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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.
www.betterthanokay.com
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