Book
3 Unit 6
There
is no easy way to face the death of the beloved. Whether the death is sudden or
the
inevitable result of a long illness, surviving friends and family members are
seldom truly prepared for it emotionally. How much harder is it to bear when a
particular individual is responsible for the death of someone you love, when
death is self-inflicted, or when you see the death could have been prevented?
The authors of the texts in this unit struggle with their grief over deaths they
see as part of larger social issues – alcohol in Texts A and B, and tobacco in
Text C – and beg us to consider how such tragedies can be avoided.
Text
B Needed:
A License to Drink
Mike Brake
We buried my cousin last summer. He was 32 when he hanged himself from a closet coat rack because of
the effects of alcoholism, the fourth of my blood relatives to die prematurely from this deadly disease. If America issued drinking licenses, those four men -- including my father, who died at 54 of liver failure -- might be alive today.
Addiction to alcohol is one of the primary public-health problems in the United States. It causes more than 19,000 auto fatalities each year; it is responsible for more than a third of deaths from drowning and fire. Drinking is a central factor in divorce. It can trigger child and spousal abuse, suicide, murder, assault and other crimes. It can kill by the liver, the kidneys, the heart, the central nervous system. The total cost, from increased jail time to workplace injuries and lost productivity, is impossible to measure, but a conservative estimate is as high as $90 billion per year. As we look for ways to reduce health-care costs, we must recognize that alcoholism is a big contributor to hospital admissions.
I spent two years working as a counselor in a chemical-dependency treatment center and met these "statistics" on a daily basis. I remember the bright young man who, because he passed out while smoking, lost both legs to terrible burns; the nurse with a master's degree who lost her license and became a prostitute; and there was the cheerful grandmother dying of liver failure, with only a few weeks to live. Their families cared about them but could do nothing. I've seen the helplessness in my own family.
About two-thirds of adolescent and adult Americans drink alcohol. Of those, from 8 to 12 percent will become alcoholics or problem drinkers. Much is being done to confront this huge public-health crisis as judges increasingly sentence drunk drivers and other alcohol-related offenders to treatment programs and participation in Alcoholics Anonymous. I propose that a national system of licensing, with appropriate penalties, would do more.
Drivers are licensed by every state. There are licenses for fishing and for hunting -- hunters are often required to attend gun-safety classes before they can get their licenses. If you fail to keep to accepted norms, the state suspends your right to drive, hunt or fish and imposes criminal penalties should you violate that suspension.
Although drinking licenses might seem a wild idea, I believe drastic measures are needed. Licensing drinking would acknowledge the growing medical agreement that roughly one drinker in 10 has a genetic inclination to addiction. In many cases, future alcoholics are dangerously unaware of their internal time bomb. They don't choose to become drunks, but once trapped in the disease they can do enormous harm to others and themselves.
Because some potential alcoholics wouldn't bother to apply for a drinking license, licensing would act as a screen -- preventing a small percentage of the misery in advance. Those who do seek a license would follow a path similar to existing driver's licensing procedures. Applicants would be required to study a booklet containing basic information about alcohol and the law, much like the driver's manual we all memorized in high school. How many drinks does it take to get a 150-pound man drunk? What's the penalty for drunk driving? Have any of your blood relatives been treated for alcoholism or chemical dependency? If they have, you need to know that you're at increased risk for developing addiction.
The next step would be to pass a written test. And only license holders would be able to buy alcohol, wine and beer. A liquor store or bar caught selling to an unlicensed drinker would lose its license.
The 90 percent of us who do not have a problem with alcohol would simply show our licenses at the counter, bar or restaurant -- in much the same way as driving to and from work each day with a driver's license.
Most of the problem 10 percent would at some point face arrest on an alcohol-related offense. Once convicted they'd lose their license. From that point on, attempting to buy or possess alcohol or being found with a detectable blood level of alcohol would subject them to criminal charges, with penalties comparable to those for drunk driving. Unlicensed drinkers who got drunk could be referred to treatment and to Alcoholics Anonymous.
Doctors are required to report cases of dangerous contagious diseases like AIDS as public-health hazards. They should also be required to report the medical diagnosis of alcoholism. If a patient is admitted to a chemical-dependency treatment center, his drinking license would be suspended. Physicians would report people who show signs of alcoholism after having their licenses revoked, just as social agencies report parole violators. The objective would be treatment. If the offenders refuse to be treated, they would be unable to get their licenses renewed.
A commonly accepted rule of civilized society is that when public health is threatened, privacy rights must be compromised. Americans rarely die of plague because we have identified its source. Infectious carriers are isolated and offered compassionate and lifesaving treatment.
The same criteria should apply to alcoholism, a disease that is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country. The costs inflicted by 18 million drunks, on themselves and on our society, are unacceptable. Congress and the states should cooperate by providing for national drinking licenses, encouraging treatment for those afflicted and imposing firm penalties on violators. It's not such a crazy idea.
