Denial. Or why people actually drink.

So I'm watching Four Corners and it's all about a topic that is quite big in Australia at the moment – teenage binge drinking.

And there was all this focus on reasons why people drink, but in reality, no one really wanted to say why people do. And I just don't get this, because in the fight to see if people will change their drinking (and, yes, drug taking) habits, no one, but no one is seeing the elephant in the middle of the room.

And I don't get this, because at the end of the day, I can tell you right now that the reason that most people drink heavily, or take drugs isn't what everyone tells me. It's not because of peer pressure, or depression, or school or work pressure. In fact, the more I read this, the more I get the impression that a complete denial of reality is in place.

Sure, these have an impact, and might be the cause in a minority of cases, but let's be honest here: Teenage piss-ups wouldn't occur if there wasn't a more fundamental reason for drinking. Orientation weeks at universities wouldn't be the all round bacchanalia that they are if people didn't have what is actually a very strong basic reason for heavy drinking or drug taking.

So what is it that stops the media, government departments, celebrity drug abusers and alcoholics from saying that the real reason they binged on drugs and alcohol is that it's purely and simply fun?

During the mid nineties, I went through a brief patch of going to rave parties with a mate of mine. It wasn't long before I realised that if you weren't off your tits at these, they were extremely boring. Unless you were really into the music. In which case, didn't it make more sense to not be taking drugs at these parties?

It did look for a long time during this period that suddenly someone was going to be honest and say exactly the reason why people went to these and got so incredibly munted. And I waited and waited and still no one came out and said, “I take e because it's fun.” And then the cult of the celebrity DJ unexpectedly fell over and rave parties either went back underground again, or became theme nights at clubs.

During this time, people still drank to excess, just like times past, and certainly like things will continue to be. Russell Crowe was busted for a couple of drunken incidents. But you know, during this period, if anyone could come out and say, “I drink heaps because it's fun,” it would have been Crowe. Instead, he didn't do it. He told interviewers not to ask him the hard questions, and curried favour with journos who might have viewed him in a more sympathetic light.

Sadly, Crowe was not going to be the pioneering celeb who was unrepentently hedonistic. Was he muzzled?

So what is it that prevents anyone from calling a spade a spade? Why can't anyone actually say publicly that they drink heavily because it's fun?

Here are some of the reasons that I came up with:

• The merest hint that drinking or drug taking is “fun” might be seized upon by a core group of drinkers as an excuse to engage in this type of activity. Exactly who this core group is never specified, nor is the exact level of influence they might have upon fellow drinkers or drug takers.
• Sports stars are prevented from admitting the fun part because it might be seen to go against the prevailing opinion that, just like the one that tells us that diets rich in anti-oxidants will prevent cancer, immunodeficiencies and global warming, sports stars must be seen to be god-like role models and therefore must criticise drinking and drug taking at all times.
• Celebrities can't ever be seen to ever be supporting this sort of thing. Unlike sports stars, they can't rely on less subjective criteria of talent such as sports results. Therefore, if they're on the nose with the media, and by extension the general public, that's it for their careers.
• Government departments. Really, they're just as subject to spin doctoring and propaganda as corporations. In fact, it was a government minister who refined modern use of “propaganda”.
• Charities that deal with the unsavoury parts of drug and alcohol use. Quite a lot of them are wowser organisations. Let's look at the list: Salvation Army – Christian sect that explicitly supports teetotallism. Alcohol rehab centres – they usually only have a little bit of money so any extra drinkers are likely to make their existences tough. Alcoholics Anonymous – what do you expect from a group that likes to maintain that everyone is an alcoholic?
• The media likes to target anyone with drug or alcohol problems. If society suddenly were to be a little more liberal minded towards drugs and alcohol the media might have to divert some of its resources towards things like, gasp, the news.

What would be really good would be if people could suddenly be honest about why they get stonkered. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen – it would wipe out an enormous industry.

And yeah, there are bad things that happen to people who over-imbibe. But none of this is really going to make a scrap of difference to your usual participant in a teenage piss-up. They know. So why not just be honest and acknowledge that this stuff is fun? Then maybe we might be on the way to finding a solution.

