Lest we forget

Not content with just sitting at the bar drinking and reminiscing, the RSA joins the War on Drugs™.

They've given 1,000 copies of the book The Great Brain Robbery - What Everyone Should Know About Teenagers and Drugs to courts around New Zealand, with the intention of helping young people going through the court system to say no to drugs.

Don't they know that alcohol is number one on the Danger List?! International statistics indicate that eight percent of those who drink alcohol will develop problems with it, and that each one of those victims will affect at least six other people. Alcohol travels directly to the liver where much of it is broken down into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a poison! Chronic effects include addiction, cirrhosis of the liver, memory impairment, reasoning impairment, Korsakoff's syndrome and foetal alcohol syndrome.

So Tom Scott & Trevor Grice tell us in The Great Brain Robbery. It looks very much like it's a case of do as we say, not as we do. I always thought the RSA was synonymous with drinking.

RSA National President John Campbell hopes the content of the book will help young New Zealanders reach their full potential - "something they fought for in the war" - and here's me, thinking it was all about upholding freedom, democracy and Western values.

And to think that I fought for these people's right to continue to enjoy a cigarette with their beer. Where's the gratitude?