BY RYAN GAFFNEY

The article isn’t about drunk driving deaths. It’s about alcohol abuse and disease. (See link below)

I can only speak for myself, but as a former alcoholic…no tax or cost would have prevented me from buying booze. Even if my regular cost doubled with a tax, I would just buy something cheaper or drive to a Pueblo business like the White Rock gas station. I probably would even avoid paying bills or being financially responsible in return for being able to afford fueling my need. When you are addicted and dying from this disease nothing matters to you. You are often scared and know the foreseeable outcome and continue. Your soul is defeated in knowing that you need this poison to function. I would have paid any amount to take the pain away.

To me a better idea would be spending more money in raising awareness, especially at the Highschool level. I knew more about the dangers of smoking cigarettes than I did about alcohol short and long term damage to all crucial parts of the body. Social awareness, acceptance, and promotion of sobriety. At early ages I thought drinking was a way of life. Want to go out on a date, where do you go? You go for a drink. Want to go to a party, what do you bring? A bottle of wine. Want to have a good time, what do you do? Bring alcohol along or consume during the moment. Drinking became the popular way to fit in and socialize.

Governor Lujan Grisham made it easier to buy alcohol at all times. She took away the sales restrictions of 10 a.m. on weekdays and 12 p.m. on Sundays. All in the support of increasing business sales for restaurants and businesses in New Mexico. That’s great for responsible drinkers and Chili’s restaurants around the state, but those individuals don’t represent the majority of deaths from alcohol abuse. Instead, what was removed was any opportunity of discipline, remorse, or a change of mind for those that felt shame in their drinking. Now you could go to the grocery store in the early morning hours upon opening and buy for the day…I did.

In the bill also was the ban on selling miniature bottles of hard liquor (minis), in hopes of preventing people from drinking and driving with easily accessible and concealed bottles. Well, that backfired as manufacturers have a 75ml sized bottle, increased from the 50ml. So in my opinion it just made the Blood Alcohol Content of drinkers that purchase alcohol to drink on the go higher.

Want to help reduce the deaths from consuming alcohol? It starts within the community. The time of hiding your problems is over. Talk to your loved ones that you are worried about. Express your concerns in loving ways. If you are the one reliant on alcohol, get yourself into the hospital and be honest with the doctor about your consumption and frequency. Ask friends, family, or anyone you trust for help. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength and love to have the desire to increase your chances of living a long and meaningful life.

Be vulnerable and be honest.

https://www.kob.com/…/new-study-shows-impact-of…/

In my opinion it’s a monumental shift in society glorifying drinking that needs to change. Tobacco used to be the one saturated in our advertising as cool, portrayed as popular by celebrities, and accepted in all classes of society. You could smoke on planes, in restaurants, get smoking hotel rooms, haveash trays in cars, see ads in magazines and television commercials.

Now you can’t smoke practically anywhere, especially in restaurants or venues of entertainment. Even some public places isolate you to designated locations, dare I say, “make you feel shameful”. No longer do we see advertising in media. We see less usage in movies. You will be fined for smoking in non-smoking areas. Cigarettes almost became unpopular to smoke, had a stigma and were looked down upon. They took on the association of a dirty habit, instead of a desirable one. Did higher taxes on cigarettes help deter people? Maybe and probably for some. If it was still glorified as “the thing to do” in my opinion, users would have forked over the extra money and continued to be customers.

Alcohol use for a long time, probably went hand in hand with smoking as being visible and desirable in our country. For my lifetime the popularity of drinking has surpassed and then replaced smoking tobacco. Booze is sold on those airplanes now. More seating in restaurants have been built specifically for dinning at the bar. Celebrities have their own lines and brands of liquor. Advertising and usage is overwhelmingly in your face across all forms of media and entertainment. There is no acknowledgement of the dangers of consuming this toxin, only the phrase “drink responsibly” placed in fine print or at the end of a commercial that just got done trying to convince you about the joys of incorporating drinking into your lifestyle. The Surgeon General’s warning doesn’t stop a lot of people on tobacco or alcohol products.

I believe if sobriety was pushed more as the norm, even made popular by those that influence trends, fashion, sports, music, and other factors that the youth/young adults/adults emulate…well I think that would impact more individuals than the governments attempts. If our society made it as unpopular as they did smoking and other drugs, i think it would help. Unfortunately, it’s a lucrative business. Sobriety isn’t really a sellable product. I would hope that taxes on alcohol, even higher taxes would go to mental health programs, rehabilitation facilities, and helping the overall problem… but excuse me for being pessimistic, I highly doubt it. Maybe it does, as I am not educated on the allocation of the sales tax. Don’t get me wrong; I think that every little bit helps from government to try to address the problem. I just feel it starts with our communities and the individuals that make them, to be the change. Thank you.