TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLICS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27733, 10 August 1955, Page 12

TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLICS

MAGISTRATE URGES CHANGE LEVY ON LIQUOR TRADE SUGGESTED (New Zealand Press Association) WANGANUI, August 9. A rural farm with a hospital attached should be established to handle alcoholics, and the cost of running it should come from a levy on the liquor trade, said Mr S. S. Preston, S.M., in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court today. The Magistrate said he had given the question grave thought, and was satisfied that there was no institution in this country with the proper faciliiiiec for dealing with alcoholics. “The only body achieving any results is that wonderful movement Alcoholics Anonymous,” he said. “The only institution operating at present is under the control of the Salvation Army, and that is not satisfactory. These people should be able to go to an institution where they can receive visitors. It should be open to all religions, and Alcoholics Anonymous should also have access. "The licensed trade should be called on to deal with its own wastage, just as industry has to deal with its wastage through workers' compensation," the Magistrate said. “A fighting fund levy of Id in the £1 is made on licensed trade turnover, and I do not see why a levy should not be made to deal with this licensed trade wastage. That way members of the trade would take a far greater interest in these people.” Such persons wanted a wholesome life out of doors, where they would have a certain amount of restraint and where they would not be isolated on an island and unable to have visitors. The problem had to be viewed from a far different angle from the one from which it was approached at present. Some effort should be made to make the same advances as had been made with psychiatrical treatment. The Magistrate said that until something was done the Courts had the unpleasant task of sending alcoholics back to prison.