When abused, alcohol poses serious health risks for alcoholics and those around them. That’s why each April since 1987 has been dubbed “Alcohol Awareness Month” as part of the federal government’s campaign to increase awareness of alcoholism and alcohol-related issues.
In recent years, however, the cause has lost its way. Over time, federal resources have been redirected from treating and preventing alcoholism (worthy goals) to reducing alcohol consumption across the board, even by moderate drinkers.
If there’s one agency with a clear anti-alcohol agenda, it’s the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency earned a spate of negative headlines earlier this year for its paternalistic drinking advice: Fertile, sexually active women shouldn’t drink any alcohol at all unless they’re on birth control.
The CDC’s primary public health goal is to cut down on Americans’ “excessive” and “heavy drinking.” For most Americans, those are terms that conjure up images of hard partying (think keg stands and multiple shots), not a woman who has two glasses of wine on Saturday night instead of her usual single glass. To the CDC, both of those types of drinking pose major threats to public health and the economy.
