ALCOHOLIC “SICKNESS”

White Ribbon, Volume 26, Issue 4, 1 August 1954, Page 5

ALCOHOLIC “SICKNESS”

By Victoria Grigg, M.A.

Recently, L listened to a radio talk by Charles Laughton, the actor, on the problem of Alcoholism. He stated that there were 4,000,000 alcoholics in the United States and emphasised the fact that alcoholism was a “sickness.” Of course, he was only following the lead of the Yale School for Alcohol Studies, which has receixed strong financial support from liquor interests and which has done its utmost to distract the attention from the vice to the victim, placing he blame, not on the producer, but on the product. There was no suggestion in the radio talk, that total abstinence by every individual was desirable and the only true solution. It was just unfortunate that some people could not take it in their stride. If Charles Laughton had studied the figures of 30,000 alcoholic cases in Massachusetts, he would have found that, of these, there were 600 doctors, 300 priests and ministers, 170 dentists, 633 lawyers, 17 judges and 600 business men. % Major Health Problem Is the alcoholic a sick man? If he is, then, so is the gambler, the forger, the murderer, the prostitute, the thief. If alcoholism is a disease, it is surely a major one, threatening every land, including New Zealand. It has been recognised as a major health problem by United Nations. Conclusions reached in a seven-nation Conference in Geneva by the World Health Organisation, were as follows: (1) Nobody is immune to alcoholism;

(2) Total Abstinence is the only solution. One of its leaders, Dr. R. Fleming said, “Most alcoholics are not psychiatric cases; they are normal peopie.”

An American Christian Mission Herbert Eberhardt, has made some interesting comments on this topic. He made three suggestions, in the recognition of alcoholism as a major health problem. (1) That equal effort be made to cure the

victims and to alleviate the suffering, as in cases of cancer, polio, tuberculosis, etc. (2) That equal effort be made as in these diseases, for prevention. An infected ecss-pool spreads the alcoholic typhoid epidemic. (3) That the enormous cost of amelioration of this, worst of all diseases, be placed on the industry which is its cause.

While much attention is show-n to the alcoholic, it is from the ordinary drinker that the greatest damage and danger come. It is the moderate drinker who has had “only a few beers,” who causes our transport accidents. He is also the cause of tremendous loss of working hours in industry. Each Moderate drinker is a “carrier.” lie can be the cause of others becoming addicts. Most Dangerous Disease Herbert Eberhardt submits the following four points:—

(1) Alcohol is the most dangerous of all diseases. In U.S.A. 482,000 places dispense liquor. More than all schools and Churches. Liquor cost over £4 billion —not millions. Alcoholics in mental hospitals increased three times from 1932 to 1945 and the number increases 50 per cent, each year. Most Deadly Disease (2) Alcoholism is the most deadly of all diseases. Its victims outnumber those of cancer, T.B. and heart diseases. Gladstone said that its victims exceeded those of war, famine and pestilence put together. The diseases mentioned do not cause a man to murder his wife, maltreat his children, kill and maim on the highways, or to ruin his home, but ALCOHOL does. Those diseases do not place a man behind prison bars, but alcoholism is the chief source of crime and the major corrupter of morals.

Most Destructive Disease (3) Alcoholism is the most destructive of all diseases. It is the greatest health problem in industry and the cause of many of the losses paid by insurance companies for accidents. Two million out of 35 million employees in America are addicts. They lose 25 days a year as a result of liquor. The accident rate among drinking men is double that of other employees. Judge Calhoun of West Virginia says, “At least 50 per cent, of criminal lawviolators in our courts, relate in some way to liquor.” Most Damaging Disease (4) Alcoholism is the most daii.r'ging of all diseases. It injures, not only the victim, but destroys his home, his family, his job, his social relations, his finances, and his morals. It destroys his soul also. No soul will ever be lest because of cancer, leprosy, or T. 8., but in both Old and New Testaments, we are told that the drunkard has no place in the Kingdom of God. Recently, in our newspapers, the Hon. Sir William Perry, as the mouthpiece of the liquor sellers of New- Zealand, had the effrontery to suggest that we dispense w-iih the Licensing Poll.

W.C.T.U. women, be on your guard. Do not let us lose our precious right, as Christian women, to say that we will not be willing parties to the sale of these alcoholic drink:., which are such a curse to all people in our own and other lands. To quote Dr. Clinton Howard, “Modern science says he is sick, God says he is a sinner; man says, he is an alcoholic; God says he is a drunkard and no drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of God.” There is a cure for all drunkards, as the Scripture says, “the blood of Jesus Christ, which clcanseth from all sin.“