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.
No comments:
Post a Comment