ALCOHOL AND SOCIETY TODAY
There has been a lot of discussion in the last few years about
the continuing problem of alcohol and the effect it has on society.
Should we treat alcohol as if it were an illicit drug? Some
of the promoters of harsh restrictions on the sale and marketing
of certain alcoholic beverages (restrictions such as advertising
bans and higher taxes) have justified their proposals with the
erroneous assertion that alcohol is no different than illegal
drugs. There have even been stories in some of the media attempting
to equate alcohol with the use and/or abuse of illegal substances
such as marijuana, crack, cocaine and heroin. We will first
mention as a matter of information that alcoholic beverages
have been a part of western civilization for more than 25 centuries.
Now we know there will always be people among us who drink.
America has already tried prohibition and learned conclusively
that it does not work. The simple fact is that many Americans
like to drink and the vast majority of those who do, drink responsibly,
thus, the public policy challenge we face today is not to stigmatize
all drinking as bad but to maximize the probability that those
who choose to drink will do so in a responsible manner. It's
a fact that excessive drinking can seriously damage one's health.
Those who claim that "alcohol is a drug" want that word to carry
a particular, threatening connotation. In reality, however,
"drug" is an ethically, legally and physiologically neutral
term that encompasses a wide spectrum of substances. According
to a well-known medical textbook of pharmacology, a drug is
any chemical agency that affects living processes. A drug can
be as menacing as cocaine, as benign as sucrose or as helpful
as vitamin C. In a societal sense, some drugs relieve pain and
assist in the healing process. Others are safely and legally
enjoyed by millions of people very day, even though overuse
can result in undesirable side effects. And Some drugs are so
terribly addictive that simply experimenting with them carries
substantial risk. Recent studies show that excess alcohol consumption
can lead to a number of serious health problems, and of course
there is the problem of addiction which must be taken into consideration.
Who among us hasn't been exposed to a friend or relative with
a severe drinking problem. Many of societies' problems today
such as spouse abuse, child abuse and dysfunctional family relationships
can be traced to drinking problems. Alcohol may lead to liver
problems, a variety of cancers as well as forms of osteoporosis
and depression, and studies are showing, too, that women are
more susceptible to the ill effects of alcohol than are men.
From this information, it is safe to conclude that anything
which has this type of effect on one's general health, is going
to affect the entire system. And research has shown that alcohol
depletes the body of it's necessary vitamins and minerals. "Social
drinking" seems to be an accepted practice these days and the
arguments both pro and con will always be with us. It is our
hope that as you read and consider this information you will
become more aware of the effect that alcohol has on society
today.
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