Simon Stephens, Director of Case Work at AddictionsUK.com, speaks to Radio Newcastle about sobriety tags and whether this could be an effective tool to help alcoholics.
Transcript
Presenter
“Let’s speak to Simon Stevens, Director of Case Work for AddictionsUK, based in the Northeast. What do you reckon, Simon?”
Simon
“It’s interesting that this is getting wrapped up with people with addiction issues. If you’re a person who must compulsive, you know who has a compulsion that they must take alcohol and things. Simply having a device that measures when they have taken alcohol afterwards, is going to do nothing positive. That’s not to say for the group of people who are not addicted, but culturally maybe for that reason drink too much and get into a fight on a Friday night, this might actually be a good idea. Anything that keeps people out of prisons, I think is a really good idea. The last place you want to send people with alcohol problems, be they those of addiction or be those, those of “you know what? We drink too much” and you know we need to sort of re-educate about how much we drink and things and what’s safe. Anything that keeps people out of prisons is a good idea.”
Presenter
“It’s interesting that you’ve pointed to the two different sectors here, because of course these are fo those people who’ve committed certain and criminal offences whilst drunk, alcohol-fueled offences, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have an addiction to alcohol.”
Simon
“Absolutely. And I really hope that, I mean presumably these are each going to be magistrate, so we’re going to be, um, giving these orders out and things, that they’ve been given sufficient training and education to understand, that, not everybody has the same problem with alcohol. And there is this kind of confusion in people’s minds, that the people who gets into trouble with alcohol, are also addicted to alcohol. Uh, and that doesn’t necessarily follow through. When you talk to the people in Croydon, they were talking about binge drinkers for example. And it depends on, it really just depends on each individual. So I think it’s quite important that someone who’s capable of making those assessments and things, is asked their opinion, of each person prior to their being sentenced.”
Presenter
“Is there the no overlap, Simon, that you’re aware of?”
“There will be an overlap. There will be people who are addicted to alcohol who commit crime. But that that group of people really need to have a positive treatment, that helps them overcome that, that that compulsion to alcohol. Um, simply measuring that they’ve had a drink, is not going to stop them from drinking, because it is, as I say, a compulsion. As a recovering alcoholic and addict myself, I know that my overwhelming need for the day was to have a fix. Um, you know, if someone was measuring it, that wouldn’t have stopped, you know, that wouldn’t have helped me stop. But that certain piece of behaviour. I needed to do it. And that’s something that kind of, I laughingly refer to people who are not alcoholic or, or, uh, trigger addicts and things as ‘earthlings’, to an ‘earthling’ that doesn’t make sense because you think, well, you just don’t have it. You know, you can’t comprehend why, what that compulsion is like, I don’t mean that in an insulting way. Right.”
Presenter
“Why do you think it’s worked then, in the U.S.?”
Simon
“If it’s targeted at the right group of people, then I can see it having huge advantages. First of all, let’s presume the technology works. And It doesn’t get false readings, and things, but I assume they’ve tested for that. If you target the right group of people, and presumably these are people who have come before the magistrates, or the equivalent in the U.S. Of the magistrates, therefore it is appropriate that some kind of ,ah, punishment or action is taken. Then if it keeps those people away from alcohol, and I would also like to see those people educated as well. I wouldn’t want to see it just as being used on its own. I’d like to see some education going, in alongside of that sort for a significant periods of time that allows people the opportunity to alter their behaviour. I think that’s all very good. I think that is good. Putting people in prisons and to teach people how to be more criminally orientated.”
Presenter
“You, you were given a second chance after battling your addictions. This could give a lot of people a second chance, just a wake up call, a reminder that life can be better.”
Simon
“I think people have a pathological dependency are pretty much born that way. They’re on a pathway to, uh, showing full addictive, uh, symptoms and things. Yeah.”
Presenter
“All right. Well let me ask you another, what was, if you don’t mind me asking you, what was your moment of clarity?”
Simon
“My moment of clarity was, for me, when I was aware just how black, bleak, dark things were on the, I was actually drinking just to be unconscious as quickly as possible. I used to refer to it as a mini death. I didn’t want to commit suicide. I just wanted to cease to exist, and then when I became aware, I said, might seem rather strange to people. I wasn’t aware that people got better. When I became aware that people did get better and I fell into the company of those people who “had also recovered and things. That was my, Oh, you know what?”, There was a moment of silence and I could do something about this.”
Presenter
“Had other people already told you, you should stop drinking? Are you drinking too much?”
Simon
“Oh, absolutely. But yeah, I’ve got to admit, as any good old alcoholic, I’m not going to listen to anyone else. If you tell me it’s black outside, I’m going to argue it’s white and that seems to be a path of being an alcoholic.”
Presenter
“Is that for every alcoholic though, can some, um, alcoholics or people with addictions get that moment of clarity from someone else perhaps, or from a project like this?”
Simon
“I think they can, but we talk about rock bottoms often that people hit upon, it doesn’t have to be the same rock bottom for everybody. Uh, I’ve helped people whose rock bottom was there, left, lost their driving license and so then that was their wake up call and things. So for perhaps it might be, there’s a bracelet like might be a wakeup call for some people, but I really think where its strengths going to be is for those people who, for cultural reasons or just because they are young or whatever, over-indulge in alcohol, they don’t have an addiction issue per se. What they do have as a kind of, a very cavalier attitude to the dangers of drinking too much alcohol. And I think for that group of people, these bracelets might well be very useful. I would argue with the name sobriety bracelet.”
Presenter
“Okay. Right. All right. I will take you a point and you’ve made many. Thanks very much. Simon Stevens from AddictionsUK, great to hear your point of view.”
