The demon drink
It's 4am, and I've just finished a proposal for us to open the planned alcohol dependent unit – aka wet unit – a year early. Originally there was to be a wet unit when we moved into our new building six months ago, but it's got to go out to tender and be part of the current review of alcohol services, and will now open in April 2010. All very sensible, but...
We're finding a lot of problems managing the serious drinkers, especially as we only have funding to open 19 hours a day. Oddly enough, this – and the fact that we can't cope with drinking on the premises – means that the most problematic people are out on the streets causing and absorbing chaos, which they then bring back indoors. Oh, and the neighbours, local residents and businesses, aren't wildly thrilled either. This is not really a surprise to us, as we've seen the trend for a couple of years, alcohol use increasing. Two-thirds of our residents right now are drinkers of one sort or another (entrenched alcoholic, binge drinker, occasional drinker). It seems to have caught some of the statutory agencies off guard. Maybe they thought we'd find a way to magic a service out of thin air, or that the individuals concerned would just be obliging and not cause problems until the service was in place.
And why the government doesn't just ban strong lager and cider is beyond me. There's an acknowledged problem with alcohol use in this country. Some countries don't seem to sell Skol Stupid or Synthetic Pseudo-Cider that's never seen an apple and is more addictive...why can't we just outlaw them? At least the extra volume of liquid necessary might reduce the overall intoxication levels, or slow down progress to collapse.
When I started working at the night shelter, drug use was a major issue. I've seen it go down, as methadone programmes take away people's need to use crime to fund their habit. Some people then turn to drink, to replace drugs, because their underlying issues haven't been addressed. Some just get into alcohol. I believe that a lot of substance use is caused by abuse in the person's early years, the Baby P's of this world, if they survive, often turn to drugs or alcohol to cope. In much the same way that many workers go home and have a drink or two....and there just isn't enough capacity in the mental health services, or primary care, to fund therapy for everyone who needs it. So a lot of our residents continue as flotsam and jetsam, buffeted by every wave, thrown here and there by each event happening at that moment, not able to control their own lives. Some just have their heads above water, some are not quite sinking but not quite swimming either. We're just a life-raft, a temporary respite, with the chance to climb painfully out onto dry land, eventually, if you persevere, and wait, and struggle.