Misuse of Alcohol​—A Costly Problem

THE misuse of alcohol is a costly problem that affects you. “Me?” you ask. “I’m not an alcoholic!” And yet, surprising as it may seem, even if you don’t drink at all, in one way or another you are affected by the misuse of alcohol. Everyone is. How?

According to the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA), there are some ten million alcoholics in the United States. When you consider that each alcoholic directly affects about four other persons​—his immediate family—​this means that some forty million additional people are directly and adversely affected by alcoholism. And, remember, that is in just one country.

But affected in what way? Well, if someone you love drinks too much, then fear, shame, disappointment and even anger are probably not strange to you. Statistics from the NCA reveal that alcohol misuse is a factor in at least 30 percent of divorce and juvenile-delinquency cases, 55 percent of fights or assaults in the home and as many as 90 percent of reported child-abuse cases. How costly!

Next, there is the high physical cost. Prolonged heavy drinking has been linked to a number of chronic health problems, including cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis and the risk of various forms of cancer. Thus, the heavy consumer of alcohol pays a very high price​—physically!

Yet even if you don’t drink you are affected. You pay more for your clothes, your car​—really all manufactured goods—​because of alcohol misuse. The United States government estimates that alcohol misuse costs $20 billion a year through lost production in factories. That translates into higher prices for merchandise, with poorer quality.

The cost of misusing alcohol is especially high when the drinker has a job that affects the lives of others. Just imagine how costly are errors in judgment caused by drinking among, for instance, mass transit drivers, airplane pilots or surgeons.

Do you drive a car? Well, according to the NCA, alcohol misuse is linked to 50 percent of all fatal traffic accidents (among the fatalities are innocent victims). And even though you avoid being hit by a drunken driver, you feel the effects of his drinking when the time comes to pay your car insurance.

However, it must be acknowledged that, for many people, alcohol is a source of pleasure and relaxation. When used moderately it seems to have little or no ill effect on them. So it is only natural to ask: What exactly is alcoholism? How can you identify it? What can be done about it?