I really enjoyed The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell and the last statement in this passage really resonated to me.

Stella had only tried alcohol once in her entire life. It had been in the old place, in what she now thought of as her old life. She’d been far too young but, as always, she’d been attempting to fit in. One of the older girls had got a bottle of vodka and they’d gone out to a clearing in the woods. The girls had given her some mixed with Coke and it had tasted, well, mostly of Coke. Slightly off Coke.

Huddled around the fire they’d all been chatting and she’d felt, for the first time in her life, as if she had friends. Then she’d started to feel unwell, like the world was tumbling off its axis. She’d stood up and tried to excuse herself before stumbling away from the fire to be sick, a very different kind of laughter now ringing in her ears. When she’d come back, she’d found the clearing empty. It had taught her two valuable lessons: one, you couldn’t trust people; and two, alcohol was only the answer if the question was ‘How can I make everything worse?’

I recognise that many people - perhaps even most - will not agree: this is, currently, an unpopular opinion. But I’ve seen so many lives diminished, ruined or ended by alcohol that I feel it’s awful for individuals and society.

Here are some figures from Alcohol Change UK:

  • 24% of adults in England and Scotland regularly drink over the Chief Medical Officer’s low-risk guidelines, and 27% of drinkers in Great Britain binge drink on their heaviest drinking days
  • Alcohol misuse is the biggest risk factor for death, ill-health and disability among 15-49 year-olds in the UK, and the fifth biggest risk factor across all ages
  • In 2015/16 in England, victims believed the offender(s) to be under the influence of alcohol in 39% of all violent incidents

There are many more on the Alcohol Change UK website.

My hope is that, during my children’s lifetime, alcohol consumption will be confined to the realms of history. Trends suggest it’s on the way out in the way that smoking cigarettes is. In 2017, 20% of adults reported not drinking alcohol at all and overall consumption has fallen by around 16% since 2004. Encouragingly, those aged 16-24 are least likely to drink.