Alcoholism: Society's Long Ignored Problem

"We spend billions and billions to fight drugs but, comparatively, spend nothing against alcohol. And alcohol is a drug." -- Joseph Kennedy III, 1990.

Alcohol is the most abused substance in the United States, whether the user is at the legal age or not. Alcohol is the third leading cause of death nationwide and would be number one if alcohol-induced motor-vehicle deaths were included. 1 in every 13 adults abuse alcohol, which computes into roughly 14 million Americans who combat some type of alcohol abuse (7% of these are labeled alcoholics). An alcoholic is someone whose physical and/or emotional dependence on alcohol prevents them from leading a normal life. There are four phases of alcoholism. In the pre-alcoholic phase a person may seek out alcohol in social situations and feel the need to 'loosen up' before anxiety provoking events. Soon the person displays the beginning signs of being an alcoholic. They may drink alone, experience memory lapses or blackouts, gulp drinks, and generally feel guilty about their drinking. The third phase is the crucial phase in which the person looses control of their drinking. Family and friends come second after alcohol. The person is physically dependent on alcohol and need alcohol to function normally. It is at this phase they are considered an alcoholic. Finally comes the chronic phase in which drinking starts early in the day, and the person is usually in a drunk state. A certain tolerance to alcohol may become noticeable, and if desperate enough the alcoholic will drink anything including rubbing alcohol.

The main reason alcohol is a societal problem is drunk driving. A person is considered to be driving drunk if their BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) is .08 or above. Drunk driving is such a problem that 50% of all motor-vehicle deaths result from some sort of alcohol influence. This has caused the "Zero Tolerance" legislation in which states that any driver under 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher is considered drunk. If a state does not enforce this law then they will loose highway funding, which, sadly, is more effective than the feeling of responsibility the government should be feeling. This piece of legislation alone has resulted in a 20% decrease in single-vehicle nighttime accidents. A societal issue that comes in a close second to drunk driving is alcohol-fueled violence. In the United States alcohol is strongly associated with assault, murder, rape, abuse, and many other types of violent crime. The main reason for this is that alcohol breaks down sexual and physical inhibitions, enabling the user to become violent faster than usual. The major contributing factors to alcoholism are genes and environmental factors. Children of alcoholics are at a disadvantage in that they are more likely to have not only problems with alcohol, but also mental and behavioral disorders produced from living in an alcoholic-created environment. In fact, sons of alcoholic fathers have a 25% chance of becoming an alcoholic. Teenagers also carry a high likelihood of becoming alcoholics if they begin drinking early. People who drink before 16 are four times more likely to become alcoholics. A little-debated but sociologically studied factor is gender. Men are more likely to drink impulsively and without much behavior control, and to drink in times of distress and times of celebration. Women who are depressed or stressed are more likely to drink than men in the same position. Sociologists give many reasons for this, but the most common reasons are that women are expected to be warm and nurturing, there is a social stigma of alcoholic or drinking women, and women have lower alcohol tolerance level than men. Although some of the factors women are less likely to become alcoholics are biologically based, most of them are sociologically based, which is interesting to note.

Fortunately there are things being done to help solve the alcohol problem in America. Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, is a philosophically based organization with a strong emphasis on the idea that alcoholism is genetically based, and that total alcohol abstinence is required for recovering alcoholics. Although AA is a program based on a life-long commitment only 12% of participants remain in the program longer than three years. As well as AA many hospitals now offer addiction medicine specialists who are available for teaching as well as consultations. The medicinal treatments for alcoholism come mainly in the form of pills. One pill, Revia, is a drug that dulls the urge to drink. In one study Revia was combined with a short series of counseling sessions among patients who drank heavily four out of five days. At the end of the study the patients were drinking only one out