Drugs and alcohol are keeping our courts busy

Some time back, a Mayoman living in Dublin for more than 50 years, who purchases his Western in Eason’s in Dundrum on a Thursday (deliveries to Dublin are not up to scratch!) and then proceeds to read the paper from cover to cover, has come to the conclusion that the Western covers numerous court cases, often relating to charges arising from the consumption of alcohol or drugs. Sometimes it might be an alcohol-fuelled row, sometimes a drunk-driving charge, sometimes a “record” alcohol level going to five or six times over the limit, sometimes an accident and sometimes a fatality with alcohol/drugs as part of the equation. Sometimes a cannabis grow house discovered, sometimes drug dealers caught in the act of selling/providing drugs.

I would have been aware of this phenomenon but would not have taken much notice. Court cases are a staple of local and indeed national and international (Trump and Stormy, for example) newspaper reporting. For the past couple of weeks, I have taken note of the number of court cases in which alcohol and drugs have been central to the charges and there is no doubt our Dublin-based Mayoman has a point. There was no censure in what he was saying, he was simply highlighting the fact that our courts, nowadays, are concerned with alcohol and drugs to a startling degree.

There’s nothing new in court cases involving alcohol. That has been going on since time immemorial. A trawl through the Western court reporting in the past 140 years would have you appalled, enthralled, amused, horrified, perturbed, engrossed and stimulated a myriad of other emotions as you reflected on how alcohol kept the courts and the guardians of the peace, and their RIC predecessors, on their toes. And we have not even mentioned poteen yet.

The poteen makers and their pursuers, in their time, would have filled many a column inch in the local papers. In my time, I got to know a few poteen makers and suppliers. Decent men, solidly supported by their spouses (there were no partners, other than business partners, in those days). I can mention the fact of my acquaintance with those men now as I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations apply, or I could plead the Fifth, or I could quite simply refuse to disclose my source(s).

The memory plays tricks, especially as you get older and my memory is as flawed as can be on certain matters. But my recall of one particular poteen-related court case is quite clear. The guardians of the peace had been scouring the countryside and, no doubt acting on a tip off, had discovered an illicit still and all the paraphernalia that goes with the making of the furtive distillation. A barrel of the comforting spirit was destroyed on the spot along with the worm and still. A couple of bottles were preserved as evidence.

In due course the case was called before a certain judge who had, shall we say, a proclivity for poteen-makers and their entrepreneurship. He set aside a good amount of time for the case which could quite easily have been dealt with in a matter of minutes. He made sure that the evidence was set out in great detail and keenly interrogated so that the facts would be established. Evidence was given that the contents of the bottles had been tasted and was indubitably poteen.

One of the Garda witnesses, a big man with a broad country accent and an open, honest face, including a fine prominent nose, came forward to support the evidence. He was a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA) and sported the pioneer pin quite openly. The judge, with mischief in mind, posed the question and did you also taste the poteen. No your honour, came the reply, I smelled it. And much to the amusement of all assembled the judge opined and a right fine nose you have for smelling. The place erupted in laughter. The poteen-maker was of course convicted but the fine imposed was not much of a deterrent.

In those dim and distant days when society was not as busy and rushed as we are today, courtrooms were not the preserve solely of the miscreants, the litigants, lawyers, prosecutors and judges. There were people who attended court and especially the district court in the hope of enlightenment in legal matters but who also hoped for, and very often got, amusing interludes and entertainment to help pass the day.

What has changed in the past 40 or 50 years has been the proliferation of cases in which drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin and whatever you’re having yourself are providing judges with serious headaches. What do you do, what can you do with addicts who are out of their minds because of the use of a prohibited substance?

People can be out of their minds with alcohol which is, of course, a drug with mind-blowing consequences. But somehow or other, because it is a legal drug and can be purchased openly and because those who profit from the making, distribution and sale of alcohol have carefully nurtured the notion of alcohol as a social outlet and the pub as a hub of geniality which benefits society, alcohol does not come with the same misgivings as under the counter drugs.

With hand on heart, I can honestly say that I have not smoked cannabis. People of my generation were fortunate (unfortunate?) that proscribed drugs were a rarity in our neck of the woods and were not easy to purchase. Otherwise, many of us might have become hard drug addicts. We had our alcohol and our cigarettes and there was no great harm in them, or so we thought, until such time as the link between tobacco and cancer was clearly established and, those of us who could, worked hard to give up what is a filthy habit as well as being damaging to health. It is unfortunate that the tobacco and vape companies continue to thrive.

I’m reluctant to deal with the alcohol question because the reality is that over the years I have indulged, and over-indulged in the consumption of alcohol, mainly Guinness. I can’t yet bring myself to admit that I’m addicted to alcohol but if I am to judge by the standards of today then I’m well along the road. In my younger days I was involved with a reasonably successful football team. When we started there was not a single player who drank. Five years on, with success and celebrations, the situation was reversed, there were two non-drinkers. Did the GAA play a role in that reversal? Has the GAA a case to answer?

Probably not. There is such a thing as individual responsibility. The GAA has taken a stand in opposition to the abuse of alcohol. Here in Mayo, Dr Mick Loftus, former President of the Association and Fr Leo Morahan, former county board chairman, were foremost in highlighting the problems of alcohol abuse. They attracted quite a bit of ridicule for their efforts. It now seems they were ahead of their time.

The up-to-date science and advice on alcohol is that if you exceed 18 units (glasses of Guinness, not pints) in a week then you are on the road to alcohol addiction. If you take three pints of a night (often spilled as much on my tie!) you are binge drinking. Binge drinking is another step on the slippery slope. In recent times, the GAA has embarked on a health and wellbeing campaign. Many clubs around the country has a health and wellbeing officer dedicated to highlighting the ills of alcohol, smoking and vaping and advocating for a better way forward. It is a worthwhile initiative and one that hopefully will meet with success. Our young people deserve no less. Performance enhancing drugs have no place in any sporting organisation and that’s a theme for another day.

Thought for the day 

George Bernard Shaw: I am only a beer teetotaller, not a champagne teetotaller.