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Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer
The article, “Alcohol abstinence vs. moderation,” by Harvard Medical School, (1), depicts that an individuals’ degree of dependence predicts the strategy that works best for them. Many patients entering the alcohol treatment for the first time prefer on starting by cutting back their alcohol intake rather than abstaining. One of the quotes from the reading which strengthens my claim that the program outlined in the article "Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer" is effective in dealing with the alcoholics is the fact as outlined in the article that, “Many patients are ambivalent about giving up alcohol, even though they recognize that dependence is straining their marriages or jeopardizing their jobs” It is clear that a patients who express their desire to start drinking in a manner that is more controlled indicate a desire to change behavior. Demanding the patients to abstain can end up driving the patients away.
The second reading on, “What is a Wet House?” depicts that wet houses assist to a great extent in removing the homeless alcoholics from the streets. Homeless alcoholics heavily burden the social, legal and medical services in the community. This article supports my claim in Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer" in that wet houses have assisted in the reduction of the rate of drunk and disorderly and the public intoxication calls. To add on to this, several wet houses have reported moderate drinking among the residents (Wet House.com,1).
The third reading, “HAMS: Harm Reduction for Alcohol,” depicts harm reduction can be used either to attain the goal of abstinence or moderation. For alcoholics, harm reduction can be defined as individuals who work to drink more safely even though they do not choose to reduce their amount or any individual who work to reduce the amount they are drinking by any amount. One of the quotes in the reading that supports my claim in "Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer" is “… the attempt to force abstinence on everyone against their wills backfires and leads to an increase in alcohol-related harms overall.” An attempt to force moderation may also be unproductive, and hence individuals need to choose to enroll in the program. Reducing the number of drinks patient drinks per day can greatly aid in solving the problem (HAMS, 6).
Work Cited
HAMS. HAMS: Harm Reduction for Alcohol. The HAMS Harm Reduction Network, Inc. 2015
Harvard Medical School. Alcohol abstinence vs. moderation. Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, 2017
Higgins Andrew. “Amsterdam Has a Deal for Alcoholics: Work Paid in Beer.” The New York Times, 4th Dec 2013.
Wet House.com. What is a Wet House? Retrieved from http://www.wethouse.com/ 2017