12 April 2011 “The Inside Story on Alcoholism” Going back to the early 1920’s, alcoholism was an issue for many men, evident by the push for the Prohibition by many women at that point in time. Women wanted the 18th amendment so that their husbands would stop throwing their money away at bars, when many families lived from check to check, this was when the phrase “when you have a relationship with someone who is addicted, you have a relationship with an addiction, not a person” was coined by individuals in relationships with alcoholics.Saying that alcohol serves no purpose wouldn’t be telling the entire truth, in fact, alcohol does have its uses, including but not limited to cleaning wounds, and disinfecting door handles that are touched by hundreds of people every day. In the 1920’s liquor was the go to disinfectant, and sometimes medication, if only to limit the feeling of pain. Almost 100 years later, alcoholism is still an issue for many families.
Children across the United States are abused, both sexually and physically, by alcoholic parents, and 25,000 people die each year from automobile collisions that did, indeed, involve alcohol (Lowe et. al).Given that anything with a molecule of OH (Hydroxide) is considered an alcohol, it would be nearly impossible to outright ban alcohol; after all, Prohibition in the 1920’s failed. Monitoring the sale of alcohol like law enforcement agencies do with Pseudoephedrine, a key component in the production of methamphetamines is pertinent to decreasing the amount of alcoholics in the United States.
This in essence would lower healthcare costs for diseases associated with alcoholism, moving funding for manpower to monitor the sale of alcohol rather than cleaning up accidents, and lowering the rate at which children are physically and sexually abuse.Prohibition began in the 1920s and has been dubbed the ‘Noble Experiment,’ for it pushed the limits of the federal government’s power. This undertaking outlawed the sale, manufacturing, possession and moving of alcohol in all fifty states. The Temperance Movement was responsible for the push of prohibition, and stated that it would solve “many of society's ills, especially crime and murder” (Rosenberg). This led to the creation of speakeasies and mobs (called gangs, then) and glorified public figures such as Al Capone.
Though statistics are hard to find, it’s very possibly and likely that crime went up, not necessarily because of murder or other violence crimes, but because of those who broke the law. In late 1933, the 18th amendment was repealed, and the sale, movement, and possession of alcohol was again legal (Rosenberg). This attempt at regulating alcohol failed. Tracking down every single case of child abuse in the United States would be hard to do, but it is possible to get an average number.One particular study by researchers at the National Alcohol Research Center built on other studies that have been conducted during recent years, namely ones that have come from Washington University of Saint Louis.
This study used a pool of 3,680 women who participated in 2005. (Lowe et al. ). The study revealed that child abuse, physical and sexual was more likely than those that weren’t abuse. In families with parents that abuse their children, both sexually and physically, was connected to 124 drinks a year, while no abuse was reported with as few as 74 drinks a year.The study goes on to say that “Both physical and sexual child abuse were associated with getting into fights, health, legal, work and family alcohol related consequences” (Lowe et al.
) this is very important because it means that alcoholics have issues in all aspects of life, not just one or another. When children are around alcohol, their chances of alcohol “misuse” (Lowe et al. ) greatly increase, which doesn’t help if a child is already predisposed to a genetic predisposition to alcohol (Buddy T) that increases the likelihood that a child will become dependent on alcohol, and who are four times more as likely become alcoholics.As children age and become teenagers, one study conducted by researchers at Ohio State University Michael Slater, and Jain Parul, have uncovered that “media exposure and attention would predict the effects of various individual-differences variables on alcohol related risk perceptions among teen viewers of crime and emergency shows on television” (Parul and Slater) . Television shows, such as “ER”, which featured a female doctor that was an alcoholic, would be more likely to have teen viewers that had tried alcohol compared to shows such as TV shows that did not have a major character drinking on a regular basis.
Parul and Slater). Also in a study conducted by the Naval Health Research Center and the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault concluded that out of 5,697 Navy recruits, those that were abused were more likely to use alcohol to self medicate. (Trent et al. ). Currently, there is an act in Congress; known as the CARE Act, Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness, which is aimed at “supporting state-based alcohol regulation” (Wright) which would give individual states the right to limit direct shipment to consumers, which would limit the availability of alcohol in certain situation.
Wrights) This would be monumental to limit the amount of alcohol that can go to teenagers, similar to how anyone under the age of 18 can’t buy anything with Pseudoephedrine, such as Bayer, Benadryl, or Zyertec and even then there is a datebase, known as the National Percursor Log Exchange, which monitors the sale of products containing said meth making ingredient. There is a push being made in congress by Senator Randy McNally-R to make medications to treat allergies and other nasal issues prescription only. (Lukachick).Requiring a prescription would “certainly lower the amount of meth labs” (McNally) which would save local governments thousands of dollars a year, because each lab is “full of toxic and explosive chemicals — costs about $2,500 to clean up properly. ” (Lukachick).
One story of a man, who wished to remain anonymous, is fifty-two and realized by the time that he was thirty-one that he was “mature in his misery” (Jenks) and didn’t know how to get out. A drinker in his teen years, he was often unreliable and a bad example to his peers.Doctors studied the late Elizabeth Taylor and stated that what fuels alcoholism “also stimulate[s] the need for other addictive substances. ” (Jenks). This story is similar to millions of others who are addicted to meth, though meth addicts are easier to spot, they still face trouble in their day to day life. Doctors are currently looking into finding a way to determine if people in the general public are likely to become alcoholics.
Part of this research is to create a blood test that can scan the blood cells for variations in gene mutations. Jenks) In conclusion, regulating the alcoholism industry would reduce many things such as national healthcare costs, which supports many elderly who have had alcohol problems for many years, and mothers who drink while pregnant, (Problems) can cause a child to have developmental issues, which costs the government millions over the course of a lifetime. child abuse cases where children are traumatized for many year, and relieve the stress on nationwide programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Al-Anon group.With this freeing-up of funding, it would be possible to increase the monetary support that would be available to a national program to monitor the use and sale of all alcoholic beverages that are more than five percent proof. Prohibition failed, but with advances in technology, law enforcement techniques, it would be much easier to regulate the distribution, transport, and use of alcohol. After all, Joseph Stalin once said that “one death is tragedy, one million is a statistic,” this holds true in death related to alcholism Works Cited EhealthMD, Alcohol |.
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