For a minority of expatriate workers, there is a high price that comes with the UAE's tolerant attitude to the way other faiths allow the consumption of alcohol. While most people whose religion allows them to drink do so responsibly, The National reported yesterday that emergency rooms regularly see people suffering from the irreversible and life-threatening effects of alcohol abuse.
Some people have a psychological predisposition to abuse alcohol, but there is also a local element to this issue because many expatriates living here are separated from their support networks of family and friends. Because many people are in the same situation, this is an easy place to form new social networks, but a few will still assuage their isolation through alcohol.
Another factor is that because alcohol consumption here is not the near-universal phenomenon it is in some other cultures, access to help for those who find they have a problem is also not as well advertised. Nevertheless, all it takes is a cursory internet search to find branches of Alcoholics Anonymous in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.
However there are ways in which alcohol is promoted that are at odds with the countries of origin of most of the expatriate workforce. Hotel brunches on Fridays and similar promotions that involve unlimited quantities of alcohol for a fixed price are a case in point. In many countries, such all-you-can-drink promotions are explicitly banned. The reason is as valid there as it is here: because it encourages binge drinking of the kind that can lead to getting in trouble with the law or serious health issues of the kind described in our article.
In every society where alcohol is allowed, most will be able to imbibe responsibly but there will always be a few whose intemperate consumption gets them into trouble. As good hosts, hotels should understand and account for this and play a part in preventing people from allowing their drinking to get out of control.
