Alcohol Overview
STATISTICS
In the last 15 years in Asia
* India's alcohol consumption has risen by 171%;
* Indonesia's alcohol consumption has risen 500%.
Last month in Europe
* only 1 in 10 men and 1 in 5 women abstained from alcoholic beverages;
* The lowest rate of abstinence in the European Union was Denmark2.1%
for men and 6.1% for women;
* The highest rate of abstinence was Ireland24.5% for men and 36.3% for
women.
Last month in the United States
* About 113 million Americans (41% of the population) had at least a
can of beer, a glass of wine, or a cocktail; 1012 million of this group
are considered heavy drinkers;
* About 3/4 of the 6 million college students had a drink and 1/2 of
those were heavy drinkers.
In the last two weeks in the United States
* about 16% of 8th grade students had five or more drinks at one
sitting (1999);
* about 31% of high school seniors had five or more drinks at one
sitting (1999).
Yesterday
* about $220 million were spent at bars, restaurants, and liquor stores
for those drinks;
* champagne toasts were made to 7,000 brides and grooms.
Also yesterday in the United States, unfortunately
* from 25% to 30% of all U. S. hospital admissions were due to direct
or indirect medical complications from alcohol;
* about 1/2 the murder victims and 1/2 the murderers drank alcohol;
* more than 1/2 of the 300 rapes that occurred involved alcohol;
* alcohol was a factor in 40% of all violent crimes;
* about 20,000 crimes that occurred involved alcohol or other drugs.
And yesterday, in Europe
* between 4.5 million and 7.7 European children woke up in a house with
parents who were problem drinkers;
* almost 30% of French men and 11% of French women drank excessively
(over 28 drinks per week for men and 14 drinks per week for women).
And worldwide last year
* over 2 million people died due to alcohol;
* approximately 10% of all diseases and injuries were directly due to
alcohol.
(SAMHSA, 1998; NCADI, 1999; Eurocare, 1999; NIAAA, 1999; Justice
Department, 1998; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 1998;
University of Michigan, 1999)
HISTORY
Alcohol is the oldest known and most widely used psychoactive drug in the
world. It has presumably been present since airborne yeast spores started
fermenting plant sugars into alcohol about 11/2 billion years ago.
The mists of prehistory cloak our ancient ancestors' discovery of
alcohol. Perhaps it was first found by accident when a bunch of grapes or
a basket of plums was left standing in a warm place, allowing the fruit
sugar to ferment into alcohol (O'Brien & Chafetz, 1991). Perhaps some
wild fermented honey was found, diluted with water, and sampled. The
drink would later be called "mead" (Waugh, 1968). Early people enjoyed
the taste, the mood altering effects, or both. Curiosity was followed by
experimentation and it was discovered that the starch in potatoes, rice,
corn, fruit, and grains could also be fermented into alcohol. Further
experimentation found the value of alcohol as a solvent for medicines and
as a medicine or tonic in and of itself.
Eventually the desire to have ready access to the pleasurable effects as
well as the health benefits of beer and wine led humans to search out the
raw ingredients with which to manufacture alcoholic beverages and produce
them systematically. In fact some historians believe that the first
civilized settlements were created to ensure a regular supply of grapes
for wine, grain and hops for beer, and poppies for opium based narcotic
drugs (Keller, 1984).
We know that ancient societies were using alcohol around 8000 B.C., about
the same time that agriculture developed. Archeologists have found a
recipe for beer, along with alcohol residues in clay pots, in Mesopotamia
and Iran dating from 54003500 B.C. (Goodwin & Gabrielli, 1997). Except
for some Moslem countries, the use of alcohol is documented in all
civilized societies throughout history, in myths, religions, rituals,
stories, hieroglyphs, sacred writings, songs, or in commercial records
written on papyrus scrolls or clay tablets. The Babylonian Epic of
Gilgamesh says wine grapes were given to the earth as a memorial to
fallen gods. The Bible contains more than 150 references to wine
(O'Brien, 1991).
