FREE ESSAY ON ALCOHOLISM SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS A DISEASE

ALCOHOLISM SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS A DISEASE

Most people have a confused idea of alcoholism as a disease that invades or attacks your
good health. Use of such a strong word such as disease shapes the values and attitudes of
society towards alcoholics. A major implication of the disease concept is that what is
labeled a disease is held to be justifiable because it is involuntary. This is not so.
Problem drinking is a habit in which the so-called alcoholic simply has decided that the
benefits of drinking outweigh the liabilities; it is all a matter of personal choice. An
alcoholic participates in or causes many of their own problems by their behavior and the
decisions they make, so why should they be viewed as helpless victims of a
disease(Skipper 1)? Alcoholism should not be viewed as a disease, but as an addiction
brought about by the alcoholic's personal choices.
What is wrong with disease theories as science is that they are tautologies; they avoid
the work of understanding why people drink. People seek specific, essential human
experiences from their addictive involvement. They can come to depend on such an
involvement for these experiences until -- in the extreme -- the involvement is totally
consuming and potentially destructive (Peele 146). The idea that alcoholism is a disease,
which is only typified by the loss of control, was only sanctioned by the American
Medical Association in 1956 (Wilbanks 39). The AMA gives the following definition for
alcoholism:  Alcoholism is an illness characterized by preoccupation with alcohol and
loss of control over its consumption, such as to lead usually to intoxication if
drinking; by chronicity, by progression and by a tendency toward relapse. It is typically
associated with physical disability and impaired emotional, occupational and/or social
adjustments as a direct consequence of persistent excessive use (Langone 27). This meant
that an alcoholic could now get help in a hospital, just as a person with a real disease
such as diabetes or leukemia would . Moreover, the use of the words loss of control make
it seem as though the alcoholic's free will has just been ripped away from him. On the
contrary, there is no evidence that the will of the drinker has been overpowered. Besides
labeling alcoholism as a disease, the AMA has also done a huge error in stating that
alcoholism causes people to lose control over the consumption of alcohol. This will only
negate the fact that the amount of alcohol consumed and if it is consumed at all is
completely up to the drinker, not an inevitable disease that overpowers your free will.
The belief that alcohol controls us rather than we control alcohol is obscene. It rejects
the very idea of humanity- that we are not simply animals controlled by our instincts and
impulses (Wilbanks 40).
The notion that alcoholism is genetic or hereditary is also based partly on an article by
Donald Goodwin. In the article it states that about 18% of the children of alcoholics
become alcoholics themselves. This also indicates that 82% of the children of alcoholics
do not become alcoholics, therefore indicating that it is very likely that alcoholism
indeed is not hereditary (Claypool 23). And could it be possible that those children who
did become alcoholics did not do so because they inherited it, but they actually learned
it from their parents? I believe this is very probable. We learn everything form our
parents; how to dress, how to act, how to express ourselves, why not how to drink?
Researchers also investigate possible genetic components of alcoholism by studying
populations and families as well as genetic, biochemical, and neurobehavioral markers and
characteristics. But these studies have not yet proven that alcoholism is based solely on
genetic factors. The acclaimed anti-disease model revolutionist, Herbert Fingarette,
quotes:There was no genetic or other biological explanation for why a person drinks too
much either on a particular occasion or habitually, why a person decides or commits
violent or criminal acts when drunk, why a person decides that he or she is an alcoholic
and that drinking is an excuse for misbehavior ( Peele 2). Fingarette views drinking as
an all-purpose excuse, a special case of self-deception anointed by science but actually
steeped in the lore of magical loss of control- I couldn't help myself- as though this
description of irresponsibility was somehow an explanation and an excuse for it (Peele
2). 
Disease is the powerful word that generates provision of health insurance payments,
employment benefits such as paid leave and workmen's compensation, and other government
benefits. The direct and indirect cost of alcoholism is rapidly increasing, already
exceeding a billion dollars annually (Fingarette 51). According to government statistics,
the largest single area of economic loss at $9.35 billion, is the lost production of
goods and services that can be attributed to the reduced productivity of alcohol-troubled
male workers (Claypool 39). In addition, cost to society on alcoholics' health care
expenditures alone already total to $18,820 million dollars (Cost 1). Health insurance
companies are paying for these treatments of alcoholics as if they actually had a
disease. This means the United States actually has to pay more for their health insurance
- health insurance that should not be provided at the cost of the American public. . This
is an absurd amount of money to be spending on alcoholics, people who preferred to take
the path of drinking to the extent that they became addicted. 
