Drunk Tanks

In recent weeks ideas have been floated in the media about ways of reducing the strain on the NHS.

For example by creating 'drunk tanks' and charging people for the privilege of helping them to sober up in a safe place and for treatment they receive if they turn up, in a drunken state, at their local Accident & Emergency department.    

Now this has brought the usual storm of protest from the usual suspects who argue that this is a slippery slope and before you know it the NHS would be charging for all kinds of services, instead of remaining free at the point people need treatment.

Drunken revellers should be treated in just the same way as drug abusers, said one commentator, and it's not the job of the NHS to sit in judgment over the rights and wrongs of how people end up requiring treatment.

Which I agree with in a general sense, but there is a big difference between a drug abuser who is an addict and clearly ill, and the out of control binge drinkers who can be seen every weekend in busy city centres up and down the country.

In the latter case there is nothing wrong with people, other than on a very temporary basis, while they are out of their heads from drinking too much alcohol and they also have money to burn, of course, if their are sitting in pubs and clubs all night before heading out on to the streets and causing general mayhem.

So why shouldn't they pay for the cost of sleeping it off in a 'drunk tank' or getting their self-inflicted injuries bandaged up before they head home, because it might even teach them a valuable lesson.