Alcoholics Anonymous celebrates golden jubilee with international convention
PANAJI
Amid Goa's alarming rates of alcoholism-related mortalities in government health facilities, including close to 300 a year direct liver cirrhosis deaths, Dr Ashish Deshpande of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has underscored the need for building capacities in conventional healthcare to detect early and adequately treat 'alcoholism'.
"Alcoholism or any intoxicating substance addiction is not merely an addiction. It is a disease of the brain," Dr Deshpande who founded the Centre for Mental Health Advocacy, Research and Treatment Services in Mumbai, said.
He was addressing the media in Panaji on Friday ahead of the international convention being organised by AA to mark the golden jubilee of the organisation. The convention got underway at the Ravindra Bhavan in Margao on Friday evening, inaugurated by Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar.
Deshpande meanwhile said that the rate at which the average age of initiation to alcohol is falling across communities and societies in India is alarming, in some cases even 12 and 14.
"We need to protect our children. It's not for nothing that the minimum legal age for drinking alcohol is 21 in many countries across the world. It is because it has scientifically been proven that addiction is greatly likely when you get initiated into drinking alcohol when young," Dr Deshpande said even as he made a strong case for universally raising the legal age for drinking alcohol to 21.
Everyone starts as a social drinker. Nobody begins drinking alcohol with the intention of becoming an alcoholic. But it happens because drinking affects your thinking and it is a disease of the brain," Deshpande said.
He said, accident victims are brought to health facilities for treatment of injuries and most of the time these accidents are caused because the drivers are drunken alcoholics.
"In these emergencies, doctors and medical staff treat the victim's injuries but no one bothers to diagnose and treat their alcoholism although they are inflicted by the disease," Dr Deshpande lamented even as he advocated for awareness and capacity building among the medical fraternity to tackle alcoholism.
Women more susceptible
Women who get initiated to drinking alcohol are more susceptible to turning alcoholics than men due to their physiological nature.
"I am a votary of gender neutrality generally. But in the context of alcoholism, there cannot be gender neutrality. That is because nature (physiology) itself is not gender neutral," Dr Deshpande said.
AA, of which Dr Deshpande is an 'A Class' Trustee, he said has a proven and globally recognised 12-step programme to treat alcoholism and is doing good work to deal with the problem through meetings, both in physical as well as digital mode.
AA in Goa is among the most active units in the whole of Asia and has some sixty groups and three rehab centres.
Media must play a role
Deshpande said one of the biggest stumbling blocks to fighting alcoholism is the social stigma attached to an alcoholic which prevents him/her from acknowledging they have the disease.
"It is in this that the media has a crucial role which it could play to rid society of the stigma it attaches to alcoholics," he said, adding that the media could also minimise content which seeks to promote or licences alcohol consumption which greatly influences young minds," he said.
Meanwhile, the four-day national convention which kick-started at the Ravindra Bhavan in Margao is expected to see over 1,000 delegates participate. Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar inaugurated the convention.
One of the main goals of the convention is to give a fillip to women alcoholics to overcome the fear of the stigma and come forward to seek help.
