Another aspect is that of the cost of maintaining a police force that have to deal with the after-effects of addiction. One such example and one that we hear a great deal about in the media is that of ‘binge drinking’. People who have developed an addiction to alcohol very often engage in drunken, anti-social behaviour, usually in town and city centres up and down the country. The police have the job of dealing with fights or semi-conscious people lying in the street which is due to the effects of excessive alcohol consumption.