Most people have a confused idea of alcoholism as a disease that invades or attacks your good health. Use of such a strong word such as "disease" shapes the values and attitudes of society towards alcoholics.
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These innocent lives would have otherwise been spared had their mother not chosen to continue to drink during her pregnancy.
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<br>It has also become a legal basis for arguing that alcoholics should be excused from moral and legal responsibilities for any misdeeds. In the earlier 1968 case of Powell, the court rejected the criminal defense that alcoholism is a disease and hence that it ought to excuse the alcoholic for crimes committed while intoxicated (Fingarette 104). I find this to be truly outrageous! Imagine if all the alcoholics who, one night without thinking of the consequences, got drunk and decided to get behind the wheel, only to kill an innocent family, would try to justify themselves by saying "I had no control over it! I have a disease, I'm an alcoholic!" Another ridiculous case, where the excuse of alcoholism as a disease was brought to the Supreme Court, is that of two alcoholic veterans. The Supreme Court denied the two alcoholic veterans VA educational benefits they were unable to use within the period established by VA regulations because, they claimed, they were alcoholics (Peele 2). In other words, they spent so much of this time drinking that they didn't feel like going to school, a situation they claimed was brought on by the disease of alcoholism from which they …show more content…
One irony in this case was that, although the VA's position was that these men engaged in willful misconduct rather than manifesting a disease, the VA treatment creed is very much one based on the disease model. However, the VA expressed a different, sensible position in this case because to do otherwise would simply overwhelm the federal government with unimaginable claims it owed people who were too drunk to demand them at some time in the past (Peele 1). Cases like these prove that the word "disease" will only be used by alcoholics to excuse themselves from the consequences of their actions.
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<br>In conclusion, society and alcoholics have both been misled by the erroneous classification of alcoholism as a disease. It is not right to let alcoholics believe they are helpless and dependent on others, that they have an inevitable disease. It is not right to excuse them legally and give them special government benefits at the cost of the American public. Moreover, it is not right to let society keep viewing them as helpless victims, to keep paying for their treatments, and to keep losing thousands of lives each year to a drunks behind a wheel or women who drink while pregnant. Alcoholics are not powerless; their choices led them to the life they live and they should take responsibility for their
These innocent lives would have otherwise been spared had their mother not chosen to continue to drink during her pregnancy.
<br>
<br>It has also become a legal basis for arguing that alcoholics should be excused from moral and legal responsibilities for any misdeeds. In the earlier 1968 case of Powell, the court rejected the criminal defense that alcoholism is a disease and hence that it ought to excuse the alcoholic for crimes committed while intoxicated (Fingarette 104). I find this to be truly outrageous! Imagine if all the alcoholics who, one night without thinking of the consequences, got drunk and decided to get behind the wheel, only to kill an innocent family, would try to justify themselves by saying "I had no control over it! I have a disease, I'm an alcoholic!" Another ridiculous case, where the excuse of alcoholism as a disease was brought to the Supreme Court, is that of two alcoholic veterans. The Supreme Court denied the two alcoholic veterans VA educational benefits they were unable to use within the period established by VA regulations because, they claimed, they were alcoholics (Peele 2). In other words, they spent so much of this time drinking that they didn't feel like going to school, a situation they claimed was brought on by the disease of alcoholism from which they …show more content…
One irony in this case was that, although the VA's position was that these men engaged in willful misconduct rather than manifesting a disease, the VA treatment creed is very much one based on the disease model. However, the VA expressed a different, sensible position in this case because to do otherwise would simply overwhelm the federal government with unimaginable claims it owed people who were too drunk to demand them at some time in the past (Peele 1). Cases like these prove that the word "disease" will only be used by alcoholics to excuse themselves from the consequences of their actions.
<br>
<br>In conclusion, society and alcoholics have both been misled by the erroneous classification of alcoholism as a disease. It is not right to let alcoholics believe they are helpless and dependent on others, that they have an inevitable disease. It is not right to excuse them legally and give them special government benefits at the cost of the American public. Moreover, it is not right to let society keep viewing them as helpless victims, to keep paying for their treatments, and to keep losing thousands of lives each year to a drunks behind a wheel or women who drink while pregnant. Alcoholics are not powerless; their choices led them to the life they live and they should take responsibility for their