Alcohol Addiction: A Social Problem
Alcohol is a social drink that is used by many people in the whole world. It has existed in the world for a long time since time immemorial. Alcohol consumption is as good as consumption of any other drink as long as it is used in the right manner and quantity. However, it becomes a problem when people become addicted to it. Alcohol addiction is the condition in which a person gets in after excessive use of alcohol that makes him or her depend on it for survival.
A person who is addicted to alcohol cannot stay without it for a considerable amount of time. The person has to be tipsy for the better part of the day. When alcoholism becomes addictive it is taken as a social problem (Mooney, Knox and Schacht, 2008).This paper explores why alcohol addiction is taken as a social problem.When one considers alcohol addiction as his own problem, then the person is very wrong because it is not. Alcohol addiction does not affect an individual alone but affects other people that are related to the individual in one way or the other.
This is when alcoholism is considered to be a social problem in nature.When a person becomes addicted to alcohol his or her parents usually feels bad and sorry for their child especially when he or she is a grown up person. If the person is still young, the parents will try to help advise the person to get out of the situation going as far as wanting to provide support that may help the individual go back to normal. If the person is grown up, the parents will try to intervene by trying to offer help through the husband or wife of the individual or even try to get professional help in both cases. When an individual gets addicted to alcohol, parents and other close people, for instance close friends have to take responsibility.
They try to offer help by paying bills that the individual is supposed to pay in order to get the individual from any impending danger.If the person gets infected or affected by any disease that is associated with alcohol addiction, it is the people close to him or her who pay hospital and medical bills for the individual in most cases especially when the addicted individual is not financially stable (Cook and Cook, 2006).Psychological studies have proved that people react to drugs especially alcohol in relation to cultural background, emotional involvement and personal expectations. Cultural influence to this shows that alcoholism is not only a personal problem but also a social problem because the societal background shape how one take alcohol and its effects to him or her.Alcohol addiction is a big burden to the entire society.
The society looses intellectual and productive people because of alcohol addiction. It is not easy not only for an individual’s family but also the society to loose him or her knowing that to find someone else like him or her is difficult if not impossible. Best brains are lost to death as a result of addiction.The people that are dependant on an addicted person for instance children, a spouse, siblings and parents suffer so much when a person becomes addicted. This is because addiction makes a person to be irresponsible and fail to do his or her duties.
As a result they put alcohol as a first priority to other issues that may be more important than alcohol. This is especially when the addicted individual is the bread winner. This means that the people dependant on the individual will suffer for lack of basic needs. The alcohol addiction becomes a social problem and not just a problem for an individual.Alcohol addiction becomes even a bigger problem when it affects an individual’s work output. A person’s responsibility and hard work is affected negatively because of alcoholism.
The addicted person starts getting to the work place late or even does no go to work at all. In this manner the society is affected by alcohol addiction. This is because a person spends the whole day drinking and fails to deliver what he should to the society. As a result of this, the society looses by failing to make profits or finish important projects at the required time (Jimenez, 2009).Drug addiction rehabilitation is started by the society because of those people who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs.
This way, the society incurs costs treating addicted patients. The society could not have incurred such expenses; instead it should have used the money in other important projects.Alcohol addiction forces individuals to steal in order to get money to buy alcohol. Besides this, addicted individuals engage in fights with innocent people n the society for reasons attached to their being addicted for instance failing to fulfill their responsibilities and duties.Indeed the issues discussed show that alcohol addiction is a social problem affecting many people in the society who include both the addicted and other people.
It has become very difficult to deal with such issues because they are individually decided on but the consequences of those decisions affect the entire society.