急需饮酒许可证
迈克·
布雷克
去年夏天我们埋葬了我的堂兄。他因酒精中毒而吊死在壁橱的衣帽架上，当时32岁，是跟我有血缘关系的亲属中第四个因为这种致命的疾病而英年早逝的人。如果美国发放饮酒许可证，这四个男人----包括我那因肝功能衰竭而54岁去世的父亲----今天也许还活着。
酗酒是美国的一大公众健康问题。它每年造成19，000多起汽车死亡事故；三分之一以上由溺水和火灾引起的死亡都起因于它。酗酒是离婚的一个核心因素。它能引发对子女和配偶的虐待、自杀、谋杀、人身侵犯和其它罪行。它能摧毁肝脏、肾脏、心脏和中枢神经系统从而引起死亡。从更长的监禁时间到工伤和丧失的生产力，它造成的总损失无法计算，但保守的估计为每年高达900亿美元。当我们想方设法减少保健开支时，我们必须认识到酗酒是促成住院的一大因素。
我在一家化学品依赖症治疗中心做了两年顾问，每天都遇见这些“统计资料”。我记得那个因吸烟时昏厥被严重烧伤而失去双腿的聪明的年轻男子；那个拥有硕士学位因失去执照而沦为妓女的护士；还有那个因肝功能衰竭奄奄一息，只能再活几个星期的开朗的祖母。他们的家人为他们牵肠挂肚但却无能为力。我已经在自己的家中看到了这种无助。
美国大约有三分之二的青少年和成人喝酒。在这些人中，有百分之八到百分之十二的人会成为酗酒者或积重难返的酒徒。为了解决这一严重的公众健康危机，人们正在采取许多措施，例如，法官越来越多地判决酒后驾车者和其他同酒精有关的违法者接受治疗计划，参加嗜酒者互诫会。我认为，一个全国性的发放许可证的制度，加上适度的惩罚，会更有
驾车者由每个州发放执照。钓鱼和打猎有许可证----打猎者经常被要求参加枪支安全课，然后才能得到他们的许可证。如果你违反了公认的准则，州里就会暂停你驾驶、打猎或钓鱼的权利，如果你违反暂停令，则处以刑事处罚。
虽然饮酒许可证看上去也许是异想天开，但我相信严厉的措施是需要的。饮酒许可证的发放将承认医学界日益增强的共识：在10个饮酒者中约有一个具有贪杯的遗传倾向。危险的是，在很多情况下，未来的酗酒者并没有意识到他们体内的定时炸弹。他们并不想成为酒鬼，但是一旦患上这种疾病他们就会对他人和自己造成巨大的伤害。
因为一些潜在的酗酒者不愿费劲去申请饮酒许可证，许可证的发放便能起到一种过滤器的作用----事先预防一小部分的苦难。那些确实想获得许可证的人所遵循的步骤类似于已有的申请驾驶执照的过程。申请人会被要求学习一本包含关于酒精和法律的基本知识的小册子，很象我们在高中时都背诵过的司机手册。几杯酒能把一个150磅的男子灌醉？酒后驾车的惩罚是什么？与你有血缘关系的亲属中有没有人接受过酗酒或化学品依赖症的治疗？如果有的话，你需要知道你嗜酒成瘾的危险性更大。
下一步将是通过一次笔试。只有持有许可证的人才能购买白酒、葡萄酒和啤酒。如果一家酒店或酒吧被发现向一个无许可证的饮酒者出售酒，它就会失去营业执照。
我们当中百分之九十的人不存在酗酒问题，我们只需在柜台、酒吧或饭店出示一下许可证即可----就象每天带着驾驶执照开车上下班一样。
在百分之十有问题的人中，大多数会在某个时刻因同酒精有关的违法行为而被捕。一旦被定罪，他们就会失去许可证。从那以后，企图购买或拥有酒或被发现血中含有可测出的酒精成分，就会使他们遭到刑事指控，其处罚同对酒后驾车的惩罚不相上下。没有许可证的饮酒者如果喝醉了可以被送交治疗中心和嗜酒者互诫会。
爱滋病之类的危险传染病对大众的健康构成了威胁，所以医生被要求上报这些病例。他们也应该被要求上报涉及酒精中毒的医疗诊断。如果一个病人进入一个化学品依赖症治疗中心，他的饮酒许可证会被暂时吊销。内科医生将告发那些被吊销了许可证后又显示出酗酒迹象的人，就如同社会机构告发在假释期犯法的人一样。目的是治疗。如果违法者拒绝接受治疗，他们将无法重新获得许可证。
在文明社会中，一个被普遍接受的准则是当公众的健康受到威胁时，你必须放弃你的隐私权。美国人很少死于瘟疫，因为我们已经确定它的来源。传染病菌携带者被隔离，并获得富于同情心的、能挽救生命的治疗。
同样的标准也应适用于酗酒上，这种疾病是这个国家可避免死亡的第三大起因。一千八百万酗酒者使他们自己和我们的社会所承受的代价是无法令人接受的。国会和各个州应相互配合，规定全国饮酒许可证制度，鼓励对那些深受其害的人进行治疗并对违法者予以严惩。这并不是什么不切实际的想法.
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