A SOBER REFLECTION ON ALCOHOL

During Covid-19, as the world was preparing to go into lockdown, I went to the mall with my family to stock up on essentials. I thought everyone in the long queues was doing the same until I saw men pushing large trolleys of vodka, canned beer, and spirits of all kinds. Then I wondered to myself when alcohol became essential in the midst of a potential apocalypse.

Many months later, I watched a TED-ED video on the history of alcohol, and I was shocked at how long humans have been brewing and consuming alcohol. At a point, almost all regions in the world had their version of alcoholic beverage. People were making alcohol from virtually any plant native to their region.

The Chinese and Japanese fermented rice, while the Egyptians made beer from cereal grains. The Greeks and Romans pressed grapefruits from their vineyards to make wine, Mexicans used cactus sap, and Africans got theirs from bananas and palms.

This global phenomenon suggests that there is a primal part of humans that enjoys the euphoria that comes with indulgence. It could be a need for escapism from the many travails of human existence or a way to past time, but one is left to wonder if alcohol is the best choice. In truth, some variants of alcohol have had positive medical benefits or served as preservatives or currency, but most consumption is geared towards punctuating celebrations and tragedy.

It is said that the three universal measures for self-control are: sex, speech, and alcohol. A person who can control their sexual urges, the words they speak, and desists from alcohol seems to have cracked the code for a good life. It seems to me that the first two legs of this triad are evolutionary battles that have affected humans from inception, but alcohol is the only man-made pitfall on the list. Let me explain.

In my experience, I have seen that alcohol intake almost always begins as a learned trait. Very few people learn to drink on their own because of how unpleasant most alcoholic beverages are, but when in the midst of drinking with relatives or peers, the onus is on you to stomach the unpleasantness. No wonder most people learn to drink in college because campus parties are greased with libations. What starts as a fun shot turns into a drinking game and, some years later, alcohol addiction.

As it stands, alcohol abuse is one of the leading causes of death in many western nations. 45% of homicides are alcohol-related, as either one or both persons were intoxicated — not to mention its contribution to domestic violence and car accidents annually. In fact, some Africans were sold into slavery in exchange for Brandy and Gin.

Despite these indictments on alcohol, eliminating it is next to impossible, as we saw during the United Stated Abolition in the 1920s. A movement called the ‘Temperance Movement’ succeeded in banning alcohol, but that led to a booming black market and other problems. The abolition failed so badly that after its reversal, alcohol prices reduced, and intake increased drastically.

So as medical and social experts raise the alarm about the negative impact of alcohol intake, people have found a way to silence the voice of reasoning by taking one more shot.

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