Essay on Alcohol

ALCOHOL: SHOULD IT BE ABOLISHED?

Malaysia is known as the tenth largest consumer of alcohol in the world and very few studies have been done to find the accurate magnitude of the problems caused by this consumption. Although not many studies have been carried, the facts and figures show that it is increasing each year. Malaysians spend about USD$500 million on alcohol yearly and among the drinking population, the Malaysian Indians who are 8 per cent of the country’s population are by far the heaviest drinkers with consumption of absolute alcohol which exceeds 14 litres. The ready availability of alcohol and the cheap price which is affordable by many is why the alcohol market is making tonnes of profit. Consumption of alcohol will bring harm if it is abused; not only does it cause health issues but it also contributes to other negative defects to the society as well as the country. This brings us to a point where although Malaysian alcohol market generates profits, alcohol should be abolished in Malaysia because some alcohol companies create false advertising, it causes road accidents and many problems arise due to uncontrollable consumption of alcohol beverages.

Alcohol companies create false advertising and marketing. Some advertisements are nothing short of dangerous in their dangerous lies and deceptive claims. They use celebrity supports, sexual themes, and young and attractive models in alcohol advertisements in order to impress and attract the customers. Transnational alcohol companies use immoral advertising and marketing tactics to get customers specifically among the lower economic sector of society. Alcoholic drinks are also advertised as products that will carry sexual prowess, success, and power. The ‘Guinness Stout is good for you’ campaign of the 1980s that is well-known by many of us has successfully captured the poorer working class because it promised to ‘put back what the day takes out.’ Carlsberg’s ‘Long Cool Dane’ campaign generally targeted Asians. Besides that, the advertising of designer alcoholic drinks; more teenagers start to drink alcoholic beverages at a former age. It is found that 45 per cent of Malaysian youths under 18 deplete alcohol beverages regularly even though the legal age requirements for drinking alcohol is 18 years old and above. Alcohol is by far the most widely used by teenagers compared to all the legal and illegal drugs, and in accordance with a national survey many are commonly drinking to excess. A few years ago, new designer alcoholic drinks entered the Malaysian market which particularly targets teenagers. The designer alcoholic drinks such as alcoholic lemonades and sodas with 4-5 per cent alcohol are commonly mentioned to as alcopops. They went by brand names such as Hooch, Stinger, DNA and Lemonhead and the bottles were colourful with cartoon characters which obviously signified they were designed specially to address to youngsters. They were initially sold in nightspots and soon made their way to supermarkets and sold normally like soft drinks. In fact, in the United Kingdom, studies show that alcopops lead to an increase in underage drinking and these drinks have actually been in the centre of controversies. Thus, alcohol beverages should be abolished in Malaysia because many companies create false advertising and marketing.

Other than that, many problems arise due to consumption of alcohol whether it is of high or low intake. In Malaysia, the biggest victims of alcohol are actually the poor; more specifically the labourers who work in oil palm and rubber estates. Alcohol is the major cause of poverty in Malaysia. Most of them drink samsu; a locally distilled potent spirit where it was introduced here during the colonial times by the British. According to statistics, of the estimated 200,000 drinkers, 75 per cent of them are samsu drinkers. These drinkers spend about RM20million a year on samsu. These drinks are sold between the range of RM1.50- RM3.00. At such low prices, isn’t it obvious that these potent drinks are packaged to attract the poor? A regular drinker can finish at least 6 bottles a day which will probably cost at about RM9.00 or about three-quarters of his daily pay. Shows to say, that these people spend as much as they earn per month. Influence of alcohol also contributes to domestic violence. Some research states that a large quantity of alcohol intake can increase the drinker’s sense of personal strength and therefore, domination over other people is possible and in most cases; domestic violence. This ruins families and contributes to the breakdown in basic social fabric of the society. Most of the time, it is the women who bear the brunt of this problem; wife battery. In other cases, the children are also abused and chronically ill husbands become a burden to both the family and society. The burden worsens when the drinker falls ill and therefore isn’t fit enough to work and needs medical treatment. A lot will be affected and unnecessary problems arise especially when one takes in high intake of alcohol and abuses it.

Furthermore, alcohol will not only affect individuals but also affect the surrounding people. Drink driving is one of the most serious public health and traffic safety complication. Cases of road accidents due to drunk drivers are rampant. However, this matter has yet to be overcome. Research discovered that driving with even the smallest intake of alcohol will substantially increase chances of hazards on the road. This is proven with statistics made by World Life Expectancy that states 1 out of 50 causes of death is due to alcohol consumption. Considering the fact that we are a developing country, Malaysia is ranked 20th based on how frequent road accidents occur with a rate of 0.75%, and the percentage of death is 0.16% which ranked us 113th at global level. Furthermore, a person’s aptitude which associates to safe driving is detrimentally affected due to the consumption of alcohol. Based on a study conducted by Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research, MIROS, tasks such as tracking, perception of distance and speed, and reaction times to respond to the changes of road situation are disparagingly influenced by alcohol. The cerebral cortex of the brain is aggressively affected as shown by studies conducted by Howat et al (1991), who had earlier conducted a study to determine the correlation of these effects on driving aptitudes resulting to a decrease in driving performance at BACs of 0.05 by statistic means. Howat et al (1991), also stated that there is sufficient proof from experimental study attests that such measurement may lead to the detriment of the main parts of driving skills, which are vision, steering, braking, alertness as well as information transforms and dissociate attention tasks.

