Battle against Bottle
Mohammad Hussain Khan
Drinking and drugs are considered as the enemies of every religion. They have destructive effects on life and create unrest in society. Alcoholism and drug abuse are responsible for many admissions into insane asylums and mental hospitals. They have led to criminality and have been the scourge on human society since times immemorial. That is why holy Quran makes the prohibition of alcohol categorically.
How unfortunate! Some contended that they take to wine because they want to drown their worries in its cup. To the others it is trend of fashionable society. Even the poorer people take to drink with a view to escape from the bitter realities of life. For a moment they want to forget all about their deary surroundings, their deadly depressions and deep rooted disappointments.
Alas! Destruction, committing of suicides and moral decay is the result before us. Drinks and drugs indeed degrade those who are addicted to them and those who traffic in them. The drunkard forgets the distinction between wife, mother and sister and indulges in crimes of which, in his sober moments he will be ashamed.
Drinking indeed, is more damnable than thieving. It makes men physically a week, emotionally imbalanced, morally corrupt, economically bankrupt and professionally upset. Drinks and drugs have spawned crime and violence worldwide. Drunkards are slur on society and deep seated roots of heinous crimes.
As the whole world entered a new millennium and celebrated the setting of a new dawn but one corner that still remains dark and ignored is the increasing menace of drugs and drinks. The problem has been there and glaring at us in our faces for a long a time now.
Health for justice and justice for health emphasizes that justice and health are two sides of the same coin, when it comes to addressing the problems associated with drugs.
Unfortunately there are people and political parties who are opposed to the idea of prohibition. Prohibition is condemned on the ground that it involves loss of revenue. Well even if prohibition is meant as revenue loss, that loss is nothing as compared to the loss of valuable human lives going on rampage and ruins.
When drink and drug abuse leads to physical, moral and intellectual decay is it not the wastage of economic potential of young generation? It is not out of place to mention that when increase in revenue realization is necessary for development and progress of the people of a country, then is it not in the very fitness of things that we shall loose the cream of creative intelligentsia at most productive period of their life by this menaces? Every rupee that a bottle brings costs the four rupees as it gives birth to various other problems and disorder. Let this call does not fall on deaf ears.
Certainly prohibition has to be introduced by society based solutions, legal measures, bans on smuggling and radical political decisions so that the posterity about which we boast shall not be in a great peril. A meticulous watch needs to be kept in slums, hotels, night clubs and bars to curb and control this antisocial activity.
An all out battle must be launched against this menace to root out the centres and dens of this trade. Voluntary organizations social net works and educational institutions need to come forward to curb and control such menace.
We have forgotten the fact that a genuinely civilized man should have a sweet reasonableness and an equanimity of temper. He should cultivate a taste of beauty and truth for his own sake. Let both Rulers and ruled should not become narrow minded on account of referring prohibition of bottle to revenue loss and deny the existence of things called conscience, morals and good living.
It is our duty to love the people of our land and one should never forget one’s duty towards humanity. Those who do their duty win the respect and eternal love of the people of the land. Dear Reader, battle against bottle may be a long one but certainly not a lost one as clear conscience supersedes all manmade policies.
(The author can be reached at Khanhussain.ang@gmail.com)
