The Daily Mirror is not one of the more scholarly newspapers on the British market (espeically considering how pro-terror its editorial stance is), and columnists who write for such tabloids tend to be second-rate hacks. However, the column "Fiona" from this past Saturday's edition of The Daily Mirror offered some great insight into the scourge of binge drinking which is fast becoming a social epidemic across the United Kingdom:

"More and more teenage girls in Britain are turning to drink ... The problem is so bad that some girls in their late teens are being treated for cirrhosis ... So why are we surprised? Unlike smoking or taking drugs, drinking is still seen as a cool, hip thing to do. No-one really tells you of the dangers of alcohol, do they? In fact, especially at this time of the year, it's positively promoted as a glamorous, life-enhancing elixir in countless TV and billboard ads ...

Alcohol is a dangerous, addictive drug in the same way that cigarettes and cocaine are. Yet imagine the uproar that would have ensued if women were pictured snorting 'charlie' instead of guzzling booze.

Why is it considered OK to go home and take charge of young children when you've been rendered legless by alcohol, but an outrage to be near them after sniffing drugs?

Some parents sleep off hangovers long into the day, sticking their toddlers in front of the TV until they can raise the energy to plonk a ready-made meal in the oven. So what message are we sending our children? Shadow Home Secretary David Davis says: 'If we are to get a grip on binge drinking, the Government needs to stop sending mixed messages.'

He's right. Teenagers, stop binge-drinking, and by the way, we're introducing 24-hour pub openings - even I'm confused by that one. We are becoming an increasingly alcohol-sodden society. And as long as we carry on denying that drink is a problem, it will carry on being a problem. A big, big problem."

My thoughts exactly: Why do we turn a blind eye to massive alcohol abuse, which is at its worst-ever crisis in Britain, across Europe (with France being an exception to the trend, and good for them) and probably the U.S. as well. We come down hard on drugs, scare each other with paranoid, grossly unfounded fears about marijuana - you'll shoot your friend after smoking a bong! - yet we do next to nothing about alcohol, a far worse drug, with far more potential for causing violent behavior.

Alcohol is fine and even healthy in moderate doses. But one's liver will be turned into pate if overloading on alcohol is a chronic, continuous activity.

Alcohol in moderate doses makes most people more relaxed and sociable. In high doses, it turns them into monsters who will fight at the drop of a hat. Others lose control of their emotions, becoming weepy wrecks before passing out, becoming an embarassment to themselves and everyone around them. This is all to say nothing, of course, of the ever-present threat of driving while under the influence.

Again, this is a phenomenon affecting most of Europe. Denmark is actually above Britain in terms of young people's drinking habits. And, even though cannabis is available in coffeeshops across Holland, the number one substance problem among young Dutch people is, you guessed it, alcohol.

It doesn't help that the media encourage young people intentionally slaughtering themselves on alcoholic drinks when you consider the amount of time and space they spend glorifying such activity on the TV and in the newspapers, and treating it as fodder for idle gossip or even hero worship. If the stars and footie players can do it, so can we!

Police Commissioner John Stevens is currently holding meetings with the Home Office to devise a zero-tolerance plan to deal with dangerous drunks over the Christmas period, even considering plans to incarcerate drunken offenders on a prison ship.

I do not oppose such law-and-order measures, but it won't solve the issue of alcohol abuse. To wit, we must end this hypocrisy of treating drugs and alcohol separately. Let's treat abuse of both the same, or not at all.