Let’s stop playing with the problem of the serial drunk driver

But is it punishment when the primary intention is not to make the person suffer for suffering’s sake? The primary intention is to gain an insurance against future damage to the driver and those who may be in his path. Is it cruel? This it certainly is. But it is only a small fraction as cruel as condemning a person who did not know what he was doing to spend over seven years in prison (which the man from Perth was condemned to serve).

Due to political failure we have a societal problem and not one that can be identified by pointing to individuals. The man from Perth should not have been punished at all. Rather, his capacity to drive while drunk should have been permanently removed after his second offence. Permanently!

Forced feeding under medical supervision creates a network of cells in the brain that will trigger a nauseous response to the taste, odour, and even the sight of the problem beverage. However in time the connections will weaken and the neural network will need reinforcing with repeated treatments. The fluid being administered needs to be laced with a nausea-causing substance to fast-track the desired outcome as a large quantity of alcohol ingested over a short period can lead to dangerously high blood alcohol levels causing, among other problems, respiratory failure. 

When I worked as a pathology technician testing blood for a safe transfusion, I would on a rare occasion and late at night need to enter the emergency department myself to deliver the urgently required cross-matched units of blood. An unconscious victim of a motor accident lying on a stretcher with battered head and awaiting x-rays to determine the extent of the mess inside them before the surgeon is called, is a very disturbing sight to anybody not used to such sights.

How do we get the general public to be convinced that there is a problem so grave that it must be solved by whatever means it takes? You can play your bit by supporting an activist group attempting to bring about change.

Then if your young child or grandchild was condemned to life in a wheelchair after a car with her as a passenger in it had been hit by a serial drunk, at least your conscience will be clear - even if the grief you will have to live with for the rest of your life will be almost unbearable.