On college campuses, the majority of college students are introduced to or further exposed to the joys and curses of alcohol and dangerous behaviors such as binge drinking and drunk driving.
Though alcoholism is becoming increasingly viewed as a medical illness, the condition of alcohol dependence will never be treated similarly to physical diseases. There are many reasons for this, alcoholism is still a widespread problem, and a different approach to the condition is necessary to alleviate the negative effects alcoholism inevitably delivers.
Most college students have experienced alcohol and its positive and negative effects. It helps people feel more self-confident; they’re able to go to parties and open up to a variety of people. Stress becomes nonexistent and a sense of euphoria develops.
However, after too much consumption, people start to feel tired and lethargic. They can’t sleep or have vivid dreams, fall into a stupor or coma or simply pass out on someone’s couch. They feel sexier but actually have impaired sexual functioning, and simply are too gone to enjoy themselves. Though this state is hardly appealing in theory, those who have experienced it find themselves going back for more.
Eventually this cycle, becomes a habit, and a habit a lifestyle. People no longer drink to feel self-confident or sexier, but drink because they have to simply to function.
Why does this occur? There are a number of reasons. One main reason is that the drinking age is so high in the United States. Students drink large amounts at parties because there is little opportunity to get drinks in legitimate settings that would warrant moderation—pubs, clubs, etc. Binge drinking is defined as more than five drinks in a few hours—for women, more than four. Most students consider this light drinking, not heavy drinking.
Another reason is that alcohol, one of the most dangerous drugs known, is legal and readily available. Even excluding underage binge drinking, the fact remains. Many adults turn into alcoholics before they even realize what’s happening, and then find that they cannot change.
Alcohol withdrawal is brutal, and most alcoholics never seek treatment or make any real attempt to halt or reduce their use. Just a few hours after an alcoholic stops drinking, they experience anxiety, headaches, nausea, and much discomfort. After just twelve hours, some can develop convulsive seizures. Some alcoholics can even experience delirium tremens, which includes auditory and visual hallucinations as well as delusions.
The discrepancy is in the common person’s knowledge of alcohol and persistent use despite that knowledge. We see it all around us—college educated students, professors, and teachers continue to use and often abuse alcohol despite the facts. This cycle isn’t likely to cease despite measures like Alcohol Edu, which most students simply ignore and breeze through.
The problem does not lie within the people continuing to drink alcohol. It’s within society’s viewing this problem as a moral failure. The crusade against drugs originated from this idea of moral righteousness, and since then, conditions like substance abuse are viewed as moral problems with the person. Not many would advocate treating an alcoholic free of charge, but most would agree that someone with diabetes deserves that kind of treatment.
If the problem of alcoholism and other substance-abuse issues is to cease, society needs to stop viewing these problems as downfalls within the individual and see them more as they see diabetes or cancer. It is true that alcoholism develops due to choices, and there is a certain degree of blameworthiness associated with any type of drug abuse. However, it is also true that alcoholism consists of risk factors and genetic vulnerability and that people can aggravate symptoms to different degrees.
In most diseases, there is also a certain degree of blameworthiness and control. Diabetics can control their disease to a certain extent but the rest is controlled by the disease. The same is true with alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse. Removing the immorality factor from substance abuse would make it more acceptable to be in recovery from a substance disorder and would likely remove motivations to continue the behavior.
If these disorders are to be remedied, people need to start viewing substance abuse as a disease, not a problem under almost complete personal control.
