The news in your Nov. 11 paper that another outlet serving alcohol in Chemainus has opened, causes me to write this letter.
Do people know that we now have 13 businesses in Chemainus where alcohol can be purchased for a core population of 3,500 people? Talk about overkill! Drinking places are advertised as places to have a good time as the name of the new establishment suggests. But the cost to our society for alcohol abuse overshadows the “good time” people think they are having.
I am not whistling in the air with these comments, four of our children have had problems with alcohol consumption. Fortunately some of them have sought the help of groups like AA or have found the answer in a new found faith in God. But the cost for this has been heavy: anxious moments for family, disintegrating relationships, the heavy toll on children of alcoholics, the financial cost to an already burdened medical and health system, loss of driving privileges and jobs because you haven’t got a way to go to work, then loss of income, the terrible results of drinking and driving ending up in the loss of life and limb and it just goes on and on.
So I take no joy in the continued spread of establishments serving alcohol. It is just another symptom of a society severely burdened by many social issues that split families and destroy people.
We need to wake up to the reality of this. I know I have.
Reed Elley
Chemainus