Of course, this might send out "the wrong message". Well we've tried the other messages. They're working fine, obviously.

Ben Cousins. Again. Yawn.

The media have gone bananas again.

Not that Ben Cousins doesn't bring it upon himself, though.

But let's just re-cap for those who don't know who Cousins is.

Cousins is probably the highest profile footballer in the AFL at the moment. He won the Brownlow Medal in 2005, which is the league's official Best and Fairest award, voted for by the umpires who officiate at each game.

In 2005, he also won the Leigh Matthews Trophy, which is a Most Valuable Player award voted for by the players. I will note here for my non-Australian readers that the Matthews Trophy doesn't have anywhere near the amount of kudos that the Brownlow Medal does as an individual award, but it still shows the level of esteem he is held in by the other players.

In 2006, his club, the West Coast Eagles, won the AFL Premiership for that season. This makes him officially a champion.

But off-field is where, like another great champion, Wayne Carey, he is more likely to be remembered.

During the end-of-season celebrations in 2002, Cousins was involved in a punch-up with fellow Eagle, Daniel Kerr.

In 2005, Cousins and team-mate Michael Gardiner famously refused to aid police after an incident involving a stabbing and a shooting at Perth's Metro City nightclub.

Incidentally, West Coast management told the pair that they were on their last warning after this affair.

And in early 2006, Cousins stopped his car and did a runner after noticing a booze bus up ahead, and working out that he was well over the legal blood-alcohol limit. He was fined for that, and no doubt copped some ridicule from other players over it.

Then in December 2006, he was arrested outside Crown Casino in Melbourne after getting a little rowdy and then passing out outside. Some incriminating photos were published by the media from this affair.

West Coast's management pretty much went on record at this point and basically indicated that the club would do nothing about Cousins' repeated indiscretions for no other reason than that he is a star player.

But the most recent events are surreal, even by Cousins' low standards.

Cousins' was suspended indefinitely after not showing up to training on repeated occasions.

Speculation mounted before finally it was revealed that Cousins had a drug problem.

Now this is where I get upset.

Cousins problems, bad as they are, relate to recreational drugs. The way that the media are going after him, though, you'd think that he was busted for blood-doping or something anabolic.

Now the AFL does not have a good record with regards to recreational drugs. Being sponsored every other year by either Victoria Bitter or Carlton Draught is hypocritical in the extreme. Alcohol is a recreational drug.

But the AFL wouldn't be alone in this regard.

Cousins should not let his recreational drug use interfere with his career as a professional footballer, however, his recreational drug use is his business, and his alone. And let's not forget, that this only came to light because several Eagles, including Cousins, were drug-tested the day before this was made public.

Some in the media are trying to spin it that Cousins' fall from grace is due to breaking up with his long term girlfriend, but this is also none of anyone's business.

So why are sporting bodies so fixated on recreational drug-use? Provided it doesn't interfere with one's career, one should be free to do whatever they like in the privacy of one's own home, or in a club, or at the pub?

Some have suggested that it's to protect sponsors from Big Alcohol who rather like people to keep chugging their product. If they're not because someone's smoking grass or having a few hits from a ice pipe, Big Alcohol is, quite rightly, going to get upset. After all, they sponsor the game and it's not through altruism, either.

AFL footballers are largely well known for their superhuman intake of alcohol, and this makes them all round good guys in the eyes of the media.

But here's the rub.

While Cousins' "substance abuse" problem is well known, when was the last time you heard of a footballer being 'outed' with an alcohol problem?

Since Cousins' problems were made public, several other key pieces of innuendo circulated about other players' problems in the same vein. Pun unintentional.

But we all remember Dale Lewis being sent to Coventry by the media for suggesting that footballers recreational drug use was anything other than alcohol.

The AFL, the media and the West Coast Eagles Football Club are seriously guilty of burying their heads in the sand on this issue for too long. People, and I like to think that footballers are people too, indulge in all manner of recreational drugs. Just why the hypocrisy exists is a complete enigma to me.

Edit 27/03/2007: Greg has put up a ripper post on this, and my learned advice is to check it out.

Footnote: The mighty Swans play the Eagles this weekend in Round 1 of the 2007 AFL Season. Go Swans!