In the March 2017 edition of ONE, journalist Don Duncan explores efforts at Breaking the Cycle of addiction and suffering that has scarred so many young people in Kerala, India:
Alcoholism strongly afflicts Kerala, reputed to be the heaviest drinking of India’s 29 states.
A 2007 report by the Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC)-India, estimated Kerala’s consumption at more than two gallons of pure alcohol per person per year. Other studies suggest rising consumption rates since then — part of a broader trend spanning several decades.
In the last ten years, Kerala’s government has made a number of attempts to combat alcoholism — including, in 2014, announcing phased prohibitionary measures, restricting alcohol sales in hotels and limiting liquor license renewals, resulting in the closure of hundreds of bars and liquor distributors. The effects have been inconclusive, and recent election results have likely signaled a shift away from such heavy-handed measures.
Primary knock-on effects of alcoholism — domestic violence, marital crisis and the premature deaths of men — are clearly detrimental to children. But secondary consequences, such as the squandering of family income and the perpetuation of negative behaviors, also disrupt the lives of Keralite youth and obstruct them from reaching their full potential.
With no easy answers in sight, it has fallen to the church and its institutions to seek solutions for a problem that seems only to be growing worse.
And one way the church is trying to help is through education: creating institutions that help families struggling with a wide range of financial, medical or social issues. For more, check out the video below.