old who is a former LIC assistant from Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu recalls that he was 19 when he first tasted alcohol. “I felt uneasy and puked.

One of my friends suggested that I should go slow and start with beer. From then on I drank occasionally in parties or social gatherings. Slowly, I developed the habit of taking a drink in the evenings at home and gradually quantity increased by the day and that’s how the quality of my life started decreasing” he added.

He further recited how his situation had become pitiful. “If someone greeted me on the road, I would ask them if they know me. If they said yes, I would immediately ask them for Rs 100 saying that a family member was unwell or I would just tell them some other lie. Most of them knew I was lying but they still obliged,” he said.

“My life had become such that alcohol was everything for me. From the time I got up, my first instinct would be to go to the bar. But one day I realised this isn’t what I want from my life.” ‘There came a situation when my family couldn’t handle me anymore and I made that a reason to drink.

I met with many accidents and had a lot of damage to my life only because of my addiction to alcohol. I never stopped drinking and I never thought I would stop drinking,” he added ruefully. “My family never left me. In fact, they tried me to help in many ways but it was me who kept them away. I joined in many rehabilitation centers but there was no use because I always feared that once I finished the course, I would get back to my old ways,” he explained.

The period of 2001 to 2006 was a “horrible time” for Dinesh and he says his obsession with alcohol led him to abandon a secure job, his family and his hometown. “So I decided whatever happens I won’t drink. I firmly made myself understand that alcohol is never the solution to any problem,” said Dinesh, adding, “If you want to quit do it right now.

An alcoholic person always says that he will quit tomorrow. But that tomorrow never comes,” he says as an after note. Amrita Foundation is providing free counseling sessions this whole month.

By:Ch Sandeep Manohar