LETTERS AND COMMENT
‘ While I am sure for many people Dry January provides a useful pause to their drinking ... I do wonder if the people who need to do this most engage with the campaign . ’
MODERATION ’ S WHAT YOU NEED
This year has got off to a dark , cold , grey , damp start in my part of the world , the weather that is . In my household it has been positively Saharan as we decided to give Dry January a go .
Neither myself nor my partner , as far as I know , have a serious issue around alcohol , but like many people have a nagging feeling that we might drink a wee bit too much . It was decided that trying Dry January might be an opportunity to have a bit of a reset , give our livers a holiday and perhaps rethink our relationship with drinking .
My thoughts on the experience are as follows :
Firstly , it wasn ’ t as hard as I thought it would be . Once we had climbed the psychological mountain of ‘ what are we going to do , can we go out , will we have anything to talk about ’, it turned out that life continued much as before with the after-work glass of wine replaced with herbal tea or other soft drinks . Trips to the pub carried on as normal and thanks to the impressive range of non-alcoholic beers and drinks available they felt no different , the downside being that I was still expected to get my round in .
The month led to a few discussions of how many units constitutes a safe level , if it matters if these units are spread over the week or consumed in a couple of evenings , and how easy it was to drink 14 units without noticing . I found the amount of different advice and totting up of units was too complicated and perhaps unnecessary .
While I am sure for many people Dry January provides a useful pause to their drinking and a chance to reflect , I do wonder if the people who need to do this most engage with the campaign . For me personally I am unsure an enforced month of sobriety was needed – perhaps the ease with which the challenge was completed confirms as much . I will look forward to raising a glass in February and in future I will instead try to adhere to the advice of an old campaign fronted by the TV naturalist David Bellamy and stick to : ‘ Two or three pints , two or three times a week . Why ruin a good thing !’ Alan Tynes via email
POWER IMBALANCE
I read Tom Zagoria ’ s article ( DDN , Dec / Jan , p10 ) in the waiting room of my local drug service . I hope the staff read it too ! They are nice people but I feel I always have to prove myself – prove I am trustworthy . I am always scared of what I say in case something will be written down about me that gets me into trouble .
If I feel as if I am out of control I don ’ t talk to my drug worker , I try to deal with it myself and sometimes I get my own drugs to help me through . When I read in the article about a power imbalance I have to say it is true . But what can I do about it ? I am just a service user and am lucky to get anything at all . I would much rather go there than my doctor ’ s surgery . Name and address supplied
Gloucester
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