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Last Tuesday, a lady who identified herself as a mother with two teenage kids telephoned me. She thanked me for my article on 'Smoking' and invited me write something about another nationally widespread problem - social drinking. She said, "Alcohol is being introduced into each and every home and now included in social functions where before it was never permitted. Look at any party, wedding, funeral or even Pirith and Dana ceremony: alcohol is always there."

She added, "Although an occasional social drink does not mean becoming an alcoholic, every alcoholic must have started with one drink." She quoted her husband as an example. Three years ago, his "social drinking" was confined to office and birthday parties and at most thrice a month. Today, the so-called "social gatherings" have increased up to five times a week and he has become, for all intents and purposes, "an alcoholic".

I felt sorry for her: maybe there are thousands of people like this lady who wished their husbands or children had never touched an alcoholic drink in life.

That afternoon, I asked my physician what really means by social drinking. He "defined" social drinking as the consumption of alcohol without reaching the point of being drunk. Most adults can drink moderate amounts of alcohol - up to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women and older people.

One drink equals one 12-ounce bottle of beer, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. A blood alcohol level of up to 0.05 per cent is considered to be within the social drinking range.

However, he warned that certain individuals should not drink at all. They include anyone suffering with a psychological condition: for example, extreme distress, depression, anxiety disorders or personality disorders. People who plan to drive or engage in other activities requiring alertness and skill should definitely not drink: also people taking medications, including some over-the-counter medications or with medical conditions that can be worsened by drinking.

Why drink?

At my Sports Club later that evening I asked a friend who calls himself a "social drinker" - why people drink in a social situation. He gave me three reasons - One, drinking is relaxing for many people; Two, drinking alcohol is a social norm in our culture, and is considered acceptable in many situations; and three, drinking is known as a "social lubricant," making people feel more at ease when meeting someone new.

Yet, I wondered whether my friend knew the problems and the extent of damage alcohol can do to him. My physician gave me that bit of information at the afternoon chat. " Let me count the ways", he said, " In the elderly, alcohol-related hospitalizations include those due to heart attacks. Remember - Alcohol affects all tissues of the body.

Its abuse is associated with cancer of the gut or lung. And, it shrinks your brain. Cirrhosis or liver scarring (usually a complication of alcoholism) is the fourth most common cause of death in people age 25 to 64. Although alcohol provides seven calories per gram, almost twice the energy of carbohydrates or protein and almost as much as fat, it displaces normal nutrients and causes malnutrition, including deficiencies of thiamines and other vitamins".

Giving up

During the discussion, my friend at the club asked me whether one can really give up social drinking. He doubted it very much. I said, "Yes, you can - if you really want to". I knew better because I have seen many people who went through the cycle successfully. It starts in the most innocuous way. You merely want to lose some weight, or perhaps your Doctor has asked you to stop drinking, for a few months or so.

Before you know it, you are hooked on the regular rushes of well-being brought on by abstinence. You are seduced by your improved appearance, or you crave yet another full night's sleep, uninterrupted by the non-specific anxiety that used to wake you at four in the morning. Above all, there is the novelty of having mental clarity by day.

The only trouble is that you remember all too well how irritating you used to find it during your own drinking days when some fellow said, "Not for me, thanks-I'm on mineral water." Drinkers mind if one among them is not drinking. Like death, drink is a great leveller. Sobriety immediately introduces a hierarchy.

If you use your determination and common sense you can maintain your social acceptability without coming across as smugly sober. You can avoid being bullied into having "just one"?

Of course, remember, the non-drinker has his own advantages. He can drive everyone else home. He can hold on to the threads of conversations and steer people back toward their punch lines, or anticipate ugly scenes and defuse them.

Nimal, a NGO worker involved in youth development says," What we should stress is safe, healthy and responsible drinking. We know that we cannot prevent drinking, but we should try and help them more responsible, and not get behind a wheel or drink more than is healthy."

"There is heavy drinking by youths who experience blacking out and throwing up, but it is not the majority of the population," he adds. "Ten per cent of the population account for about three-fourths of the alcohol consumed."

If that's the case, that 10 per cent doesn't seem to be letting up.

Restrictions

But can we restrict Sri Lankan access to alcohol? Prohibition has never met with success either in United Sates or various States in India at anytime because man by nature has weakness for stupor. Therefore, it needn't come in the form of a Constitutional amendment.

Lawmakers are increasingly lending an ear to the chorus of temperance advocates calling for alcohol to be more highly priced, less available, less advertised, more regulated, and its consumers more closely scrutinized by police.

Police officials and anti-alcohol activists are using the same public health arguments they used against tobacco advertising in pushing for bans on alcohol advertising. And whereas second-hand smoke presents unique reasons for prohibiting tobacco use in public that can't be extended to alcohol, alcohol carries the unique drunk driving problem, which could be said to pose a more immediate and severe threat to public health than second-hand smoke.

Many of the arguments already used to justify the prohibition of certain drugs and to prohibit public smoking in some areas, then, could just as easily be applied to alcohol.

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