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Monday 18 July 2011

Alcoholism

EC Booz, a mid 19th century whiskey distiller from Philadelphia liked to use the old English word “bousen”, which means, “to drink deeply." People picked up on this and as his surname is similar to “bousen”, the word “booz” was adopted as a slang term.

Drunkenness officially achieved disease status in 1849 when the term "alcoholism" appeared for the first time in an essay Alcoholismus Chronicus by the Swedish physician Magnus Huss.

Adriaen Brouwer, Inn with Drunken Peasants, 1620s

Some towns in Iowa sold their jails on the eve of Prohibition, as they were so certain crime was caused by alcohol.

Two American alcoholics, Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith met for the first time in 1935. They struck up a solid friendship linked to their shared struggles with overcoming their drinking problems.

Wilson and Smith began working with other alcoholics. Soon, other heavy drinkers were meeting together in groups with the goal of of staying sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

In 1938, after about 100 alcoholics in Akron and New York had become sober, the fellowship decided to promote its program of recovery through the publication of a book, for which Wilson was chosen as primary author.

The book was titled Alcoholics Anonymous and the movement itself took on the name of the publication.

Alcoholics Anonymous is today an international mutual aid fellowship with about two million members worldwide belonging to approximately 10,000 groups.

     Figure of the Alcoholics Anonymous Wikipedia Commons

Katherine Hepburn only drank water throughout The African Queen production as a protest against John Huston and Humphrey Bogart's alcoholism. However, most of the cast and crew became sick from the water and only Bogart and Huston were unaffected because they just drank whiskey.

The Irish poet Brendan Behan became an alcoholic at the age of eight. 

Alcohol consumption doubled in the United Kingdom between 1965 and 2005. Current statistics reveal that almost six million people are thought to be binge drinkers, consuming more than the recommended units of alcohol in a single session.


The number of deaths from cirrhosis in young people has risen ten-fold since the 1970s.

The top 10% of drinkers account for more than half of all alcohol consumed in the United States. Which equates to them consuming an average 73.85 drinks per week.

Alcohol-associated excesses accounted for 52% of all [Russian] deaths at ages 15–54 years from 1990–2001.

Worldwide, about 5% of the world's adult population (240 million people) have an alcohol use disorder.

The Dutch city of Amsterdam employs alcoholics as street cleaners and pays them with beer. In addition to the five cans, they also get €10 ($11.36) and half a pack of loose tobacco for each 6.5 hour shift.

Source Huffington Post

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