John MacDonald: Mike King was right. But he was wrong too

It’s Gumboot Friday tomorrow and the guy behind it, Mike King, seems to have put his foot in it. Although, I’m a little bit torn on this one.   

So what’s happened is we’ve got this charity fashion show being held in Dunedin to raise money for suicide prevention and mental health awareness. And, like most events, the organisers wanted to serve alcohol as part of the hospitality offering for guests.  

The police, though, weren’t too fussed about that and they opposed the application for a special alcohol licence. They did that because they don’t think it’s appropriate to serve grog at an event that is all about trying to raise awareness and reduce suicide rates, and the reason behind that is the growing evidence linking people drinking and taking their lives.  

So yesterday, Mike King tells Newstalk ZB that alcohol isn't a problem for people with mental illness. It is a lifejacket.  

Now here's where I'm torn.  

Mike King is a guy who not only works tirelessly to raise awareness of mental health issues and raise money —with things like Gumboot Friday— but he’s also someone who has been there and done that.   

Unlike some of the experts, he’s been there himself. And I know he’s right when he says that people turn to alcohol when they’re in mental distress, in fact, even people who you wouldn’t consider to be on the edge turn to alcohol.   

If you say you’ve had a bad day, people will invariably tell you to have a drink.  

So, of course, people turn to alcohol. But the scary bit is all this research coming through that shows how people can actually decide to take their own life – but only do it after they’ve been drinking.  

Whenever I read or hear about that it terrifies me, because we all know people can think they’re capable of all sorts of things once they’ve got a few drinks on board.  

So the link between alcohol and suicide makes perfect sense.  

Which is why we’ve got Otago University health professor Rose Crossin poo-pooing Mike King’s comments today. She says alcohol can give you temporary relief from your problems, but it can also be a depressant and it can make your problems seem worse. And I’m not going to argue with that, either.  

But I’m not going to crucify Mike King because I believe him when he says that alcohol is a lifejacket for people with mental illness. And if he thinks that alcohol does actually stop people taking their lives, then who am I to argue with him?  

But given he is the face of Gumboot Friday, a charity which, remember, received $24 million in government support this year. And given that a lot of people probably consider him to be the most credible mental health advocate in the country, should he have said what he said yesterday?  

My answer to that is “no”. He didn’t need to. We know he used alcohol and drugs to get him through. We know he knows what he’s on about.   

And even though I know full well that alcohol gets a lot of people through their personal nightmares - it didn’t need saying. So I think he was right and he was wrong.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's Gunboot Friday tomorrow and the guy behind at Mike King,
he seems to have put his foot in it, although
although I'm a little bit torn on this one. So
what's happened is we've got this charity fashion show being
held in Dunedin to raise money for suicide prevention and
mental health awareness. And like most events these days, if

(00:36):
not all events these days, the organizers they want to
serve food and drink. They wanted alcohol license. The police
though not too fast about that, and so they have
opposed the application for a special alcohol license and that
they've done that because they don't think it's appropriate to
serve grog at an event that is all about trying

(00:57):
to raise awareness and reduce suicide rates. And the reason
behind that why is that, well, you know, the reason
is the growing evidence linked people drinking and taking their lives.
So that was in the news yesterday see yesterday after
and here there gets Mike King on the show to
talk about it, and this is where he kind of

(01:19):
put his foot in it. I'll play you a little
bit of that interview shortly but he is where I'm
torn on what he said, because, as we all know
Mike King, he's a guy who not only works tirelessly
to raise awareness of mental health issues and to raise
money for dealing with mental health with things like tomorrow's
Gunboat Friday, but he's also someone who has been there

(01:42):
and done that, you know, unlike some of the experts,
not all of them, but some of them. Unlike them,
he's been there himself. And look, I know he's right.
I know he's right when he says that people turn
to alcohol when they're in mental distress. In fact, even
people that you wouldn't consider to be on the edge

(02:04):
turned to alcohol. As Jess was saying to me just before,
she said, you know, you tell someone you've had a
bad day, and not invariably they'll say, oh, you need
to have a drink. Heaven, drink, have a drink. So
when Mike was on with Heathy yesterday and she asked
him about the police saying it's not appropriate to serve
alcohol at an event supporting men to mental health awareness

(02:25):
and support, he didn't hold back. Here's a little bit
of what he said.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Alcohol is not a problem for people with mental health issues.
It's actually the solution to our problem. And until you
come up with a better solution, then by that, how
is it a solution? Well, it stopped those those thoughts.
I would suggest to you. I would suggest to you
that alcohol has prevented more young people from taking their

(02:50):
own lives, that it actually takes their own lives when
I was I'm a drug addict and alcoholic in my
whole life. I used drugs and alcohol to stop that
little voice inside my head that told me that I
wasn't good enough, that I was used. It's like a relief,
like a relate, it's a release, it's like a video game.
It's exactly the same thing.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
So you can hear it and hear this voice there.
Initially she was thinking what the helly on about? But
it sounded to me like she got what he was saying,
and so do Why of course people turn to alcohol.
Scary bit is all this research coming through that shows
how people can actually decide to take their own life,
but only do it after they've been drinking. And whenever

(03:34):
I read or whenever I hear about that, it terrifies
me because we all know, you know, don't you, Whether
you're a drinker or not. You know, people can think
that they're capable of all sorts of things once I've
got a few drinks on board. So this link between
alcohol and suicide makes perfect sense. No argument for me
on that one, which is why we've got also a
target university health professor at rose Cross and poop pooing

(03:56):
Mike King's comments today. Now she's saying, yes, alcohol can
give you temporary relief from your problems, but it's also
it can also be a depressant and it can make
your problems worse. I'm not going to argue with her either,
but I'm not going to crucify Mike King. That's where
I'm at on this one. I'm torn, but I'm not
going to crucify him. And the reason for that is

(04:19):
I believe him. I believe him when he says that
alcohol is a life jacket for people with mental illness.
And if he thinks that alcohol does actually stop people
taking their lives, then then then who am I to
argue with them? But there's a butt given he is
the face of Gunboat Friday, a charity which remember received

(04:41):
twenty four million dollars in government support this year, and
given that a lot of people probably consider him to
be the most credible mental health advocate in the country.
And even though we know that he knows what he's
talking about, should he have said what he said yesterday?
And my answer to that is, even though I'm not

(05:03):
going to crucify him, my answers that is no, because
he didn't need to. We know that he used alcohol
and drugs to get him through. We know that he
knows what he's on about, and even though I know
full well that alcohol gets a lot of people through
their personal nightmares, it didn't need saying. So I think

(05:23):
Mike King was right, but I also think he was wrong.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
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