British are in denial about the risks of alcoholism

Over the Christmas period there were many campaigns around the country highlighting the risks of binge drinking. Now the New Year is upon us, many people are opting to have a dry January to give their livers a little time to recover before recommencing their usual drinking habits.

Why do people abstain from alcohol completely for a whole month? Is it to raise money for charity to improve health? Surely it is possible to drink moderately for four weeks and to still enjoy a pint with friends or a glass of wine with Sunday lunch?

Melissa Kite, writing in the Guardian this week, suggests that the reason for total abstinence is simple – most people know that if they have one drink they will not be able to stop. Middle-class drinkers suffer the same relationship with alcohol as the problem drinkers in town centres on Saturday evenings; many simply cannot stop after one drink.

As a society we appear to be getting less enlightened about the risks of alcohol and all too often people avoid confronting the problem.

Ms Kite wrote: “When people are agonising about giving their vital organs a break because they have so battered themselves over Christmas, does that not suggest there is something very wrong with our attitude to alcohol?”

Intelligent people recognise that alcohol can have devastating effects on their health and yet feel that one month abstinence a year is enough to make everything all right.

In recent years we have increased the availability of alcohol by bringing in new 24-hour drinking laws, but little has been done to provide new alcohol treatment programmes. The biggest issue is that most people are unaware that they have a drinking problem.