ALCOHOL USE IS NO LONGER A MORAL ISSUE

Temperance is not a term that we hear or use much in the 21^st century.  But 175 years ago, it was a highly recognized word in American culture.  Around 1850, there was a moral debate going on that ended up focusing on the evils associated with the use of alcohol. 

A poem was published along with a woodcut of a swell-headed, bottle-toting gentleman:

How could I ever think to wed

A man who’s always drunken;

Who really has so large a head,

It looks like a ripe pumpkin.

The woodcut included the words: “Choose for yourselves men: the bottle or a bride.”

Remarkably, in 1851, Maine lawmakers declared the entire state of Maine “dry.”

By 1874, a group of women formed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union [WCTU], advocating total abstinence from alcohol because of its destructive effects on health and family life. 

In the early twentieth century the Prohibition Party had been formed to make an impact on the country’s politics.

SIDEBAR:

My mother was a member of the WCTU and the Prohibition Party.  She would not drink a beverage from a glass that in any way resembled a wine glass. 

I recall an election year when she was denied the privilege of voting because she was not Democrat or Republican, but a member of the Prohibition Party.  She went to the judge on duty at the courthouse in Beaver, PA and he ruled her eligible to vote!  

She had strong convictions opposing the use of alcohol and made no attempt to hide them.  For a humorous story about my mom and dad, see my bog article:  https://hal-lelujah.blogspot.com/2011/12/egg-nog.html

 THE END OF PROHIBITION

 “By the 1930s, it was clear that Prohibition had become a public policy failure. The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had done little to curb the sale, production and consumption of intoxicating liquors. And while organized crime flourished, tax revenues withered. With the United States stuck in the throes of the Great Depression, money trumped morals, and the federal government turned to alcohol to quench its thirst for desperately needed tax money and put an estimated half-million Americans back to work.”  [https://www.history.com/news/the-night-prohibition-ended]

In February 1933, Congress easily passed a proposed 21st Amendment that would repeal the 18th Amendment, which legalized national Prohibition.  For the first time in American history, a Constitutional amendment had been repealed!  On December 5, 1933, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Utah were the last three states to meet the necessary ratification process to repeal the amendment. 

“An hour later, with little pomp and circumstance, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation declaring the end of Prohibition while also admonishing the country to drink responsibly and not abuse ‘this return of individual freedom.’ ‘I trust in the good sense of the American people,’ the president said, ‘that they will not bring upon themselves the curse of excessive use of intoxicating liquors, to the detriment of health, morals and social integrity.’”  [Ibid.] 

A remarkable fact of irony is displayed in the fact that the well-known and highly effective group – Alcoholics Anonymous – was created just a year later in 1934.  By 1939 it published its groundbreaking book, ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS.  In 1940, it opened its first headquarters in Lower Manhattan.  [https://www.columbusrecoverycenter.com/alcohol-addiction/history-of-aa/]

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THE COST OF EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL USE

According to a study by Ardu’ Recovery Center Today:
[https://www.ardurecoverycenter.com/economic-costs-of-excessive-alcohol-use/]

Excessive drinking takes a heavy economic toll across the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 2010 economic cost of alcohol abuse was $249 billion. 

Productivity losses and healthcare expenses account for 83% of the annual economic cost. While targeted policies offer the most effective means to alleviate financial stress, cost-benefit analyses consistently reveal that the costs of alcohol consumption outweigh any economic benefits.

A 2023 report from Harvard Medical School projected that the annual cost of treating alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) alone would more than double over the next two decades, increasing from $31 billion in 2022 to $66 billion in 2040.  

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This information is not frequently published although it is obviously readily available.  We continue to live in a country where – within legal age limits – the consumption of alcohol is a free choice.  The morality of this issue is now rarely addressed.

As families and individuals, we must deal with the consequences of our choices.