Spirit of tipplers in Kerala got dampened as the Kerala High Court played spoilsport by staying the State Government order of authorising the Excise Department to supply liquor on receipt of prescription by doctors.
Last week saw the Kerala Government led by Pinarayi Vijayan coming to the rescue of tipplers who were in a fix following the downing of shutters of BEVCO (Kerala State Beverages Corporation), the monopoly retail and wholesale liquor traders.
The BEVCO shut down the counters because of the Corona Virus scare and the 21-day national lock down declared by the Prime Minister last Wednesday.
With 40 per cent of the population in the State addicted to alcohol, the tipplers were in for an uncertain future in the backdrop of the shut down.
The serpentine queues in front of the BEVCO counters are the only places in the State where one will see disciplined crowds.
To circumvent the shut down, the Department of Excise came out with a solution; the BEVCO staff would home-deliver three liters of spirit (mainly rum and brandy, the favorite drinks of Kerala’s veteran alcoholics) provided they submit prescriptions from medical doctors stating that the bearer is not in a position to survive without liquor.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) as well as associations of government doctors expressed their displeasure over the Government move to make liquor available at doorsteps through prescriptions.
“The only option available is to subject the alcoholics to deaddiction treatments and make them come out of the drinking habit. Nowhere in the world liquor is supplied based on medical prescriptions,” said the doctors.
The Pioneer had quoted Dr CV Krishnaswamy, eminent physician of Tamil Nadu who saw nothing wrong in doctors prescribing liquor as a suppressant to persons addicted to alcohol. “Deaddiction treatment is a long drawn out process and till then we have to sustain the life of the alcoholics.
There were reports that seven persons committed suicide in Kerala because of their failure to get the usual quota of spirit,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.
But the Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the Government order for three months. “It is not the responsibility of the government to make liquor available to the people. Doctors need not issue prescriptions to alcoholics to help them procure liquor from BEVCO outlets,” said a Division Bench consisting of A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Shaji P Chaly.
But a former chief of Tamil Nadu Police told The Pioneer that there were instances in the past when liquor was made available to alcoholics based on medical prescriptions.
“During the days when prohibition was in place in the State, we used to get liquor and that too original foreign brands from star hotels and clubs with prescriptions issued by doctors. There was nothing illegal in it, ” said the former chief who is known for his uncompromising stance against law breakers.