Americans and Alcohol an excerpt from the book “Environmental Change” ghostwritten by Sandra Kirkland for IPS 2009

When the Pilgrims stepped off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock, they brought their gin, ale, wine, and brandy with them. Alcohol was their elixir, their "good-for-what-ails-you” brews as their substitutes for water when there was no potable water and to use as a disinfectant and anesthetic. When the first law about alcohol use was passed in Virginia in 1619, it was not about prohibiting alcohol per se, but against drunkenness. Throughout our history, there have been advocates of total prohibition, but it wasn´t until 1919 that it gained success when the 18^th Amendment, also known as the “Volstead Act,” was passed into law. Although this experiment with alcohol prohibition ultimately failed, many policies, such as minimum legal age, excise taxes and limiting advertising, have been in place to control its consumption.

In many communities, alcohol consumption is considered a rite of passage, many cultures use alcohol in their celebrations, and in many instances it is associated with class and income. The alcohol industry is quite skilled at targeting and capturing their audiences, with campaigns that display young people living the "good life," having fun and being very cool. If they can induce people to have that "first drink" at an early age, the industry has another lifelong consumer. However, research has shown that early onset and heavy use of alcohol impairs mental, social and physical development, and the likelihood of those youngsters growing up healthy and whole is limited.

While the alcohol industry realizes billions in profits, our communities bear the weight of billions in direct and indirect costs to cover the fall-out from underage drinking, binge drinking and drunk-driving: first-responders, emergency rooms and hospitals, assaults, rape, STDs, unwanted pregnancies, chronic illness, and lost productivity. In addition to deeply ingrained norms and rituals at work in society, there are so many social, legal, economic, and political entities who benefit to varying degrees from the largess of the alcohol industry that to effectively prevent these outcomes and to contain their costs take colossal, long-term coordinated campaigns for change – the kind of effective environmental/population-wide prevention campaigns that work