Alcoholism in the United Kingdom
Alcoholism is currently an ongoing problem in the United Kingdom. There have been thousands of unnecessary deaths every year from alcoholism. According to the National Health Institute, 38% of men and 29% of women consume alcohol on a regular basis. More needs to be done in the United Kingdom for the British to be treated for alcoholism or it can cause devastating results to them and their loved ones.
In the 1690s, British parliament passed a law to encourage the distillation of brandy and spirits from corn which led to a massive gin production and consumptions. The U.K. still has its problems with alcohol. In 2008, there were 6,769 deaths from alcohol misuse and deaths have doubled since the 1950s. The U.K. National Health Service spends 2.7 billion pounds on treating alcohol related problems which puts a strain on health services.
There is a big drinking culture in the United Kingdom as communities gather around to share their stories in pubs and is another place to relax after a hard day of work.
The British have bad drinking habits such as session drinking where you can spend hours drinking in a bar but in long periods of time so you would not appear intoxicated but would still be consuming large amounts of alcohol. Many also binge drink where you consume a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time, leading to alcohol poisoning, liver disease, and blackouts where you will have no memories of the night before. Binge drinking is a major problem in the United Kingdom because their government used to have restrictive drinking hours so drinkers would drink large amounts in short amount of time. Children also tend to drink at a very early age as many like to drink alcopops which taste like soft drinks.
There are treatment options available in the United Kingdom such as Drinkline which offers advice to anyone with a drinking problem and for those who are worried about someone else’s alcohol consumption. There are also Alcoholics Anonymous groups that are available every day in several towns. Groups like Foundation 66 and Turning Point give different programs to help those escape addiction and create a successful recovery plan. More efforts need to be done in the United Kingdom to ensure that there are more resources to treat the British with alcoholism to bring the deadly statistics down.