It is true that the opposition strongly believes that the Malaysian alcohol market is profitable and that alcohol beverages should not be abolished in Malaysia. Furthermore, even with major tax increases in the three on-going years, both beer companies reported profits after taxes in an excess of 12% of sales. The government reported legal imports of alcoholic beverages worth more than RM255 million in the year 1995 and tax receipts from alcohol of more than RM601 million. Aside from that, price for promotions on alcohol beverages is also one of the reasons why the sale of alcohol is profitable. Many bars offer specials for their customers and often in the form of a happy hour. Specials like this are designed to draw in customers with lower prices than what they usually sell the beverages for. Even though bars may be making less profit per drink but in the long run, the sales per volume will bring in more profit.
Although sales of alcohol contributes a lot to Malaysia’s economy, but it is not the only factor that increases the nation’s economy. Take for example, Brunei; the sale of all alcohol is banned in Brunei. Thus, this country is also known to have a wealthy economy which is a mixture of foreign and domestic entrepreneurship, government regulation and welfare measures as well. Brunei is supported by the exports of crude oil and natural gas. It is the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia and also the fourth-largest producer of liquefied natural gas. This is to show that the Malaysian government should still go ahead and abolish alcohol beverages in Malaysia. The government does not have to worry about how much the economy will be affected because there are other alternatives that can be used in order to maintain the nation’s economy for instance oil and gas, palm oil, rubber and others. For example, Malaysia has a vibrant oil and gas industry and the national oil company, Petronas provides about 40% of the federal budget in taxes, dividends and also royalties. Petronas was also ranked the 8th most profitable company in the world and in Asia in the year 2008. This shows that Malaysia has other side incomes which contributes to the growth in the economy.

Besides that, it has been said that drinking alcohol in moderate amounts can actually have positive effects on physical and mental health thus for this reason, it can actually increase your cardiovascular health. Several studies have shown that drinking alcohol in moderate amount has a positive equivalence with assertive aspects of cardiovascular health. In detailed, the risk of developing coronary artery disease is cogently lowered in conjunction with moderate consumption of alcohol. Another connection between alcohol and cardiovascular health shows that moderate consumption of alcohol has an affirmative correlation with survivability in the occurrence of a heart attack. Those who drink low levels of alcohol are more likely to live longer and are less likely to experience another heart attack. Dr Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston studied and examined the roles of drinking patterns and heart disease, found that after 12 years of follow-up, men who consumed alcohol between three and seven days a week had fewer heart attacks than men who only drink once a week. Even though consuming alcohol beverages has its positive effects on their health, it can also harm one’s health. Excessive alcohol can increase the risk of heart complications because continuous alcohol consumption can lead to blockage of arteries from the brain, causing a sudden or severe interruption in the brain blood supply, or stroke if the drinker has high blood pressure. Excess alcohol consumption can also escalate the chance of chronic high blood pressure, which will affect the functionality of the heart.

It is concluded that even though the Malaysian alcohol market produce profits, alcohol should still be abolished. This is because some alcohol companies create false advertising that have influenced the society through celebrity supports and as well as sexual themes with attractive models to attract customers to buy and consume alcoholic beverages. Besides that, consumption of alcohol also leads to domestic violence, ruins families and affects the social fabric of the society. It does not only affect the individual itself but also the surrounding of people around them. Having innocent people affected because of these people is definitely dangerous as lives could be taken away if one is not careful enough. Recommendations like introducing a licensing system that limits the number and locations for sale and time of availability should be done. Other than that, the authorities should step up the enforcement of the law to curb illegal sales of liquor and especially in sundry shops and homes. They should also enforce the Beer House License on coffee shops to restraint serving of beer without a license. All in all, the best thing to do as stated earlier on is that alcohol beverages should be abolished in Malaysia.

REFERENCES
Mary, A. (n.d.). THE GLOBE GAPA Bangkok consultation: Alcohol in Asia: Impact of alcohol consumption on Asia, The alcohol problem in Malaysia. London, UK: Caxton Street
Drinking Alcohol And Benefits(2003). Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/3968.php

Norlen, M. et al (2012). Alcohol and Drug use Among Fatally Injured Drivers in Urban Area of Kuala Lumpur, MRR 02/2012, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research

David, H. J., & Saroja K. I. (n.d.) Country Profile on Alcohol in Malaysia. Retrieved from http://apapaonline.org/help/help/groups/data/National_Data/Malaysia/Country_Profile_Alcohol_Malaysia.pdf

Economy of Brunei (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Economy_of_Brunei.html

APPENDIX

References: Mary, A. (n.d.). THE GLOBE GAPA Bangkok consultation: Alcohol in Asia: Impact of alcohol consumption on Asia, The alcohol problem in Malaysia. London, UK: Caxton Street Drinking Alcohol And Benefits(2003). Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/3968.php Norlen, M. et al (2012). Alcohol and Drug use Among Fatally Injured Drivers in Urban Area of Kuala Lumpur, MRR 02/2012, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research David, H. J., & Saroja K. I. (n.d.) Country Profile on Alcohol in Malaysia. Retrieved from http://apapaonline.org/help/help/groups/data/National_Data/Malaysia/Country_Profile_Alcohol_Malaysia.pdf Economy of Brunei (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Economy_of_Brunei.html APPENDIX