THE only influence worse than a ‘gravitational pull’ that alcohol can exert on its users once they become addicted to it, is a ‘crushing defeat’, to the extent that, if left unattended, your situation can only get progressively worse. For this reason, it is advised that persons avoid at all cost, tendencies to become alcohol abusers.

Alcohol abuse means having unhealthy or dangerous drinking habits, such as drinking every day or drinking too much at a time. Alcohol abuse can cause you to become involved in fatal accidents, and if you are a violent person – it can land you in problems with the police; bring harm to your relationships; and cause you to habitually miss work, lose your job and a host of other things.   Prolonged drinking also puts you at risk for developing serious health complications and can cause other potentially life-threatening consequences like sclerosis of the liver, elevated blood pressure (hypertension) and blood sugar (diabetes).

The person who abuses alcohol continues to drink even though he/she knows their drinking is causing problems.  Over time, the person’s continued abuse of alcohol can lead to alcohol dependence or addiction.

For a classic illustration of the effects of alcohol on its users and the treatment process for abusers, today, we introduce to our readers, a client who is currently on the Substance and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Programme offered by the Salvation Army in Guyana.Ulric B, 42, who is well qualified, having studied at the University of Guyana and the Guyana School of Agriculture, fell prone to consuming alcohol ever since he was a lad. He now tells us what alcohol abuse has done to him and conversely what the recovery programme is doing for him.

Ulric B:
“I started drinking in my late teens – about 17 or 18 because at that time alcohol was a social norm in my family.  My parents both drank, so at that time it appeared to me that they were just social drinkers. We had regular weekend parties, and if there were birthday celebrations there was always alcohol there and then you’d hear some quarrelling.  It was a norm and was not seen as anything negative, so I started drinking just like that,” Ulric told the Pepperpot Magazine.

“I started with one beer and it was alright, nobody had a problem with it. As I got into my early twenties it progressed in terms of the quantity of beer that I was drinking.  From one and two it became seven and eight, 10 and then I moved on to the spirits (liquor).”    Part of the requirements for enrollment to the Salvation Army’s Rehabilitation programme is that the client must genuinely want to ‘come on board’ and be committed to making or bringing about that change in his life. However, Ulric says that by then his parents had both died and together with his siblings, he decided on entering the programme.

Ulric commenced treatment at the Rehabilitation Centre about seven years ago, but sadly ‘walked out’ after having stayed just about three months, reasoning that he believed that he was ‘not ready for it’.    But upon introspection, Ulric revealed the real reason for walking out:  “For me, at that time, it was as if I wasn’t in control, and knowing what I know now, having done some research, I found out that addicts love to be in control.

And I felt that I was not in control of what I wanted to do because there were rules; there were regulations; there were stipulations governing the things that you need to do ‘for your own benefit’.  But at the time, the addiction had clouded my entire concept of understanding all these things, so I felt as though I wasn’t in control and I didn’t like that,” he said.

And so, at the end of three months, he declared himself ‘healed’, saying that he did not need to complete six months, so he was considered as having “walked out of the programme.”

ULRIC’S RECOMMITMENT
Early this year, after sober reflection and careful consideration, Ulric re-entered the programme, and this time around he is reported by the Programme Manager to be responding  favourably. Ulric has exhibited a sincere passion to get on with the programme and to make the best of it. He made the sobering point, however, that, “Pathetically imbibing is a socially acceptable thing. It is legal, and that makes it easier for someone to be trapped under the umbrella of addiction because it’s there, they can use it,” he said.  Ulric argued that in Guyana, there are no real enforced stipulated rules, laws or guidelines to make people not purchase alcohol.

“I have seen kids seven and eight years old, buying liquor in shops and it’s legal and there’s a general lack of understanding about it,” he said. He continued: “You turn on the television and you see a beverage producer getting certificates for Best Rum in the nation and the like. So the average person will tend to believe that it is okay to drink.  And mind you, people are not only identifying with alcohol.  They are identifying with sub-conscious issues; underlying issues that they would have had, it is as deep as that.    “It is not the alcohol that made us drink, it is the effect of the stimulant; because alcohol is a stimulant, or it is believed to be a stimulant and extensive use can cause depression, so it is also a depressive drug,” he reasoned.

