Alcoholism Is Not A Lifestyle Choice For Alcoholics

Alcoholism is a disease, like cancer. Alcoholism is not a lifestyle choice for alcoholics. It is a disease, like cancer, where intervention, treatment, and follow up are needed to recover. As with cancer, remission and a cure cannot be guaranteed. Alcohol causes a wide range of negative effects in the lives of alcoholics and those who know and love them. Insurance companies need to be aware of this disease and provide coverage and ongoing support for treatment. We need to find a way for those in need to more easily access the help they need and make it easier to work with insurance for coverage. As a society, we need to more to prevent the marketing of alcohol to our youth that are underage. By looking at how our youth are targeted by alcohol marketing and working to reduce this, maybe we can help to reduce the number of young people that start drinking and then become alcoholics. According to Barton Schmitt, one drink of alcohol is considered 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof distilled spirits such as vodka or whiskey (Schmitt). What is considered an alcoholic differs between men and women. Alcoholism tends to affect women more than men (Oscar-Berman, Marinkovic). â€Å"If you are a man under age 65, you may be at risk for abusing alcohol if you have more than 14 drinks per week, or more than 4 drinks per day† (Schmitt). Schmitt also states that â€Å"If you are older than 65, or you are a woman, you may be at risk for abusing alcohol if you have moreShow MoreRelatedAlcoholism Is Not A Lifestyle Choice For Alcoholics1047 Words   |  5 PagesAlcoholism is not a lifestyle choice for alcoholics. It is a disease, like cancer, where intervention, treatment, and follow up are needed to recover. As with cancer, remission and a cure cannot be guaranteed. 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