![]() ![]() ![]() "The people who were in the programs who spoke to me said it was a life-changer," she said. To be drinking non-beverage alcohol, they're going to be drinking anyway. "I think it's being pragmatic … These people are pretty desperate. "I am aware it's controversial, and it won't sit easily with a lot of people. "It is pretty much the typical skid row person: a male, 50 to 60, very long history of very heavy drinking, numerous attempts at treatment, pretty much has given up, society has given up, and they're on their last legs," she said. Professor Dolan said the novel approach could help vulnerable chronic drinkers in "dire straits" and should be trialled in Australia. The Northern Territory Government has commissioned a feasibility study into introducing managed alcohol programs in high-need areas of the NT as part of a new harm minimisation plan.Ī discussion paper is being prepared ahead of community consultations early next year on managed alcohol programs in the Northern Territory. The programs administer hourly, regulated doses of alcohol to clients, and also provide support services and accommodation. Professor Kate Dolan, from the University of New South Wales' National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, recently travelled to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to study managed alcohol programs. This minority is primarily homeless people with severe alcohol dependence, some of whom consume hand sanitiser, mouthwash and shaving cream because they cannot afford alcoholic drinks. While Ms Hoult was able to overcome her addiction, for a minority of alcoholics getting sober is unrealistic, according to some experts, who believe they should instead be given small, regular doses of alcohol. ( Supplied: Samantha Hoult) 'A novel approach': Giving alcohol to alcoholics ![]() Ms Hoult says it is important to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol addiction, and she does not want them to go through what she did. "He called me the very next morning and told me that I needed to get to the hospital within the next 30 minutes, that my liver was shutting down," she said. When she was 27, the Cairns woman felt unwell several days after a "particularly boozy weekend" and visited a doctor. Ms Hoult dropped out of university, went bankrupt, and lost multiple jobs, her driver's licence, relationships with partners, friends and family members. "It affected every aspect of my life." 'I pretty much lost everything' Otherwise I would get the delirium tremens. "It got to the point where I was drinking from the minute I woke up. "Because I started so young, I didn't actually learn how to deal with issues without alcohol," she said. It is no ordinary feat for someone who started drinking when she was 14 to "deal with issues" in her life at the time and basically spent her whole life drunk. Ms Hoult, now 32, has been sober ever since. "And I knew that something had to change." Samantha Hoult often injured herself while drunk, once falling down a flight of stairs, leaving her with permanent nerve damage. ![]()
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