What do you think of the goverments plan to tackle alcoholics on benefits by cutting them if they fail to get?

help , is this right or total ignorance of the disease alcoholism? Is it ironic from a goverment who has done little to head the warnings from experts over the years ? do we as a society need to look hard in the mirror before we can point the finger of disgust at alcoholics ?people drink for all sorts of reasons many have been abused as children is it right to be harsh and draconian with them? and what of this help they must get the NHS has never been able to provide this help in any great form up until now how will it be payed for , i take it these alcoholics wont be booked into the priory with the celebs ?is it a bit ironic in that the drug dealer (goverment ) who loves the taxes from alcohol is now moaning abut the social cost it causes , is it not true that people dont set out to be alcoholics but because it is an addictive drug some will fall foul of it ? Therefore is it not surprising that if we allow society to legally play with this drug it will have a social cost for us all to play?
Additional Details
skitzee 2/ hope the name doesnt reflect your mental condition , how do you define the term work dodger ?would you say a woman who was systematically raped by her father from the age of 11 and thus turned to drinking heavily and thus became a benefit statistic was a work dodger , or is she just an example of how the goverment has let people like the one suggested fall through the cracks with little or no help for them until they became dependent on alcohol?

super_iunctum

You say : " the disease alcoholism " but addiction is a choice not a disease.

You can't "catch" alcoholism, you decide to drink alcohol and you decide that you want to continue to drink alcohol frequently and to excess until you become an alcoholic. Just like smoking and taking other drugs it's a choice and you shouldn't subscribe to these idiotic theories that it's somehow not the addicted persons fault that they are addicted to whatever it is they have decided to become hooked on.

I don't think any benefit money should be allowed to be spent on alcohol, it's a luxury not a necessity and therefore should not be covered by benefits which are intended to provide you with what you need to survive.

_____

You say : " I think the lack of understanding in some of your answers is pretty much the reason we have alcoholism "

Christ...

Talking to you would be enough to drive me to drink if that's the kind of nonsense that comes spewing out from between your gums on a regular basis.

Alcoholism is NOT a disease...

That is all.

LPW

Well this might win them a few votes from the hang-em and flog-em brigade, but it will cost them a lot more votes from the working class who used to be loyal to the Labour party.
So for me this is just another stupid move by this stupid Labour government who seem hell bent on hurting people who are more likely to be labour voters than Conservative.

And lets not forget it was this Labour government who are heavily sponsored by the big breweries who relaxed the licencing laws in the first place and against expert advice, in other words Labour exacerbated the problem only to now to turn its back on it.
Sounds like another case of denial by Labour to try and appease the vocal few.

Nice one Labour.

Huge

I think that it may work in saving a few pennies but not millions and must apply to all with similar dependancies

Skitzee2k

Yay, ban drug addicts, drunks and work dodgers

Edit

..I'd suggest that for every case that you have just described there are 10000 people who just cannot be bothered.

Ps. If i was to go by some heroin and inject it and then be addicted to it...that would be the governments fault and the taxpayer owes me money? Whats the difference?

wizjp

Since there are a hundred complaints a week about drug abusers getting benefits without haveing to be tested, I'm betting the majority will love it.

Tank Mk1

What sort of 'treatment' will they get? not exactly the Priory as you pointed out. Its just another hairbrained scheme.

TaxPayer

No tax or National Insurance in the proceeding 12 months no treatment or benefits.
Let them go to Somalia and ask for Political Asylum.

im me!! jus me!!

i think its right what there doing to be honest, alcoholism costs the nhs thousands daily, (as do drugs) if the helps there for anyone with any kind of addiction and they dont take it, why should tax payers pay for them to kill themselves???? i think for a one off payment to get them sorted in theory is better than paying them for the rest of there lives.... EACH!! i mean there basically paying for them to get pi**ed now!!! so which ever way you look at it tax payers are paying anyway, but rather it to help them than to let them carry on hon. :)

fellbuddy

It is an empty threat because there is not an adequate help system in place. When the government can supply places for these people to go for help then maybe it would help as many alcoholics wish to stop but just do not get the help.
The ready availability of cheap alcohol does not help the situation either.
I feel no disgust for alcoholics only sorrow that they have found themselves in the position of needing alcohol because no one becomes an alcoholic through choice and sorrow that there is little help for the alcoholism or the troubles that brought them to find solutions in drink.

patrick24399

There is an alcoholic who lives very near to me, he lives on benefits including the extra payment for being an alcoholic, he has not worked in at least twelve years. To my mind the cost of the extra benefit payment over the years would have been better spent if the alcoholic had received support to overcome his addiction rather than giving money to help pay for his addiction.

I am a disabled person who is unable to get any benefits (long story) and find it difficult to acept that alcoholics get extra benefits. People who have worked hard and are unfortunate to become unemployed get less benefit because they choose to live in the real world rather than live in a drunken haze.

Alcoholics do have an impediment, that they do not want to address their addiction and get their life back in order. If we agree that alcoholism is a disease then lets treat the disease rather than feed the addiction.

Chris C

I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but I agree with the government on this one.

Why should people's tax money be wasted on alcoholics who can't be bothered to get help instead of on those who actually want help. Let's face it - only those who want to be helped will make any progress.

The money that is saved could be put into working with those alcoholics who want the help and support to overcome their illness.

---

In my opinion, everyone who is on benefits should do some form of community service. The amount of time that they spend doing so would depend on the other commitments that they have. For example, a single mother, who is dependent on benefits, with a child at school could do 2-3 hours of community service each day, with the remaining time being used to carry out her usual chores and pick up her child.

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