THE LEGAL DRUG
Historically the acceptability of alcohol has been intertwined with
cultural, social, and financial imperatives. Whether it is used as a
reward for pyramid workers, as a solvent for Opium in the cure all known
as "laudanum," as a sacrament for Jewish or Christian religious
ceremonies, as a substitute for contaminated water supplies, or as the
focus of the Anti Saloon League, alcohol has been the object of desire or
of vilification depending on moral attitude, availability, social
acceptability, and the politics of the prevailing government. Because
beer, wine, and liquor are so widely available and legal in most
societies (except Muslim countries) and because they are promoted by
custom and advertising, many people do not think of alcohol as a drug.
Almost every country has had periods in their history where alcohol use
was restricted or banned completely. Those prohibitions were usually
rescinded (Langton, 1995).
The Chinese Canon of History, written about 650 B.C., recognized that
complete prohibition was almost impossible because men loved their beer
(Keller, 1984).
Many Buddhist sects in India prohibited alcohol starting in 500 B.C. and
continuing to the present day.
Alcohol was prohibited in ancient Persia by the ruling Islamic culture
because of widespread health problems such as malnutrition caused by
excess consumption; overindulgence was common in the upper classes.
When alcohol was distilled around A.D. 800, the medicinal qualities of
the drug were reemphasized because the increased concentration led to
more intense physiological and psychological effects.
In sub Saharan Africa, the idea of banning alcohol was usually avoided
because homebrewed beers had great nutritional value.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, drinking was tolerated by all classes
although pubs and drinking establishments were sometimes thought to be
places where sedition or heresy could arise, so the more notorious
establishments were closed down (Heath, 1995). Drunkenness was often
reserved for festive or religious occasions.
The Gin Epidemic in England in the 1700s emphasized that unrestricted use
often led to abuse and addiction because of the desirability and nature
of the drug. The unrestricted sales of gin (20 million gallons per year
in England alone) and the resulting problems of public inebriation,
illness, and death, subsequently led to severe restrictions on its
manufacture and increased taxes on gin just a few decades after its use
was promoted by the British government (O'Brien, 1991).
Official prohibition of alcohol by the government of the United States
lasted for 13 years starting in 1919 but pressure by those who wanted to
drink, including the Wet Party, led to the repeal of Prohibition.
The industrial revolution that freed people from the land and expanded
leisure time also led to the increased recreational use of alcohol
beverages. Globally alcoholism and problem drinking are always more
prevalent in developed countries than in the developing countries (WHO,
1999).
Contemporary society's view of the heavy drinker is more forgiving than
its view of even an occasional cocaine, heroin, or LSD user. The
contradictions surrounding alcohol's accepted place in society and the
disfavor in which most other psychoactive drugs are held are not lost on
the younger generation.
"Alcohol is heavily social, so one of the problems that I have with
prohibition attitudes is that society drinks as much as we do. And
because it is legal, I feel I am still part of society even when drunk,
whereas with illicit drugs like marijuana, I feel I am stepping outside
of what is acceptable."
19yearold college freshman
Although it is legal and widely available, alcohol is nonetheless a
powerful psychoactive drug and is classified as a central nervous system
depressant. In small doses it relaxes, sedates, and reduces inhibitions.
In moderate doses, even over long periods of time, it continues to relax,
sedate, and lower inhibitions in non susceptible people. It is however a
toxin and in large enough doses can kill a drinker through acute alcohol
poisoning a person often passes out before drinking enough to die.
"I took my 16 year old brother to a college victory party with my
teammates. Three hours later my friend told me my brother had passed out.
We called 911 and they told me at the emergency room they had never seen
someone with that high a blood alcohol concentration who had still lived.
He had been drinking straight vodka from a paper cup."
22 year old college senior
Contact:
The Legacy Group of Alcoholics Anonymous © 2005