Re: [Harp-L] Alcohol a dangerous drug

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"J.JONES" wrote:
<To the guy who disagreed with my assertion that drinking is an illness, it might <be good to keep in mind a famous
<quote from Charles Lamb, the English essayist, entitled "The Joys of Alcohol":...

I don't use alcohol when I play, but I make a point of drinking one beer or glass of wine per day.  At least two large-scale scientific studies over the last few years have shown very conclusively that moderate alcohol use (i.e. 1-2 glasses per day) reduces mortality and morbidity from a wide range of diseases. 

In other words, moderate use of alcohol is not a "disease"; to the contrary, it reduces the risk of serious disease.  The scientific evidence is compelling.  In fact, I increased my alcohol intake to one drink per day after my doctor told me that I wasn't drinking enough to do myself any good.  (Direct quote.)

There is no question that excessive use of alcohol is dangerous to one's health, far more so than a lot of drugs (heroin, for example) that most people consider to be very dangerous indeed.  However, to say that ANY alcohol use is excessive is like saying that one should never eat because some people eat to excess, with resulting serious consequences to their health.  There are a lot of things that are beneficial in moderation but dangerous in excess.  People who can't control their appetites should stay away from the things they can't control.  And it's obviously incorrect to say that anyone who uses alcohol is certain to habitually use it to excess.  If that were so, the approximately 12% of the US population that is alcoholic would be several times higher at least.  (The rate of alcoholism among adults in the former Soviet Union was reliably estimated at about 50% in the 1980s.  But if you're living in a police state, you definitely need a lot more than one drink per day to dull the pain.)

Regards, Richard Hunter 

 


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