How Not to Become an Alcoholic
Out of a sense of frustration relative to the use of alcohol among high school and college students today and a compassion for them, I write this article.
On my desk are several current newspaper articles calling attention to alcohol consumption on college campuses. In an article, entitled "N.C. Colleges Tap Students Sense to Cut Alcohol," Dr. Kenneth C. Mills, a psychologist at UNC-CH, is quoted as saying that 86 percent of the students at UNC-CH drank. The same article quotes researches at N.C. State as saying that 83 percent at N.C. State drank.
Another newspaper article relative to the consumption of beer quotes, "Although the state's population increased by about 15 percent from 1970 to 1980, beer sales during the past 10 years jumped about 65 percent, state tax records show." Last year about 18.9 percent more liquor was shipped to local liquor stores during the calendar year of 1981, compared with eight years ago.
How much do breweries spend to advertise mostly to youth? How does this quote affect you, "Breweries spent about $403 million in 1981 for advertising."
We often see the figures that annually there are 25,000 alcohol-related deaths. Today, there are 356 states which still allow drinking at age 18. There are only nine states which have raised the drinking age to 21.
Whether the legal age is 18 or 21 that will not stop the increasing numbers of people from becoming alcoholics who imbibe too much. The truth is that for many the first drink is too much. In fact, I have read that the psychological being of some people is so that even the first drink will lead to a life of alcoholism.
If even half of the above statistics are true, and one cannot really doubt such with all the places where beer is sold today and it's readily accepted in society, what will the future be for countless teen-agers and young adults?
Of course, there are many who will argue that drinking in moderation will not hurt anyone; yet no one starts out to become an alcoholic. Others I know want to teach their children to drink and keep alcohol in their homes which, in effect, says loud and clear alcohol is accepted in our home. This is a very dangerous practice. While the parents may control their drinking, many children will learn to drink from their parents who can never control their own drinking. I have had at least three funerals in past years of friends of mine - young men with whom I grew up - whose parents had alcohol in their homes, but my friends could not handle theirs and died at early ages, leaving small children and many, many sorrows for their families.
There is only one way never to become an alcoholic and that way is total abstinence. I thank God my parents taught me this way and never had any alcohol in our home. Moreover, there were more lectures on this subject to us teen-agers than on any other subject. I'm sure today that I owe a great debt to my parents for their teaching and example, otherwise, I too may have been caught in the same plight as my friends who are interred. In view of the increasing use of alcohol today, parents should consider the way of total abstinence for themselves and teach it to their children. This is truly the only way to insure that you or your children will never be caught in a life of alcoholism. Is the sacrifice really to great? September, 1982