“Coercion” of alcoholic workers suggested

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32945, 17 June 1972, Page 16

“Coercion” of alcoholic workers suggested

One of the problems in dealing with alcoholism was inducing alcoholics to accept treatment before they reached “rock bottom,” the chairman of the Canterbury branch of the National Society on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Dr E. B. Reilly) said recently in his annual report. As a solution, he proposed “benign or constructive coercion,” to be applied by employers during the early stages of addiction. Alcoholic workers would be given the choice of taking treatment or of being dismissed. “This avenue of benign coercion is not available to social agencies and could become the most effective means at our disposal of increasing the numbers under

treatment,” said Dr Reilly.

There were an estimated 30,000 alcoholics in New Zealand, he said. Perhaps 95 per cent of them were doing a normal day’s work, but with varying degrees of effectiveness. It was thought that the rate of successful treatment was considerably less than 40 per cent. Expressing concern about the proportion of those invoir ved in motoring accidents who had drunk more than the legal driving limit, Dr Reilly suggested more stringent action.

One proposal was random blood tests for all drivers, not only those whose driving was supect; and another was the life endorsement of drivers’ licences for drunken driving.