SOCIAL ISSUES 
Meanwhile, there have been calls from other quarters, for a recognition of the fact that alcoholism is at the very core of many social pathologies in Guyana, along with proposals for crafting and executing strategies that would help to tackle this issue.On average, Guyanese, aged 15 years or older are reported to have consumed more than eight litres daily of pure alcohol in 2010, compared to the global figure of 6.2 litres, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2014 report.

THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE USER
Recalling the effects of alcohol on his mind and body whenever he drank, Ulric said:  “Initially, I felt good, there’s no doubt about that. Before entering the Recovery Programme here, there were times when I felt good when consuming alcohol.  The euphoria was great. You feel cool, and that is the progressive nature of it.  In the early stages when you take two or three beers or Guinness you feel cool, you feel relaxed,” he said.

But today Ulric has come to realise that there was really nothing ‘cool’ about consuming alcohol. “Because of the fact that it is a stimulant, to some extent, people say that it relaxes them. So, for persons who are prone to being not as vocal, it tends to free them up, and they would start to speak more than usual. Alcohol tends to embolden them and so things that affected you for ‘donkey years’ and you never spoke about it, you would now come out and say it… [Under the influence], it’s like you become “big and bold” and dare to say anything.

ANGER
He told of how his addiction led him to develop such unlikable personality traits such as ‘anger’, a normal natural emotion which, if not handled properly can spiral out of control and cause a negative ripple effect on himself and others around.    “There were times when I became irritated easily, but sometimes that response is a withdrawal symptom. When you stop using the drug of choice, you tend to get irritated for the slightest thing, and you would lash out at other persons for the simplest of things.

You’d complain that the television is a little too loud, or persons are talking a little too much or a little too loud, or just not putting a bottle in the right place where you had it. And sometimes for nothing at all – you are just irritable, so you find yourself lashing out at others and that is unlikeable,” Ulric related.  Fortunately he said, he was never a violent person.

JOBLESS
Ulric confessed: “Sometimes, after drinking, I couldn’t get to work for as long as three days and so I lost many jobs – so many that I cannot count them on my fingers and toes.  It was very real, but the only person who could not have seen it was me. He recalled the days when he held good and well-paying jobs, and on payday, with salary in his pocket, scarcely could he wait for dismissal time to leave work.

“The money would be itching in my pocket.  I couldn’t wait to get to a bar or a roadside shop to start drinking.  And that is when I would meet all sorts of friends.  People I didn’t even know, I gon now know. And the truth is that my self-esteem had gotten so low, I would see people I didn’t even know, and just for a little bit of company, I gon start buying drinks for them,” he said.

LONELINESS:
Then with a shirk of the shoulder he added:  “As a child I was neglected and so I felt lonely.” And the trend was that every time he received his pay, he would send in sick leave applications for three days following payday.

Having come from a cultured and respectable family, he was not an aggressive person.  But on the other hand, he was often the subject of unprovoked violent attacks, rolling his sleeves up to attest to the debilitating injuries he suffered.

He’d be hospitalised, but two and three days following his discharge he was determined to go back to drinking alcohol.

“I am learning the nature of addiction.  I am also learning how to control urges and not to do the things I used to do, in order to get what I never had – sobriety, peace, happiness,” he said, with a look of gratification. Confident that he will complete the recovery programme this time around, Ulric has already made plans to return to University to complete his studies.

“This time around I propose pursuing a Degree in Social Work.  I can’t beat the alcoholism, so I’ll study it, and share my knowledge with others,” he concluded. He is also interested in networking with others who would have successfully completed the programme; share thoughts on the way forward and develop that same camaraderie they enjoyed at the Rehabilitation Centre.