23 Mar Yeah, Chris. You are the Mann!
Sunday evening my wife called my attention to the lead article in Saturday’s Standard Journal. She pointed out that Chris Mann was the only member of the city council to oppose the recent proposal that Rexburg loosen liquor laws. “Props” to Mann for taking a stand that helps Rexburg to uphold its “American Family Community” values.
This column is not about politics, but is devoted to matters of family and mental health. Alcohol consumption is directly related to both.
While Ruth and I hail from Shelley and Lewisville, respectively, we raised our own children on California’s Central Coast. This beautiful stretch of ocean-influenced farmland is ideal for raising wine grapes. While not quite as famous as the Napa Valley we can certainly claim to have spent 16 ½ years in “wine country”. (Or “whine country”, but that is a matter for another column.)
Alcohol dominated a number of the social events in which we participated. It was rare to attend a block party or friendly gathering where wine and other spirits were not involved. With the exception of a handful of recovering alcoholics and children, we were often the only ones not to imbibe.
Even PTA meetings and fund raisers commonly included wine tasting events. Ruth was instrumental in putting this to an end during her tenure as PTA President when she pointed out the irony of getting buzzed and driving home in the interest of promoting our children’s well-being.
But I digress.
Despite our love and appreciation for our friends and for the good community in which we lived, I have yet to observe any positive contributions of drinking. Granted, many good people met, mingled and married while drinking—even socially and carefully—and yet a great many of my clients recall that their use of alcohol interfered with making wise decisions throughout their courtships.
Many of the arguments, indiscretions, insecurities and abuse within marriages and family take place under the influence—even casual influence—of alcohol. Like the commercials touting the danger of “buzzed driving” my own professional experience is that even slight intoxication often contributed to problems, outweighing any of the supposed benefits of alcohol as a “social lubricant”.
Both here and in California many good people report that alcohol proved to be detrimental to their courtship and that it continues to undermine their confidence in the decisions made then, even long after they stopped drinking.
As a professional working to strengthen marriage and family relations I have yet to see any measurable benefit from the availability and use of alcohol. And we are not even touching on the more obvious problems associated with blatant abuse and neglect related to so-called “problem drinking”.
As much as it is praised and used for “lifting the spirits” alcohol is classified as a depressant. It works by depressing different parts of the central nervous system in succession, beginning with the part of the brain that commonly inhibits us from doing things that might prove dangerous. Alcohol use is commonly linked to serious depressive symptoms, and my role as a treatment professional in local Drug Court firmed up my conviction that drinking leads to much more pain than pleasure.
But it is also a matter of life and death. The number one cause of death for American males between 16 and 30 is automobile accidents. More than 50% of driving deaths are directly attributable to drinking, and the drinkers are not the only ones to lose their lives and their health. The second and third leading cause of death for this demographic are suicide and homicide. Once again, alcohol is directly implicated in most suicides and most homicides. So if alcohol consumption is directly related to the top three reasons for young men dying it is a very serious matter of mental and family well-being, is it not?
Certainly, I am not alone in having several friends and family members dying here in Eastern Idaho as a direct result of alcohol consumption. And despite our relatively limited use of alcohol it still plays a very substantial role in the mental health and family problems that plague good, hard-working, law-abiding people.
Given its contributions to problems that bring people to my office, one might argue that alcohol has been profitable to me. But you know, I would gladly trade that income I have received for my family members and friends who lost their livelihoods, families and lives from drinking.
I think Rexburg will be just fine without stooping to the lowest possible standard.