Governmental Anti-Alcohol Campaign Essay, Research Paper

About a month ago, I was passively watching television until a governmentally funded advertisement caught my eye. In this commercial, a young child goes to the family refrigerator and gets his father a bottle of beer. Then a stereotypical narrator says, “When some parents crave their favorite drug, they’ll even use their own kids to get it. Alcohol is the number one drug problem in this country. Not marijuana, not cocaine. Don’t be fooled. Alcohol is a drug” This commercial alarmed me because the majority of people I know consume alcohol. I decided to investigate alcohol and see how bad this dangerous “drug” really was. My findings were very shocking and they led me to question a central federal policy and the effects of alcohol. While most of us know that alcoholism is a disease, we may not recognize it as a disease that affects the entire family physically, emotionally and spiritually. Sometimes alcoholics feel responsible for the problem drinking itself. They are hurt and upset and respond with resentment, bitterness and fear. They are determined, angry or fearful efforts to do something about it. Sometimes there own behavior is inappropriate. They scream, cry, yell, plead, pray, threaten or refuse to communicate. They make excuses and protect the alcoholic.

While alcoholics are so focused on the drinking and behavior of the alcohol, they don’t realize that other members of their own family are affected too. It is easy to see the direct impact of the alcohol on the drinker. We don’t understand how the non-drinking parent can have a problem when they aren’t the one who is drinking. A friend of my was a drinker, but before he realize that it was killing his mom he kept drinking. One day, on the way to work, he stops to buy beer. His mom was worry about him because of his drink problem. The night he bought the beer, he crashed his car killing 5 members of a Mexican family. After the accident he realize the effects the alcohol was making to his life. Fourteen States have lowered BAC limits from 0.10 to 0.08 percent to reduce this type of accidents were drunk drivers are involved with innocent victims. If this law was at the time my friend drove drunk he might not have been in this situation. Some studies made in some of those states were the BAC law was reduced experiment a 16 percent decline in the proportion of fatal crashes. But those states that the BAC laws were not reduced had more accidents than they did. Now, my friends’ life those not have a meaning because he is only alive with the help of a machine. (5)

Should the federal government abstinence ideology concerning alcohol be reconsidered? Contrary to what the federal government would have people believe moderate consumption of alcohol is very healthy for the human body. The bible even compares “wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice, to make the face shine with oil, and bread that sustains the very heart of mortal man”. (Psalms 104:15) In other words God knows that a little of alcohol is not really bad because it put a smile on our face. I don’t want to say that drinking is ok, only if one drink moderate. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA] would have people believe that alcohol is currently the worse drug in United States. This institution along with Center for Substance Abuse Prevention [CSAP] periodically releases conclusions concerning alcohol to the public that are both misleading and fraudulent. These comments are not base on scientific evidence but instead seem to reflect a neo-prohibitionist effort to stigmatize alcohol. Here are some of the examples of statements made by officials representing governmental agencies in the last five years that is neither based on conclusive, scientific evidence nor even remotely reported from a disinterested, neutral position:

“Alcoholism is a chronic, often progressive disease with symptoms that include a strong need to drink despite negative consequences, such as serious job or health problems”. “Alcoholism tends to run in families, and generic factors partially explain this pattern”. “Alcoholism is a treatable disease”. “Abusing alcohol can have negative results, such failure to meet major work, school, or family responsibilities because of drinking; alcohol-related legal trouble; automobile crashes due to drinking”. “Drinking during pregnancy can have a number of harmful effects on the newborn, ranging from mental retardation, organ abnormalities, and hyperactivity to learning and behavioral problems. Moreover, many of these disorders last into adulthood. {While we don’t yet know exactly how much alcohol is required to cause these problems}, we do know that they are 100-percent preventable if a woman does not drink at all during pregnancy. Therefore, for women who are pregnant or are trying to become pregnant, the safest course is to abstain from alcohol”. “As a person ages, certain mental and physical functions tend to decline,

{No level of consumption indicated} including vision, hearing, and reaction time”. “Many medical conditions common to older people, including high blood pressure and ulcers, can be worsened by drinking”. (n.p)

The same federally funded institutions that release misleading statements to the public, also project their belief that there is no difference between moderate drinking and alcohol abuse-the two are portrayed as one and same. After some of the statements made by the officials cited in the previous paragraph you might have noticed the notation {no level of consumption indicated}. These notations illustrate how the federally funded agencies fail to differentiate between moderate consumption and abusive consumption of alcohol. The difference between moderate consumption and abusive consumption is the single-most important aspect of alcohol’s effects on health. First let me define both moderate consumption. The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information defined moderation as follow: “No more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men”. Both of these guidelines pertain to what medical researchers call average-sized people. A drink of alcohol is defined as 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. The abuse of alcohol has make organization to teach young students about alcohol. According to the Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study said, “For students in grades five through eight, focuses primarily on teaching peer-resistance skills and on clarifying students misperceptions of their peers’ alcohol use”. Now, more young students have to learn about something that in my parents years was only something for adults to learn about. (n.p)

Another effect from the abuse of alcohol is that you have problems on your thinking. Alcoholics can experiment liver disease, which includes jaundice, internal bleeding, bloating, and neurological impairment. To treat alcoholism, first of all the alcoholic should recognize that he has a problem with drinking. Secondly, it may require medical help to get over the symptoms of drinking. An appointment with doctors and counselors may be required. Another useful treatment is to join in the Alcoholics Anonymous {AA}. It might also required for the alcoholic to have a well-balance diet. Also if an alcoholic drinks again he (she) should never gulp alcoholic drink, drink slowly. (5)

In conclusion, all of the teens that think about drinking should first think about the effects on their families and their bodies. If the government would only clearly define the difference between moderate consumption and abusive consumption and educate the public concerning the positive and negative effects of abstinence, moderate consumption, and abusive consumption instead of insulting the public’s intelligence by not trusting the public’s judgment through their oppressive means of corruptly taking the decision to drink with guilt-free conscious knowing that moderate consumption of alcohol is very healthy away from society, I think all alcohol abuse problems of America would be greatly reduced.

1,026 words.