Legal Ease, May 31

Alcoholism is a big problem in Nunavut. Binge drinking—sitting down and having a lot of alcohol all at once—seems to be behind almost every case of family violence I see.

Even where binge drinking isn’t involved, regular heavy drinking leads to impaired driving charges, loss of employment and the breakup of relationships.

And alcoholism is not limited to one group or another. Although there is a lot of denial, plenty of Qallunaat from the South drink too much.

Candidly, it is easy to try to deal with problems by alcohol—easy but not a good idea.

Regardless of who is drunk, alcohol (at least when taken to excess) leads to crime, violence and family breakup. By taking away self control (and common sense), alcohol can lead to some very bad situations.

Virtually all the murders I have dealt with had a component of alcohol (or drugs, but more commonly alcohol).

One way to deal with the problem is to ban alcohol but as we all know, that leads to bootleggers and doesn’t really fix the problem.

Of course having a liquor store may not make things better—it does make alcohol easier to buy. Bottom line: alcohol is and will be available so if you have a problem, you have to deal with it yourself.

There is a real lack of resources for people who need help with alcohol. The GN website says go to the local health centre and that is a good start.

Perhaps an elder or someone in your church can help too. But the bottom line is that you have to accept there is a problem and the person who has to deal with it is nobody but you.

Alcoholism is defined differently by different groups. Some say drinking every day is the issue. Others say getting drunk weekly or monthly is a defining feature of the problem.

Perhaps the best way to look at it is as a group of related factors:

• Are you drinking alone?

• Are you drinking in secret?

• Are you not able to limit how much alcohol is consumed?

• Do you have problems with backing out—not being able to remember chunks of time?

• Have you dropped hobbies and activities you used to enjoy? Have you lost interest in them?

• Do you have an urge to drink?

• Do you feel irritable when drinking times approach?

• Do you have stashes of alcohol in unlikely places?

• Do you gulp drinks down in order to get drunk and then feel good?

From my personal standpoint, if you need a drink to deal with an issue, you have a problem.

Of course not everyone who is an alcoholic breaks the law or directly abuses their family. But drinking too much will cause problems in your life and will lead to an early death.

Alcohol can be beneficial for some people. But for many, it just has to be avoided.

James Morton is a lawyer practicing in Nunavut with offices in Iqaluit. The comments here are intended as general legal information and not as specific legal advice.