Letter: Why is alcohol’s harm ignored?

Dear Editor, It would be interesting to know, when it comes to the ‘local’ news content of your paper, just what percentage of published local news relates to the reporting of the disastrous effects that alcohol has on the physical, mental, psychological and spiritual health of our “Christian” nation.

Papa Oro Metuas who don’t confront every drunkard in the congregation. Police who do not shut down bars that serve drunks, or, as they did once upon a time, stand outside the exit of the nightclubs and take keys off the clearly drunk. High ranking politicians who are landlords with bars as tenants and thus have a direct monetary gain that increases as sales of booze increases. Politicians and others in power that make sure blood relations escape the consequences whenever possible. Politicians and police spending a fortune prosecuting growers of the weed that has never caused a single user to bash a wife or crash a vehicle.

The simple fact must be this. There is just too much money involved in the sale of booze for any of these problems to ever get fixed. Indeed, one wonders if there was no need to report the spouse beatings, the crashes, the hand-slapping from local JPs for repeat alcohol abusers, if the Cook Islands News could even fill its pages.

(Name and address supplied)