A whitepaper called Alcopocalypse: Six signs the next 10 years for alcohol will look like the last 20 for tobacco is available for free download during Alcohol Awareness Month this April. The paper looks at how American opinion toward alcohol as a drug and the $250 billion it costs the economy each year signal a shifting future for the beverage alcohol business. “Don't worry,” says author Scott Stevens, “there isn't a second coming of Prohibition. Alcohol is going to remain a profitable industry the same way the tobacco industry remains solvent. The tide is turning however.”
April 2017's thirty-first observance of Alcohol Awareness Month is the first since the U.S. Surgeon General signaled a shift in alcohol policy. The Surgeon General's Nov. 2016 Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health was the first time the office took on the health impact of alcohol use in a manner similar to the way the same office took on tobacco smoke in 1964.
Stevens, an award-winning author of four alcohol/health best-sellers, says, “All alcohol use impacts health, healthcare costs, and the economy. Just like smoking does. With alcohol, it's no longer a dialogue exclusively concerning impaired driving or the disease of alcoholism. The dialogue on this drug is changing from what it does for the drinker, to what it does to the drinker.”
Immediately after the Surgeon General's “unprecedented” report Stevens released I can't see the forest with all these damn trees in the way: The health consequences of alcohol. Alcopocalypse also appears as an appendix in the book. “Alcohol use is a cost driver for the health system because more long-term health consequences from moderate drinking are coming to light… while more ‘benefits’ of 'responsible' drinking are being debunked.” The cost and the health impact are two of his six topics in Alcopocalypse. “I was born in 1967. Then, 72 percent of adult men smoked. Today, 72 percent don't, because America changed that dialogue following the Surgeon General's direction.”
Among the other 'signs' in the whitepaper is the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs). They carry a lifetime cost of $2 million for each individual and FASDs are now more common in the U.S. than autism. “Autism isn't preventable. FASD is 100 percent preventable. People have been Madison-Avenued into a way of thinking that tells them this is a 'safe' drug. It's anything but safe, even in moderation, especially for the unborn.”
Stevens also notes data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that indicates 20-40 percent of hospital resources go to treating alcohol-related complications. “It's easy to see what causes the problem, is the problem. It's not just about alcoholism or drinking and driving. It's about taking a drug, a toxin and carcinogen in any amount. People routinely complain about healthcare costs and sagging productivity… over a beer or a shot. They’re not seeing the forest. Just the trees.”
The free whitepaper is available for download at the author's website www.alcohologist.com. An option to order printed copies is also available, as is ordering information for the four books from Stevens and his 2016 Alcohol Awareness Month educational DVD series, The A-Files: Alcohol A-Z. For 2015, the author released the Alcohology app still available on Android devices.
Stevens says “Alcopocalypse encourages informed decisions about using alcohol based on evidence-based science. Informed decisions don't come from advertising, observational studies and wishful thinking.”
Alcohol Awareness Month whitepaper foretells alcohol industry challenges news release on PRBuzz.
Addicted Minds’ Editor-in-Chief, Scott Stevens, is the author of four alcohol books including the December 2016 release, I Can’t See The Forest With All These Damn Trees In The Way: The Health Consequences of Alcohol. Buy the new BookLocker title now on Amazon (viewbook.at/prehab), alcohologist.com, and everywhere books are sold. Stevens also heads up BlogTender LLC, a content marketing firm headquartered in Lake Geneva, Wis.
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