If somebody needs to learn from history, it is the Kerala govt. The recent move to
ban alcohol is all but familiar, and takes us back over a 100 years to America during its notorious '
Probition times' when they
banned alcohol branding it the root cause of all evil.
People
who know history knows what happened next. Not only didn't it work, it
made matters worse. With smuggled (bootlegged) liquor rampant, drinking
habits rose to all time high. The mob and mafia made money by smuggling
and dealing booze. The organized crime hit record levels. Bad cops and
politicians were the ones who profited by corruption like never seen
before.
Already there are several corruption and bribery allegations against seasoned politicians like KM Mani who is the current Minister of Finance, Law and Housing of the state of Kerala. He is said to have collected tens of millions of rupees in bribes from bar owners in the state to allow them to keep their businesses open.
Of course the people have a drinking problem, but the solution is not to
ban alcohol.
It is only through awareness & self realization that one could
control this problem. Its not worth loosing the backbone of Kerala
economy, tourism. Its not worth the lives of hundreds of poor working
class people falling victim to another mass liquor poisoning. Its not
worth loosing 80% of the deprived state's only means of income.
I believe we could try some ideas below:-
1) Raise Awareness and educate from a young age.. Create Alcoholics Anonymous groups, rehab centers subsidized by the govt.
2) Raise the legal drinking age to 25
3) Harsher Punishments and fines for irresponsible drinking and
alcohol related crimes and public nuisance
4) Revoke driving license of people who drink and drive
5) License to drink: Enforce a weekly maximum
alcohol quota per person by law, meaning the same person can't come back to the liquor store twice in a week
6) Promote local coconut and palm toddy as healthier option, helping coconut farmers and self help groups.
7)
Prepare and scientifically bottle, export quality specialty drinks from
coconut and palm trees (like Japan's Sake which is a rice wine).
8) Tourists get Liquor passes, so this whole
ban situation doesnt ruin the tourism industry.
9) Grade beverages based on
alcohol content
10) Promote lower
alcohol content beverages such as beer, wine and toddy
11) Raise taxes for foreign liquor
12) Have an open mind
This blog post is not intended to be an open letter of support for all the drunkards in our state.
Banning
or controlling any substance, especially something evidently so
popular among people, will only lead people to rebel and fight the law.
They will find ways to drink just for the thrill of breaking the law.
This is human psychology. This will only put added strain on the law and
policing systems, and distract them from more important violent and
other criminal activity.
As soon as the society accept its
drinking problem, laugh about it and sees it as not a big deal, I
believe a large chunk of the populous will automatically loose interest
in this activity. Hence bringing down the drinking levels and adjacent
crimes.This is why an open mind is key to this issue.
