One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer. Not exactly your idea of a child’s Christmas wish list? According to a recent New York Times article, kids in Wisconsin could ask for booze this Christmas, and their parents could legally buy it for them. Serving a minor alcohol is legal in Wisconsin if a parent is present.
The recent article is stirring (or shaking) up, the debate over these controversial drinking laws of Wisconsin. Some claim slack drinking laws cause alcohol abuse.
One of the surveys used in the article was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dirk Johnson of The New York Times leads you to believe that Wisconsin has the most binge drinkers in the entire country.
“This state, long famous for its breweries, has led the nation in binge drinking in every year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began its surveys on the problem more than a decade ago,” said Johnson in his article.
It is important to note that alcoholism doesn’t rate in the top 20 diseases the CDC offers information about on their Web site. In fact, they don’t list it as a disease in the “CDC A-Z Index” disease database at all.
“Excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for people in the United States each year,” according to the CDC “Healthy Living” link to a page about alcohol and public health.
When the Center for Disease Control and Prevention still considers alcoholism a “lifestyle” problem instead of a disease we are left to wonder: how are we ever going to prevent a disease that the government agency responsible for it doesn’t even consider a disease?
You don’t see state’s legislators being blamed for the percentage rate of diabetics in their state. Why would we ask them to be responsible for alcoholism?
James R. Milam, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist specializing in addiction research, in his book “Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism,” says, “Alcoholism . is still regarded as a moral issue rather than a disease — even though the American Medical Association has recognized it as a disease since 1956!”
According to Milam there are two types of drinkers. There are drinkers who have an enzyme with the name acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and those who don’t.
Drinkers who don’t, don’t know “when to say when” because they are sent the wrong message. The neurotransmitters in their brain responsible for sending messages to let them know if something is good or a bad get high-jacked by the dangerous chemical leftovers that the enzymes failed to break down.
People who drink too much aren’t bad people making bad choices, ecause they don’t have strict enough laws guiding them. They are good people with enzyme deficiencies causing a chain of physical effects that result in faulty logic.
This problem won’t go away if we continue to think of it as a social problem. You can use social solutions year after year and get the same non-result. When we start to treat alcohol like the medical problem that it is and use medical solutions, we will have a fighting chance at real change. Until then, we are going to continue to suffer the same consequences.