There are many people who do not know what to do or where to go when they need help because of alcohol abuse.

We continuously hear about the shelters and rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts, we hear of ways to stop smoking or gambling, but the information regarding where to go for help with alcoholism is insufficient.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is available to all those who seek this service, by writing to PO Box 418, Valletta.

In the AA group are men and women who have “seen the light”. They have admitted to themselves, and to those whose help they seek, that they cannot control alcohol.

After an interminable number of years, they have learnt that they must eliminate alcohol from their lives if they want to avoid disaster for themselves and those close to them.

Some people may believe that, in order to be termed an “alcoholic”, one has to drink from morning till night. In fact, this could not be further from the truth. To be an alcoholic means that even if you binge drink for just three days a week, the urge to drink during those three days literally makes you an alcoholic.

Like a drug addict who cannot overcome his addiction without support from somebody, alcoholics must realise that will ower alone, however strong in other respects, is not enough to keep one sober.

They must at all costs retain the common sense they lost through alcohol abuse by learning about their “condition” and more than that, do all that is necessary to kick the habit.

An alcoholic is an alcoholic for life. Let me specify: people with an alcohol problem must accept the fact that, as far as alcoholism is concerned, it is a progressive illness that can never be entirely “cured” but which can be arrested.

I repeat, an alcoholic is an alcoholic for life. That is why during AA sessions, even those who stopped drinking about 20 years ago will get to their feet and say: “My name is John – and I am an alcoholic.”

Once a person has crossed the invisible line between heavy excessive drinking to compulsive alcoholic drinking, that person will always remain an alcoholic. The expression “I was an alcoholic” does not exist – only words like “I am an alcoholic”.

Through Alcoholics Anonymous, people have learned numerous things about alcoholism and about themselves. They attend these sessions to keep these facts fresh in their minds at all times, because this is the only key to their sobriety.

For them, sobriety must always come first. Are you an alcoholic wishing to “dry” up yet seeking anonymity? Hunt down Alcoholics Anonymous and your grim and unpleasant experiences through alcohol abuse will become just a horrific memory that is past.

Valerie Borg

Valletta