I just read an article that estimates alcohol abuse (NHS costs, crime costs and lost of productivity) alone costs the country £25 billion a year. (Read it here)
£25 billion is an awful lot of money. That works out around £415 for every man woman and child in Britain (according to the article).
For those of you that are interested, take at look at some of the life changing things that you can spend considerably smaller amounts of money on (for those that aren't, skip to the point):
http://www.watoto.com/get-involved/needs-list
https://www.tearfund.org/get_involved/give/give_main/one-off_donations/general_fund/
http://www.watoto.com/sponsorship
I'm going to get straight to the point:
Imagine if the finances wasted every year on both alcohol and the abuse it causes was spent instead on eliminating issues of poverty and injustice in the world. We'd see the change we often hear people talk about become a reality. Or at least, go a good way to getting there.
Let me highlight that I'm not saying that people shouldn't drink at all - although that would be my personal preference. Rather, I'm talking about a dream of eradicating the excessive drinking that is so normal in today's society.
Surely, saving the lives of millions of people trumps a night in a drunken stupor? Perhaps we need to find a way of connecting with poverty and injustice that we find it so easy to ignore.
This is all a projection of my frustration at helplessly watching people suffer. I wish I could do more. I will find a way. Bear with me.
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