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Inishowen's alcohol timebomb
06.11.07
A GROWING number of
women are presenting themselves at an Inishowen
addiction centre for alcohol dependency.
Fr. James Sweeney, who works at the White Oaks
Rehabilitation Centre in Muff, warned that drinking
wine in the secrecy of the home is among the main
reasons. |
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He said he had seen a
huge increase in the number of women presenting for
treatment in the last two years.
"There's been a big increase in the number of women
in the 40 plus age group presenting themselves for
treatment in the last two years or so.
"It's a serious problem that's |
only coming to light
and is only going to get worse. I would predict that
in the next five to ten years, half of all treatment
beds will be taken up by women."
The Donegal Town-born counsellor, who also treats
addicts in the south west of the county, said the
White Oaks gender ratio was levelling out. Of the 12
residents treated at any one time from throughout
the North West, there was occasionally five women to
seven men.
He blamed the home consumption of alcohol -
particularly wine - for the worsening problem.
"When a person drinks at home, it's a very private
and secretive pursuit and there's nobody to control
the measures.
"Wine sales have increased fivefold in Ireland over
the last ten years and as a result, our problems are
increasing. The really worrying thing is that we're
only seeing a fraction of the problem. It's the
abuse of alcohol that's the problem, not the use of
it," he added.
A recent report shows that Donegal now has the
seventh highest incidence of alcohol-related deaths
in the country. Fr. Sweeney is not surprised.
"The addiction to alcohol is the leprosy of our
times, it's a huge problem and it's affecting so
many. It's just destroying people."
He said people had to get to grips with the huge
denial problem surrounding alcohol abuse as well as
its links to suicide.
"When post-mortems are carried out, a very high
percentage of those reports will show that people
who die by suicide have alcohol in their systems
prior to death." On a positive note, Fr. Sweeney
told InishowenNews.com that 100 recovering
alcoholics from throughout the North West, Cavan and
Leitrim, attended Medallion Day at White Oaks on
Sunday. They each received a medallion to mark their
sobriety ranging from one year to six years
following treatment at the local centre. Fr. Sweeney
said Medallion Day was a great milestone for anyone
recovering from addiction. |
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