Alcohol is the most dangerous of all psychoactive drugs. The potential health problems caused by overdrinking are many and include pancreatitis, permanent memory loss, high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver and weakened heart muscle.

The damage of alcohol extends beyond the user. Alcoholic mothers can damage their fetuses, sometimes severely, causing fetal alcohol syndrome.

Drivers who are impaired by alcohol cause traffic accidents, some of them fatal. Alcoholism begets violence and crime. The number one day of the year when women are battered is Super Bowl. Men, fueled by alcohol and getting excited about the game often extend their alcohol fueled thirst for violence beyond the final play and turn on their wives.

Families are destroyed, careers are lost and in general alcohol costs this country too much money each year. In fact, The United States Department of Health and Human Services reports that the yearly monetary cost to the United States, because of alcohol is $184.6 billion, representing a 25 percent increase in under a decade.

Alcohol is more easily abused because it is widely available due to the fact that it is legal.

As alcohol abuse and alcoholism increase, so do the theories as to why there is so much over-drinking. Is alcoholism a disease or a moral issue?

In reality, the disease theory doesn’t make sense on two counts. If alcoholism is hereditary and passed through the genes, then why has the gene pool suddenly gone bad? There aren’t other indications that this is occurring and in fact, people are living longer than they used to.

In the last days of Rome and at various times in other cultures, the history books tell us that alcohol abuse became more prevalent during different times within the same race and country. While it is nearly impossible to research what was going on with the hereditary process in the last days of Rome, written testament as to the condition of the moral fiber of the era is easily discovered. Attendant with an increase of alcohol abuse we find changes in the moral and ethics level of the culture in general. Rome was debauched to the point where in its latter stages, leaders bragged about how much they were drinking. Parties of over-indulgence were common place – party goers emptied their stomachs to ensure maximum drunkenness from ingestions of alcohol. In general the work ethic of the populace had lowered and Rome was no longer turning out the masterful art or culture that it once had.

The Native American, plunge into the horrible pit of alcohol abuse, was also initially accompanied by changes in the culture that affected the ethics mindset surrounding alcohol. Before the Europeans came to the Americas, many tribes were already drinking alcohol. Their alcohol drinking was done primarily as part of religious ceremonies and was therefore dictated according to set rules and principles. Discipline exerted from religion practice within the culture kept the alcohol abuse in check. The Europeans came with their alcohol, which they gladly traded for furs. With the cultural controls weakened, over time alcohol abuse became rampant. It started with young men of the tribe trading furs, a tribal resource, for alcohol. This was the first ethical violation and the rest followed.

There are other examples of societies exerting moral control over drinking and thereby the citizens make choices in accordance with the moral code. Muslims are forbidden to drink and most of them don’t.

There is a low rate of alcoholism amongst the Chinese and Jewish peoples. Stanton Peele in his book, Diseasing of America; Addition treatment out of Control provides a cultural explanation for this. While these cultures allow drinking, there is disapproval of excessive drinking, especially if it leads to inappropriate behavior. Drinking is used for religious and social purposes, but over-drinking is not socially acceptable.

The parallel between the amount of alcohol consumption in a culture and the adherence to a moral code is obvious enough to discount the disease theory.

The other reason why the disease theory fails is that it does little to help the problem. If alcoholism is a disease, then what is the cure? The disease theory gives too much of an out for an over-drinker and not enough accountability. The original 12 step model, one of the most effective methods employed by individuals who want to stop drinking, is not based on the disease model. Through the 12 steps, individuals start to take responsibility for their past actions. They are accountable to a sponsor.

The Courts have no tolerance for those who commit crimes connected with alcohol. In fact in 1988 the Supreme Court ruled that crimes committed by an alcoholic, were not the result of a “disease” but were willful misconduct. (Miller and Hester Handbook of alcoholism treatment approaches; Effective Alternatives. 1995)

Proponents of the disease theory believe that drunk drivers should be assessed for chemical dependency and sent to treatment. For the safety of society, drunk drivers should be diverted somewhere and treatment is probably the best place for many. However, this does not mean that diversion from punishment into treatment should also be a diversion from acceptance of responsibility for the drinker. Alcohol kills and society has right to demand responsibility and atonement from individuals who destroy through alcohol.

As a society, we can kid ourselves, but we can’t fool the future history books. Like Rome, this culture has sunk into a place where too much immorality is forgiven and the lines between right and wrong have become blurred, especially for those who don’t have a strong religious tie. Programs like Narconon should be supported if we re going to win the war.

History will view this as a dark age. This is the age where our education has sunk below other nations, our economy is on the verge and just an hour of television indicates overall moral decline. Increased alcoholism and overdrinking are signs of the times – not a disease of the time.

There is a disease that will define our times. It is a disease of irresponsibility. It is predisposed by complacency.

There is a cure for this disease. It is in the hands of the few who have it in their power to point the way to a more ethical and moral path and the resources to enforce the path be walked.