Is This the End of Drinks Receptions and Exhibition Openings?

I don’t drink much alcohol and because I usually drive, it is just to risky even to have a glass of wine, so it wouldn’t affect me personally much, but it is interesting to observe how confused and ambivalent the attitude to alcohol in our society is.

We know that it is not doing anything good, but it is completely normal to get access to alcohol. Things are different for other substances that could possibly even help suffering patients. An interestingly different approach between the two.

But alcohol challenges the politicians. On one hand, they would like to forbid it, on the other hand they are SERIOUSLY afraid to do so because they fear the negative consequences from the voters at the next elections.

So instead they tinker around with the rules. More and more stringent drink driving laws which drive Danny Healy-Rae crazy and other attempts to influence what happens in society, but the consequent step of a blanket ban will be avoided at all cost.

Now it looks like the next restriction could be free alcohol that you might get at your hair dresser. It seems that the “Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (IACP)” and “Addiction Counsellors of Ireland” are asking the Health Minister to forbid free alcohol at a hair dresser. But if that will be forbidden, then all free alcohol, even at a drinks reception or at an exhibition opening will have to be forbidden. And if free alcohol will be forbidden, then there won’t be any glass of wine to welcome people anymore because the only other alternative would be to sell it and that is obviously illegal without a license.

Just forbid alcohol completely. That would be the only honest thing and then we (and politicians) have to deal with the consequences OR alternatively stop getting into a panic over the odd glass of free drink!

The Irish Independent reported it here.