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Booze! Be aware of the dangers
The Echo is kicking off its campaign to highlight the problem that is rife in the North East.
Don't be a Boozer Loser – that's that message to Echo readers today.
We're launching our campaign to raise awareness of sensible drinking and are urging people to stick to safe alcohol limits – for the sake of themselves, their families and community.
Sunderland is fourth worst in the country for binge drinking and Durham is third.
Nearly one in three adults on Wearside drink heavily at least once a week, while up to 25 people a day are treated at Sunderland Royal Hospital's accident and emergency department for alcohol-related problems.
Over the next two weeks, the Don't Be a Loser campaign will look at the issue of alcohol on Wearside.
We'll find out about Sunderland's drinking habits, and the truth about what booze is doing to the people of the city and how problems can be tackled.
We'll be looking at how to drink safely and challenging people to try to stick to recommended limits.
We'll also be talking to people who have been affected by alcohol, as well as health experts, frontline NHS staff, charity workers, retailers, bars, police and other organisations. We also want to hear your views.
Echo editor Rob Lawson said: "The statistics speak for themselves – we have a serious problem with alcohol in our community. But the statistics don't tell the whole sorry story. Alcohol abuse destroys
families and eats away at the fabric of our society.
"Our campaign is not calling on people to give up drink, but we are asking people to take a good hard look at their drinking habits and ask themselves some serious questions.
"We want to hear the views of the Wearside public and encourage them to support our campaign. We don't want anyone in our community to become a Boozer Loser."
There is growing concern, both locally and nationally, about excessive drinking and the damaging effect it can have, both on people's health and wider society.
Nonnie Crawford, Sunderland's director of public health, said: "When you look at statistics which compare levels of drinking and levels of hospital admissions in Sunderland with other parts of the North East, they don't look good and when you look at the North East compared to the rest of the country, it doesn't look like we have the healthiest relationships that we might."
Alcohol can be linked to a range of health problems, including liver disease, stomach conditions, high blood pressure and some cancers.
There are other more immediate risks too.
Nonnie said: "The reality is that anybody under the influence of alcohol has a tendency to engage in activities which they would think differently about were they not under the influence.
"That can sometimes be sexually-related behaviour, for men and women, such as sex without contraception."There could be aggression – you could get into or start rows or fights that you wouldn't normally do."
Dr James Crosbie, consultant gastroenterologist at Sunderland Royal Hospital, sees first hand the damage drink can do, treating patients with liver disease, such as alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, and some who end up needing transplants because of drinking.
"Alcohol is so readily available. It's stronger and people across the board are drinking more.
Dr Crosbie says people end can end up in hospital after never realising the damage they were doing to themselves.
He said: "We see people who have been hazardous drinkers and develop health problems who really didn't see the amount of alcohol they drink as a problem."He added: "I think most people know if they drink more than the recommended levels but because it's not causing them any problems they ignore it and think this problem happens to someone else because they can't see the damage and don't feel the damage.
"A lot of symptoms people get from drinking heavily, like hangovers and underperformance, aren't necessarily a sign they are developing health problems."Those health effects are different from when you are suffering from long-term damage and it can be very late in the day when damage becomes apparent."
Dr Crosbie will explain in Wednesday's Echo about what damage can be done to the body by drinking too much.
Dr Crosbie says alcohol dependency needs to be treated as an illness.
"It's important not to judge people, particularly when they have a dependence that is hard for them to control.
"There are other illnesses related to people's lifestyle choices that aren't always judged as harshly as alcohol related illnesses."
Kevan Martin, chief executive of the North East Regional Alcohol Forum (Neraf) knows better than most the impact of booze.
The charity founded by Kevan – who is a recovered alcoholic – is helping people across Wearside, and increasingly further afield, to beat their drink addiction.
He said: "It can happen to anybody and the problem with alcohol is it's not like heroin where you inject and you know what you're getting into.
"Alcohol is seen as friendly but people aren't told just how addictive alcohol is."Kevan would like to see more education among young people about the dangers of alcohol.He said: "We grow up seeing alcohol as a nice friendly thing. Not much is said about the dangers and the adverse health effects it can bring.
"It's seen as a friendly substance, which it can be if drank at safe levels, but we live in a culture where we drink to get drunk."
Kevan says that drinking becomes a lifestyle.
He said: "What usually happens is that people, until their mid-20s, maybe later, will have a pub drinking career. Then the usual pattern is they start falling out with family and friends and drinking goes underground so they drink at home and don't want people to know they are drinking too much."Usually when the person's health is in a pretty bad way they decide to do something about it."A lot of people find out they've got a drink problem when they try to do without it for a night or two."During the Don't Be a Boozer Loser campaign, the Echo will find out more about the inspirational work of Kevan and Neraf. The issue of drink is being highlighted by Balance, which was recently set up in the North East and is the UK's first regional alcohol office.
Balance has been launched to inspire changes in the way we drink so that people in the region can still enjoy a good time while reducing their consumption.
Balance is currently running the North East Big Drink Debate to find out more about people's views on alcohol.
The campaign will be covered further in the Echo over the next fortnight.
Colin Shevills, director of Balance, said: "Alcohol is a key part of the culture of the North East. People have fun with alcohol, there's nothing wrong with that."The problem is we're seeing increasing problems associated with its consumption."In terms of health, people are ending up with chronic conditions such as liver problems in hospital, more and more people are ending up in A&E because of disorder on the streets."We now unfortunately are worst in the country when it comes to alcohol-related hospital admissions.
"We can't keep going on this upwards trend of drinking more and more, leading to more and more health problems, social problems. It needs to stop."
Colin says he feels it is realistic to tackle the problem, although it won't be easy.
He said: "It's realistic. I don't think it's easy and something that's going to happen overnight but it's something we can't afford to ignore."
"When it comes to alcohol, you need to take responsibility for yourself and consider what you are consuming, the impact it's having on your family and children and what sort of impact that it has on the community."
Read more in today's Echo
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Friday 10 February 2012
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