A temperate approach to alcohol abuse.

ALCOHOL PLAYS A PART in the deaths of 7000 Australians, and costs the nation more than $A7 billion, every year. It contributes to countless motor vehicle, maritime and workplace accidents and instances of domestic violence and malicious damage. Cases of depression and suicide have been attributed to the misuse of alcohol. There have also been some recent worrying developments. Binge drinking has become popular among Australia's youth and instances of alcoholic poisoning are increasingly common, especially in the indigenous community. Although it contributes to the nation's ill-health and detracts from the country's economic performance, we are still inclined to make light of alcohol abuse and tend to downplay its effects.

A number of well-resourced public and private organisations are committed to medical research and law reform in relation to the use and abuse of alcohol. These groups cite the escalating costs of abuse to society, advocate measures designed to curb problem drinking, and raise public awareness of what are deemed dangerous levels and patterns of consumption. Progress has been made since a consolidated national approach was adopted a decade ago. And yet, alcohol abuse remains a problem of terrifying proportions and horrific consequences. Clearly, more needs to do more. But one radical solution--total abstinence--is rarely promoted. Why? Two reasons readily come to mind. First, it is potentially too demanding. Second, it is allegedly illiberal. Both entail judgments about means and ends.

I believe there is a strong case for promoting total abstinence, sometimes known as "temperance", as a serious strategy for dealing with an enormous problem. In addition to its practical merits, temperance embodies a proper regard for human dignity and genuine respect for human society. But it must not be advanced by coercive means or imposed by legislation. In being understood as a freely chosen personal discipline rather than an externally enforced collective restriction, its promotion need not conflict with important principles of personal freedom and political liberty.

In this article I want to argue that alcohol abuse is a long-standing social and economic problem whose proportions and consequences have increased with time; that the initial Christian response of care and compassion was eventually marred and muted by authoritarianism and legalism; that the churches have been embarrassed by their past actions and attitudes in this area of public life into withdrawal and inactivity; and, that the continuing corrosion of individual lives and the erosion of social capital by alcohol abuse demands that temperance be again promoted as a conscientious and courageous response to a pressing national issue.

THE ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM

HUMAN BEINGS seem always to have had a fascination with alcohol and a predisposition towards intoxication. In primitive societies, different types of seeds, such as barley, were crushed with stones and left to ferment in a mixture of water and honey to produce an intoxicating liquid. By 2000 BC, a beverage similar to beer had become the most popular drink among the Egyptians, who fermented lightly baked barley dough in date-water. It was a concoction also used for medicinal purposes. By the time of Christ, the fermentation of grape juice was an advanced science, with various techniques in vogue for producing wine. The Greeks and Romans preferred wine to beer and planted vineyards wherever their imperial conquests took them.

In the Middle Ages, the most common intoxicant was ale, a strong brew of malt, yeast and water. With the introduction of hops into the process around the fourteenth century, the new beverage was called "beer". After a battle with ale, beer succeeded in becoming the preferred drink among the English. By the eighteenth century, the available range of alcoholic beverages had expanded to include distinctive red and white wines, champagne, brandy, whisky, cognac, sake, vodka, gin and a selection of beers as varied as the different national fermentation processes that produced them. Because the technological advances of the late seventeenth century meant that alcohol could be produced in greater quantities and for lesser cost, the eighteenth century witnessed a steady increase in alcohol consumption among all social classes.