General Article ‘The day I started drinking vodka in the morning, I realised I had a serious problem’

Topic Selected: Alcohol Book Volume: 397

I had always been an enthusiastic drinker, but during lockdown I became progressively more dependent on it, until I reached crisis point.

By Charlotte Southall

Just over a year ago, on May 25, 2020, I found myself pouring a glass of vodka at 10.30 am. It was a line I never imagined I would cross. Drinking was something to do at night, I thought, in the sweaty heat of a pub or bar, or on your living room sofa, in front of the television after a long day of work.

But just an hour or so after waking up, there I was, in my kitchen, sipping vodka from a glass. The taste felt immediately wrong. I realised I had a serious problem.

It came as no surprise to read the warning last month from doctors that lockdown might have created a dark legacy of alcohol abuse in the UK. Just as the cancellation of routine medical appointments has created a worrying backlog in cancer diagnoses, experts worry that successive lockdowns might have created a new generation of dependent drinkers still mostly hid...

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