Alcohol Essay, Research Paper

Is it a new trend? No. Alcohol has been a part of the lives of people for centuries. Its uses vary from “worship ceremonies,” to “magic and medicine,” to celebration of “births, marriages, and initiations.” Like today, centuries ago people found drinking a delightful custom, however, intoxication has always caused social difficulty. One of the earliest records of alcohol regulation recovered is in Egyptian “temperance tract” which states

Take not upon thyself to drink a jug of beer. Thou speakest, and an unintelligible utterance issueth from thy mouth. If thou fallest down and thy limbs break, there is none to hold out a hand to thee. Thy companions in drink stand up and say: “Away with this sot.” And thou art like a little child.

The use of alcohol is thought to have been first present among European culture and was later introduced to America during the years of colonization. Americans soon found drinking to be a “pleasant custom” and often centered their lives around alcohol; it became part of ” the social fabric of colonial America.” In the past, people did not know what ‘alcoholism’ was; therefore, they would go on abusing alcohol without giving it much thought. This abuse of drinking resulted in problems for those who drank and the people around them.

The earliest found manuscript where the smoking of tobacco is documented is in Mayan archives which date back to prehistoric times. With the discovery of the New World, the explorers became exposed to tobacco, a plant that had been smoked for years by the Indians of North America. Columbus and the colonizers from Spain, found it strange that the Indians were “putting little rolls of dry leaves in their mouths and then setting them afire.” During the period of inquisition, it was first introduced to the European culture as a medicine brought to Europe by explorers. Subsequently, during the next few centuries, tobacco plantations grew everywhere and “smoking spread almost like a contagious disease from a few individuals to entire populations.” The Europeans of the 17th century had the erroneous conviction that tobacco could be used to heal diseases, thus, its use became common in many countries. In the 1800’s, technology furthered the spread of cigarette production when the rolling machine to manufacture cigarettes automatically, was devised. The “cigarette-making machine,” facilitated the production of cigarettes and halved the price of cigarettes, which now made it possible for lower-class individuals to purchase them. It quickly became popular throughout Europe , and assumed almost a reverential quality. During his reign, King James I of England stated that smoking tobacco was “unhealthy and immoral.” Yet, Sir Walter Raleigh (who served in the King’s Court) opposed the King by making it “fashionable and a mark of distinction.”

During the 1600s, while tobacco was condemned in Europe as evil, it became one of the biggest cash crops grown in the colonies of America. During the 1700s, tobacco use and popularity kept climbing throughout the world and became a main crop for trade. During this time, pipes and snuff were common methods of smoking tobacco. “The use of tobacco continued to climb, fueled by a new cheap smoke?the cigarette.” The Civil War contributed greatly to the spread of cigarette smoking in the United States. Soldiers at war smoked cigarettes as an inexpensive way of “consuming tobacco.” Once they got home from war, cigarettes were advertised by the soldiers to the rest of society. The creation of high speed machines resulted in cigarettes being produced in the 1880s at an all time high up until this point in time. The same effect was created by World War I where cigarettes were seen as an essential part of the war. According to a doctor of the war, cigarettes became an “indispensable comfort to the men.” During World War II, the situation with the soldiers was much like it was in World War I.

After the first World War, there was a rise in women smokers; they wanted the same rights as men. The 40s, soon thereafter, became known as the “Golden Age of Cigarette Advertisement.” In spite of medical advancement that informed of the dangers encompassed by smoking, the number of people that smoked rose. In fact, one of the popular songs of the late 40s was entitled “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette).” Immediately prior to the United States’ entry into World War I, the tobacco industry took a major turn and expanded greatly. The associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, Dr. John Slade, attributed the expansion of the cigarette industry to the enormous nationwide advertisement campaign of a tobacco corporation to vend one of its labels of cigarettes. These particular cigarettes were also sold cheaper than cigarettes of other marks.

Cigarette companies flourished with the progression of World War II. After World WII, the number of smokers still kept climbing due to the fact that during the war, cigarettes were an important crop during the war and soldiers were heavily dependent upon them. The United States took the liberty of shipping millions of cigarettes to its soldiers in France at no charge. This in turn caused a great increase in the amount of smokers. Not only was there an increase in the amount of smokers fighting at war, but there was also a large rise in the numbers of those smoking back home. Between 1910 and 1919, the manufacture of cigarettes increased from lower than 10 billion to seventy billion cigarettes.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the post World Wars period, the number of teenage smokers increased to exceed the numbers of adult smokers. As a matter of fact, records show that during the 60’s, cigarette sale in America reached a climax. The 60’s and 70’s often referred to as the “hippie era,” was a period of protest and a period of advocation of the freedom and the rights of people: a period of chaos. This time was a period when drugs including alcohol and cigarettes were supported and were experimented with mostly by teens rebelling against the government. In response to an increase in consumption of harmful substances, during the Kennedy years, Surgeon General’s warnings were made to Americans to inform them on health issues regarding smoking and its consequences. In the following years, warnings continued to be issued to warn of the dangers of smoking, particularly on cigarette packs. Evidence shows a drop in smoking among youths until 1980, when it eventually reached a plateau. For more than ten years the number of teenagers who smoked stayed basically in the same range, however, in the early 90s the percentage increased by thirty.

