A DOCTOR’S VERDICT

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 1, 1 March 1951, Page 7

A DOCTOR’S VERDICT

Speaking as a Doctor, Dr. J. F. G. Richards, D. 5.0., of Auckland, N.Z., says: “No consideration ot the licensing of the sale of alcoholic liquor can achieve anything unless it bears in mind and keeps on bearing in mind, the nature of the chief ingredient of the comniodit) which it licenses to make and .'ell. That chief ingredient is alcohol, and alcohol is a potent poison to human tissues. It is not in itself a beverage or drinkable substance at all. Undiluted it is to the human tissues a poison and nothing but a poison. Diluted it is still a poison, the toxicity of which is inversely proportionate to the degree of dilution. The properties which make it attractive to those who drink it in diluted form are: 1. Its rubefacient effect on the lining of the stomach producing an agreeable sense of warmth. 2. It property of dilating the surface circulation, producing an agreeable sensation of glow*. 3. Its property of removing from a slight to an increasingly great extent, those inhibitions and controls which civilised man has built up to make his actions harmless to his fellows. In its less developed form this produces a feeling of liberation from the constraints of modern life, giving a sense of freedom and enlargement. In suitable dilution, alcohol produces these effects without any considerable development or recognition of the essentially toxic nature of the substance, alcohol, which produces them, hut the margin is a small one and can easily he overstepped. I Sale of Poison \ nice degree of judgment is necessary to determine the level at which the allowable and definitely poisonous effect of this substance is passed. It is clear, therefore, if the well-being of the individual is at issue, that the retailers of this substance should he highly trained in the capacity to judge the point at which this substance ceases to be a reasonable article of sale and at which it becomes a poison definitely harmful to the individual and therefore injurious to the State. For while it may be to the financial interests of individuals to retail a poison for profit, it can be no part of the province of a State to allow the sale of any poison which is injurious to the health and well-being of the members of that state, who constitute its only real wealth.”