Authorities challenged

Letters

YOUR editorial ‘Drinking culture a concern’ yesterday must be commended.
It demands that authorities take a serious look at this one single contributor to over 80 per cent of social ills and accidents in our country.
This clearly demonstrates Pareto’s 80/20 rule: 80 per cent of our issues are caused by 20 per cent sources, of which alcohol is chief.
It will not be surprising to note that authorities could be spending up to 80 per cent of hard-earned resources injected into the law-and-justice sector and health, to fix those problems.
This is pathetic.
A recent health survey indicated that it costs about K10,000 to treat an alcohol-related issue and less than K500 to treat malaria or typhoid.
Based on these two figures alone, one need not be a rocket scientist to ascertain that so much money is thrown away because of ignorance, arrogance or stupidity.
Call it what you like.
The big winners are the producers, distributors and retailers of alcohol while the consumer is the scapegoat.
If this Government is serious about now and the future, it needs to get all parties, including, producers and distributors, consumers and other key stakeholders together.
Come up with strategies to arrest the negative effects of alcohol in our society.
If nothing serious is done sooner, our society will continue to bear the brunt of its ignorance.

EB
Lae