Regulations restricting the use of alcohol are long existent. Early governments such as those of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans established laws to limit the use of alcohol in order to prevent its abuse.

Only a decade after alcohol was initially introduced to America by European explorers, a law was passed in order to restrict excessive drinking. This law punished whomever was caught drunk, and the severity of the punishment depended on the number of similar offenses a person had previously committed. Nevertheless, these efforts were futile in their attempt to moderate the use of alcohol.

During the period of time between the 1600s and the 1800s, a series of laws were passed, in order to regulate and control alcohol abuse, yet were not successful in solving alcohol problems in America. By the 1800s, temperance movements had risen and drinking was associated with corruption and problems. Thus, in 1826, the first national temperance organization was founded. The laws which attempted to steer people away from alcohol were inefficient and punishments were not severe enough to keep people from drinking. In 1830, society and its leaders were not as concerned with wine and beer as with the prohibition of “distilled spirits.”

One of the first attempts at prohibition of tobacco was recorded when the taxation on tobacco was increased by 4000% in England by King James I during the 1700s.” Because people would pay almost anything for tobacco, the government soon learned to benefit from the product. Taxes on tobacco were put into effect and soon enough, governments became “dependent on the trading of tobacco.” Eventually, countries such as England, Italy, France, Russia, Prussia, and finally, the United States of America began to give-up on prohibition and place heavy taxes on tobacco in order to make a profit. Although the governments of various countries were benefiting from the sale of tobacco, anti- smoking campaigns have been around since the late 1800s. For example, the Anti- Cigarette League of America, founded by former schoolteacher named Lucy Page Gaston, promoted laws to ban smoking. Businessmen and organizations much like the Anti-Cigarette League of America worked in conjunction with the League in order to get several antismoking laws passed. The campaigning was successful and in 1890 already twenty-six states had restrained anyone under-age from buying cigarettes (the ages for a person to be regarded as under-aged varied). In addition, rigid laws were placed to on women smokers to keep them from smoking.

As time progressed, all alcohol was seen as evil, and in1919, people began to demand the prohibition of alcohol. In 1920, the 18th amendment was passed, prohibiting the manufacturing, shipping and sale of alcohol. Nevertheless, the sale of alcohol was not successfully thwarted, efforts to control drinking through prohibition failed. During the “roaring twenties” temperance movements soon resulted in illegal manufacturing and sale of the substance. . Nightclubs called “speakeasies” were established to covertly traffic alcohol. In 1933, the 21st amendment was passed, repealing the 18th amendment.

Through the years, different forms of “scare tactics” have been employed to

steer people away from drinking. The government is not the only organization that has made efforts to regulate drinking. For years, even decades, numerous campaigns against alcoholism, have failed. The 1980’s was evidently a decade that campaigned and advocated against illegal drugs. In 1988, for example, Congress passed a resolution that proposed an alternative to achieve the goal of a “drug-free America by 1995.” A new policy known as the “harm reduction” policy was devised and spread. Instead of taking a tough stance on punishment of illegal drug users, it focuses on preventing crime and calls for protection of public health, for safety, and for human right. This policy is one of common sense that is hoped to succeed in making matters better by taking a logical advance to this issue.

Like alcohol, smoking has been a prevalent issue through time. When President Kennedy came into office, he faced a major problem: the American people did not regard cigarettes as an important problem. By the 1960’s the truth about smoking was discovered and announced by the Surgeon General: lung cancer could be a result of cigarette smoking. In the year 1966, cigarette companies were required to warn smokers of the possible dangers of cigarette smoking by putting a stamp on all cigarette boxes. In the late 60s, further studies found that smoking not only caused lung cancer, but could possibly result in heart disease, respiratory diseases (emphysema), and other forms of cancer. Public concerns regarding the environmental and health issues surrounding cigarette smoking, increased in the 70s. The promotion of cigarettes by means of the media was prohibited by 1971. Additionally, people began promoting non-smokers’ right and lobbying to protest pollution caused by the carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke.

From the late seventies to the nineties, hundreds of laws have been passed in order to conform to smokers’ rights as well to those of non-smokers. An organization by the name of the Environmental Protection Agency, in 1993, studied and proved that second-hand smoke is a toxic substance concluding that it on average kills three thousand people per year due to lung cancer. The tobacco industry subsequently battled their claims, yet were not triumphant in doing so. The discovery that cigarette smoke, otherwise known as “ETS” is very hazardous to the health, was soon followed by laws and regulations that protect people from being inflicted by cigarette smoke which created the non- smoking policy in most public places.

The “Smoke-Free Schools Act” was passed by the Clinton administration in 1994 outlawing smoking in public areas assessed by the government which provide programs to minors. For example, smoking was banned in public schools and apparently it decreased teenage smoking. Other facilities open to the public such as hospitals, stores, and restaurants also became smoke-free zones.