Alcoholism is not only costly money-wise, but it also claims many lives each year. Nearly
200,000 people die each year from alcohol abuse, that includes deaths from accidents and
diseases caused by alcohol (Claypool 17). Alcohol abuse plays a part in some 10,000
accidental deaths a year, at home and on the job (Langone 39). The U.S. Department of
Justice Report on Alcohol and Crime found that alcohol abuse was a factor in 40 percent
of violent crimes committed in the United States (Violence 1). In 1996 there were 17,126
alcohol related traffic fatalities accounting for the 40.9% of all traffic fatalities
during the year. Alcohol is also involved in at least half of all homicides in the United
States, with either the attacker, the victim, or both under the influence. This is
probably a good explanation for the fact that more murders occur on Saturday nights than
any other night- the fewest murders occur on Tuesdays (Goodwin 16).
Besides all these traffic fatalities and violent crimes where alcohol is a factor, let us
not forget the premature deaths and birth defects alcohol abusers are also responsible
for. In 1992 there were 31,327 premature deaths due to alcohol abuse (Cost 1). Each year
5,000 babies are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; this is a form of mental retardation
caused by mothers who drink while pregnant (Claypool 17). Imagine a child growing up with
mental retardation, having to face all the hate and discrimination in this world. These
innocent lives would have otherwise been spared had their mother not chosen to continue
to drink during her pregnancy. 
It has also become a legal basis for arguing that alcoholics should be excused from moral
and legal responsibilities for any misdeeds. In the earlier 1968 case of Powell, the
court rejected the criminal defense that alcoholism is a disease and hence that it ought
to excuse the alcoholic for crimes committed while intoxicated (Fingarette 104). I find
this to be truly outrageous! Imagine if all the alcoholics who, one night without
thinking of the consequences, got drunk and decided to get behind the wheel, only to kill
an innocent family, would try to justify themselves by saying I had no control over it! I
have a disease, I'm an alcoholic! Another ridiculous case, where the excuse of alcoholism
as a disease was brought to the Supreme Court, is that of two alcoholic veterans. The
Supreme Court denied the two alcoholic veterans VA educational benefits they were unable
to use within the period established by VA regulations because, they claimed, they were
alcoholics (Peele 2). In other words, they spent so much of this time drinking that they
didn't feel like going to school, a situation they claimed was brought on by the disease
of alcoholism from which they suffered. One irony in this case was that, although the
VA's position was that these men engaged in willful misconduct rather than manifesting a
disease, the VA treatment creed is very much one based on the disease model. However, the
VA expressed a different, sensible position in this case because to do otherwise would
simply overwhelm the federal government with unimaginable claims it owed people who were
too drunk to demand them at some time in the past (Peele 1). Cases like these prove that
the word disease will only be used by alcoholics to excuse themselves from the
consequences of their actions.
In conclusion, society and alcoholics have both been misled by the erroneous
classification of alcoholism as a disease. It is not right to let alcoholics believe they
are helpless and dependent on others, that they have an inevitable disease. It is not
right to excuse them legally and give them special government benefits at the cost of the
American public. Moreover, it is not right to let society keep viewing them as helpless
victims, to keep paying for their treatments, and to keep losing thousands of lives each
year to a drunks behind a wheel or women who drink while pregnant. Alcoholics are not
powerless; their choices led them to the life they live and they should take
responsibility for their actions. It is time we stop viewing alcoholism for what its not,
a disease, and start viewing it for what it is, an addiction brought about by personal
choices.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Claypool, Jane. Alcohol and You. London: 
Franklin Watts, 1988.
Costs of alcohol and drug abuse in the United States.
http://silk.nih.gov/silk/niaa1/database/cost5txt.
Fingarette, Herbert. Alcoholism Is Not A Disease.
Chemical Dependancy: Opposing Viewpoints.
Eds. Cozic, Charles P. and Karin Swisher. 
California: Greenhaven Press, 1991. 101-104.
Goodwin M.D., Donald W. Alcoholism: The Facts. 
New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Langone, John. Bombed, Buzzed, Smashed or 
Sober. Canada: Little, Brown and Company,
1976.
Peele, Stanton. Herbert Fingarette, Radical Revolutionist: 
Why Are People So Upset With This Retiring 
Philosopher? http://peele.sas.nl./lib/fingers.html.
Peele, Stanton. Diseasing of America. Massachusetts: D.C.
Heath and Company, 1989.
Skipper M.D., Greg. Addiction...A Disease? http://www.easystreet.com/sbnw/disease.htm.
Violence and Alcohol.
http://alcoholism.about.com/health/alcoholism/library/weekly/aa980415.htm
Wilbanks, William L. Drug Addiction Should Be Treated as a Lack 
of Self-Discipline. Chemical Dependancy. Ed. Bruno Leone.
California: Greenhaven Press, 1989. 39-44.