The Meghalaya cabinet approved a reclassification of alcohol categories with an anticipation to see “rise in consumption” and thereby boost revenue. Numerous amendments were approved, rates on beer revised and a new category introduced. This, according to the government, would enhance the state’s competitiveness in comparison with neighbouring Assam, to align the pricing with market realities, thereby making it more attractive to consumers. For a measly Rs 90 crore annual revenue, the government is attracting more consumers into the arms of alcohol consumption, a trend that’s frighteningly turning into alcoholism, which undeniably is the scourge of society. Is the state of Meghalaya that poor and low down that now it needs to prey on the human weaknesses of its own citizens to fill its budget deficit?
Next month, on October 2 the world will observe ‘No Alcohol Day’ to raise awareness about the negative health and social consequences of alcohol and promote an alcohol-free lifestyle, which Meghalaya has never taken a day to pause and reflect on how alcoholism has destroyed families. The National Family Health Survey -4 (2015–2016) indicates that 44.6 per cent of men of the age group 15–49 years consume alcohol in Meghalaya. There was a time in the past when concerned and conscious people demanded alcohol be sold under controlled conditions such as lessening the hours of sale, more dry days and sometimes even total prohibition. The last, of course, is not a pragmatic way to deal with the thirsty throated section of the community. How can the state go gaga with its success in going tobacco-free zones in schools, market places and villages all with the support of school-going kids because they naturally follow instructions, but no intervention has been made on how alcoholism has brought devastating consequences to numerous families?
Studies show how children of those with alcohol addiction face a number of risks and challenges. While they are at high risk of facing neglect, physical and verbal abuse they are also at a higher risk for being exposed to alcohol, which is considered to be by many studies as a ‘gateway drug.’
To quote one such study, ‘the three gateway drugs are nicotine, alcohol and cannabis. The concept is based on the “gateway hypothesis,” which states that adolescents who experiment with these drugs are more likely to use other addictive drugs later in life. Gateway drugs are drugs that are believed to lead to the use of more dangerous and addictive substances.
By making it more affordable, is the government trying to make it more affordable for young students on low pocket money, or are the mandarins in the finance department hoping that the normal drinkers will guzzle more than their daily quota as it’s cheaper? Either way it’s a losing situation for the future of the state with the growing percentage of alcohol consumers helped by state policy.
For a government that is staring at an estimated 3 lakh drug users and adopted a DREAM mission to fight the menace of drugs, to be oblivious of the gateway drugs by pleasing tippers and anticipating rise in alcohol consumption just to fill the state coffers is catastrophic with no sense of social responsibility.
The absurd justification to raise revenue by feeding more alcohol to citizens while completely failing to stop the massive leakage of crores of rupees in revenue from coal and other minerals and as pointed out in the Assembly, the loss of Rs 500 crore in the GST scam tied to coke plants, is a shameful situation for the state government.
In its anticipation to see a rise in consumption of alcohol the government is indirectly encouraging intoxicants among the youth. All the while the growing number of affected families are left to deal with its repercussions and face the storm of alcoholism without any safety net in place.
