‘No drink for me, thank you, I’m an alcoholic...’

Until a few years ago, Joseph* drank 24 pints of beer and three cartons of wine every day and saw nothing wrong with that. Alcohol had been his best friend since he first sipped it aged 12, and realised it made him feel more confident. He learnt to reach for a bottle whenever he felt stressed and, about four years ago, the situation spiralled out of control. “I never drank coffee or water – just alcohol. It never crossed my mind that I had a problem because, the way I saw it, alcohol was helping me deal with my problems,” he said. With the support of his wife, Maria*, and the team at the national agency against dependencies Sedqa, Joseph, who is now in his late 30s, opened his eyes to his addiction and is now attending a residential rehabilitation programme. “I used to think I couldn’t live without alcohol, but now I know I can… now I see that the problem is that alcohol is cheap and very accessible, unlike drugs, and not seen to be as dangerous,” he said. His words echoed those of Sedqa’s clinical director George Grech who recently said a national alcohol policy is needed to address the growing problem. He also said restrictions on cheap alcohol, like wine cartons, should be...