The All-American Drug

We don't think of alcohol as a drug. But it is. We don't think of alcohol as a drug, because most of us... 68% of adult Americans... use alcohol. And most of us use it responsibly without harming ourselves or others.

So we don't think of alcohol as a drug. But it is. If you don't believe it, ask your doctor.

Alcohol is a depressant that works on the central nervous system. A little acts as a mild tranquilizer. Higher levels of alcohol in the blood will depress brain activity, reduce inhibitions and self-control, sharply alter behavior and personality, severely affect judgment and dull sensory perceptions. Still higher levels of alcohol in the bleed, from steady, heavy drinking can anesthetize the deepest levels of the brain, and may result in coma or even death.

Because most of us who take the drug alcohol seldom, if ever, overdose (get drunk). We don't depend on alcohol to get us through the day, and we don't become addicted to alcohol.

But for about 9,000,000 Americans, alcohol has become a habit-forming, addictive drug. At least that many of us are alcoholic. And even more have drinking problems.

When we think of alcoholism, we tend to think of the skid row bum. But he is not the typical alcoholic. Only 3% to 5% of alcoholic Americans are on skid row. The rest are just people. All kinds of people.

So no matter how we look at it, alcoholism is our number one drug problem. There are about 9,000,000 people addicted to alcohol in the United States... and 300,000 addicted to heroin. That's a ratio of about 30 to 1.

What's more, alcohol abuse and alcoholism will continue to be our number one drug problem until we begin to recognize the fact that alcohol is a drug... and alcoholism is a treatable illness: not a "moral weakness."