Knowledge IS the answer to correcting the problem.... not arrest and shame! Our previous sheriff set up an educational program at the jail. He had an outreach program to the community. Arrests declined. Families got help.It was very successful. His term expired and the new sheriff chose drop the program.
That's ridiculous.
Eating is required for survival. The body does not need alcohol, so all the alcoholic has to do is stop drinking.
A diabetic can't very well stop eating altogether.
Alcoholism is caused by behavior and only behavioral modification can fix it. It's not a disease any more than meth addiction or porn addiction is a disease.
It's insulting to people who have real diseases.
Yes, I was aware that alcoholism and blood sugar problems (hypoglycemia, for one) are much related and often alcoholics are also hypoglycemic. Learned it as a child -- my mother is pretty severely hypoglycemic; her father, my grandfather, was an alcoholic who died before I was born; stories I heard from people who knew him revealed that he and I both reacted to booze in the same way -- we went nuts. That knowledge had zero affect on my alcoholism.
That it's likely a genetic thing is beside the point. It's genetic that some people are allergic to strawberries, too.
Knowledge IS the answer to correcting the problem ... not arrest and shame!
Knowledge is the answer for alcoholics ONLY when that knowledge is of the obvious: the problem is happening because the person is indulging in a destructive (for him, genetically) behavior. CEASE the behavior, and the problem goes away. The whys and genetics are interesting details, but in no way change that fact that it is a matter of behavior, of self-discipline, of self-determination, of self-love.
Arrests and shame are necessary responses to alcoholism. Cops have a duty to arrest people who pose a danger to others. Those who are so weak of character that they indulge in a destructive behavior that is clearly endangering innocents around them, are deserving of shame, as I most certainly was when I drank, drove, and caused strife and trouble for strangers as well as loved ones. I shamed my loved ones, and I shamed myself. I still cringe to think of the things I did, and that crigning is well-deserved shame. Anyone who says otherwise is blowing smoke.
Outreach programs like the one your sheriff set up are fine and good, nothing wrong with them at all. But they are supplements, and both arrest and shame, unpleasant as they are, are yet part and parcel of the alcoholic's lot. Indeed, they are among the motivators to QUIT drinking.