The "Is Alcohol The New Smoking?" Story

The following story was partially written by Dr. Douglas Zipes, M.D. who is an internationally acclaimed cardiologist, professor, author, inventor, and authority on pacing and electrophysiology.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in my latest Saturday Evening Post titled "Is Alcohol The New Smoking?"  Seems that America tried to rid itself of alcohol once before.  Prohibition was a disastrous failure that spawned an illicit industry of manufacturing, transporting, and selling alcohol.  Speakeasies sprouted like mushrooms, memorialized in many books and movies like "The Great Gatsby."  Members of Congress proposed a prohibition amendment in 1917, which was adopted as the 18th Amendment in 1919 and implemented the following year. Religious consumption of wine was exempted, as was home production of limited amounts.  Well, 13 years later, in 1933, the 21st Amendment reversed this course due to public outcry, the growth of illegal activity, and the decline of tax revenues after the 1929 depression.  The "wets" defeated the "drys" and have held the upper hand ever since.  But today, there is a burgeoning temperance movement, not from a legal standpoint, but instead inspired by health considerations.  It reminds me of what happened with smoking.  When I trained as a physician at Duke Hospital in the late 1960s, I could smell tobacco in the air during evening strolls through downtown Durham.  Smoking and smokers were everywhere: planes, restaurants, homes, hospital rooms.  At that time, a well-known cardiologist is even said to have used a hemostat to pick up and smoke a cigarette (to avoid contaminating his gloves) during heart catheterizations.  Today, smoking bans are enforced all over - not by Constitutional amendments, but because medical science proved its adverse health effects.  Of course there will always be smokers, just as there will always be drinkers; individual freedoms will prevail, allowing smokers and drinkers to do as they please, regardless of the health consequences.  But, could the same fall from grace that occurred with smoking and also bring down alcohol?  Recent data support the conclusion that no amount of alcohol is beneficial, and any amount is harmful to your heart and other organs.  Considering the burgeoning number of establishments serving nonalcoholic drinks, the "drys" are gaining on the "wets."  Mocktails - cocktails minus the liquor - appear with increasing frequency on menus in restaurants and bars across the country and have taken the boring out of alcohol-free drinks.  More than 3 out of 5 U.S. adults who have ever smoked have quit.  Hopefully, in theirs to come, the same statistic might apply to drinking alcohol.  However, at least two major differences distinguish smoking cessation from alcohol abstinence and may prevent this from happening.  First, nonsmokers were bothered by their neighbors' smoking, which helped lead to its ban, a case that doesn't apply to drinking except that in situations of extreme inebriation.  Second, nondrinkers often feel socially pressured to drink at parties and celebrations.  Whether alcohol abstinence is nearing the end of its beginning or the beginning of its end is too early to judge.  At the very least, however, we can hope for moderation to conform with the U.S. guidelines of no more than one drink per day for women and two for men.  Only time will tell.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.