More than Proof: Four Facts We Might Add to Liquor Labels
On every pack of cigarettes sold in this country is a United States Surgeon General’s warning to inform consumers that they are risking illness, injury and death with every cigarette. Although in many states businesses that sell alcohol are required to inform customers that drinking alcohol may have a negative impact on their health, regulations have not gone so far as to mandate a Surgeon General’s warning on every beer can or bottle of wine. What would it be like if alcohol sported labels similar to tobacco products? Here are four facts that, if added to the label of every alcoholic product, could help many avoid the pitfalls of substance abuse or addiction.
- Alcohol is deadly. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimates that almost 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes each year, making it the fourth most common preventable cause of death in the United States. Despite this, many people don’t realize how much is at stake when they first begin drinking (often as young people), when they’re least likely to know how many drinks will be too many. More seasoned drinkers are unlikely to find any discouragement from over-indulging either, save a notice on the ladies’ bathroom wall suggesting that drinking causes birth defects, so don’t drink if you’re pregnant. Making it clear to potential drinkers up front that consuming alcohol increases the likelihood of death may be enough to discourage a huge night of binge drinking.
- Being drunk is different than being happy. A recent study measuring acute and chronic happiness found that while people who drink feel better in the moments they are drinking, overall moderate alcohol consumption had no effect on a person’s overall life satisfaction. When you feel bad, it’s always tempting to go for the easiest route to feeling better, which alcohol might do temporarily. But being drunk is a distinct state of numbness, whereas true happiness is all-encompassing and stable.
- You can get hurt. Alcohol does not discriminate in its ability to destroy lives. Relatively inexperienced drinkers like high school and college age students, are unlikely to know their limits, making them more likely to go too far, too fast. But building a tolerance to alcohol by drinking regularly is not necessarily any less risky; a higher tolerance is usually associated with alcohol abuse. It’s easy to think that if you rarely drink alcohol, or only binge drink, you’ll be OK; but drinkers are likely to be injured or killed while drunk or to be victims of crime.
- Easy hookups are not what you think. Alcohol use is often seen as a conduit for quick human connection. While it’s true that drinking does lower people’s inhibitions, what you get is not always what you’re looking for. That hookup can have lifetime consequences that just aren’t worth it, sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy topping the list.
Labels provide consumers with need-to-know information about the product they are about to consume. Would these four facts encourage people, especially young people, to tone down their drinking? I don’t know; education has certainly helped reduce cigarette use. What’s most important is that education provides people with an opportunity to change behavior, and that’s what we’re really talking about here – knowing the facts so that we have the option to make healthier decisions.