PROBLEM DRINKERS

[Music] [Applause] throughout all time men have sought in drink release from tension care and from the pressure of reality over 50 million Americans drink more or less regularly with no visible bad effects a few million react typically and recognizably to alcohol but still remain strictly occasional drinkers sometime victims of a glass too much [Music] but our grave concern to the United States is the growing number of those unlucky problem drinkers the alcoholics whose addiction is uncontrolled compulsive and in the end destructive come on Mack huh come on time to go home just one more drink no more drinks for you come on on your way leave me alone where do you live Mack take your hands off me oh you're gonna get tough on it you'd better come with me listen I can take care of myself yeah that's what all you drunks say come on look officer I've got to get word to my wife I've got to get out of here okay okay just calm down [Music] that's right mrs. Lane Walnut Street station house Astra sergeant Garrity [Music] right down thank you for calling sergeant I told you - this would happen carousing irresponsible Oh mother stop it please there's not a better man on earth when he's sober and how often is that he's just a hopeless drunkard what can any of us do that alcoholics are not evildoers whose misdemeanors may be dealt with by punishment but rather people in the grip of a mysterious inner compulsion to drink is a concept society has not fully grasped yet the world has known for centuries the toll of help of families and of careers which drunkenness has taken by precept example and exhortation generations of temperance Crusaders have carry on their work notable among them was father Matthew an Irish priest ho nearly a century ago converted 700,000 disciples in America alone later came America's bone-dry reformers luridly denouncing the curse of drink whose efforts were to be crowned in 1919 by the enactment of prohibition despite national prohibitions failure such organizations as The Woman's Christian Temperance Union have never stopped their efforts to outlaw liquor and 613 towns in this country both of them sell completely dry by outlawing [Applause] fearful that excessive drinking might lead to a return of prohibition the u.s. liquor interests have made a determined campaign to promote moderation by an appeal to tavern keepers the alight liquor industries are urging a curb on drunkenness at a major source the first thing to remember is running a decent tavern is don't sell liquor to minors or to drunks the fellas known to be a lush see to it that he can't get a drink at your place if there's a man standing up at the bar you think maybe he's having too much to drink there's just one rule to follow when in doubt don't sell them anything we believe in moderation so let's put it into practice [Music] meanwhile in the academic world many institutions are seeking a sound scientific approach to the problem of alcoholism one of these is Yale University's School of alcohol studies where dr. Howard W Haggard nationally known physiologist has been working for years in collaboration with dr. M Jelinek famed by electrician through exact research and analysis through physiological experimentation they and their staff have been trying to find out how alcoholics get that way and what can be done over in the schools clinics alcoholics referred by social agencies or applying on their own initiative may find help the patient's treatment is in four phases a trained interviewer first finds to be cured upon this his chances largely depend then the facts of his case are determined for the treatment varies with the patient's history next a doctor checks to see whether he needs medical treatment but his physical condition may have less bearing on the problem than his state of mind and it is the job of the psychiatrist to guide him back to mental health the fourth phase is an attempt to correct whatever conditions may be wrong at home through interviews with the patient's family though its clinical work is necessarily limited the school exerts a wide influence through regular publication of its findings and through its summer sessions we're picked community leaders from all over the country come to learn and go home to apply their knowledge in our town the alcoholics are in his bad shape when they come out of jail as when they go in oh why is that well that's because detention is not treatment sending the alcoholic to jail is based on a scientifically obsolete idea of punishing him not of curing him if a mother drinks while nursing will the baby develop a taste for alcohol if the mother were quite drunk but still able to nurse her milk might contain as much as 2/10 of 1% of alcohol that's about as much alcohol as if you were to put 12 drops of vanilla extract in a glass of milk the answer to the question is no our Temperance Park is correct in stressing that the use of alcohol leads to disease physical disease is the least important danger from the use of alcohol the real danger is drunkenness but from a New York headquarters one of the most dramatic jobs in combating alcoholism is being done by the voluntary organization called Alcoholics Anonymous AAA offers help freely to any alcoholic anywhere who is willing to admit his own inability to help himself and though not a religious organization its 12-step program calls for belief in some power outside the individual direct contact with those for whom help is asked he's made only by AAA members who themselves have gone the long road from alcoholism to sobriety that may be all right for some people but not for me all that pious stuff I can't go for it I couldn't either at first but believe it or not Fred it works I was in a lot worse shape than you are when Alcoholics Anonymous got hold of me well anyway I'm not that badly off all I need is a little shot now and then I can stop anytime I really want to you can then why haven't you stopped because you can't and you know it Fred you're ruining your whole life alright alright maybe I have got to have this - yes I've got to I can't help it so what okay once you admit that then we can begin to help you if you'll let us do you want to get well well what would I have to do if a new member of AAA is in bad enough shape he begins his treatment in the hospital where he is built up by rest and vitamin therapy during this process old AAA members working in pairs with the more experienced guiding the less experienced give him constant encouragement [Applause] all through his ordeal the new member find strong support in the company of the others here is a social group of which he can feel apart and whatever his problem others show how they have conquered bears ten years ago the doctors all gave me up said liquor was killing me said I didn't have the courage to stop drinking well I didn't until AAA helped me get the cards I've been drive for ten years now any of you can do as much if you want because you got twenty four thousand of us behind you I began drinking after an illness I lost my husband my job everything I had then I heard about a a well I haven't had a drink since hope blossomed in the faint and the combination of hope and faith led to that eventual miracle of which AAA provides sobriety I don't know whether I'm happy because I don't drink or I don't drink because I'm happy you figure it out aage stands ready to help each and every one of you stop drinking we did it we'll help you do it we'll close the meeting in the usual way [Music] as part of the therapy the new member analyzes his personal failings and sets out conscientiously to remedy them it is never an easy fight at a time as the craving for liquor can be overpowering but at anytime of day or night another member stands ready to give him the help from sympathy he needs hello this is Fred look can you come over I've got to go out and buy a drink I don't I'm gonna go crazy I don't know how much longer I can hold off can you stick it out for a quarter of an hour 10 or 15 minutes and I'll be there okay [Music] [Music] I was just going out okay fellow take it easy so down I know what you're going through it's the same thing I've been through a hundred times relax just relax remember the time I told you about when I was so bad that I couldn't sleep for two days each victory over alcohol wins him added confidence and he acquires additional moral straight by seeking out all those he has wronged and making amends so I wanted you to know I'm sorry I tried to suck you acted like a heel Oh anyone's have to take a drink too many it's alright forget it of those who sincerely ask help Alcoholics Anonymous claim 75% will recover some immediately some after several relapses a rate of success far above that credited to any other method but no true alcoholic has ever cured of his inability to handle liquor as long as he lives his only security is in never taking a drink mrs. Fred you've been on the wagon long enough how about just one little quickie no thanks you see with me it wouldn't be just one you don't mind if I don't do it it's not a bit but just give me plain ginger ale the influence of Alcoholics Anonymous is spreading in the u.s. Great Britain Canada and Australia already it has rehabilitated over 24,000 men and women of whom many have become volunteers working to save others Alcoholics Anonymous and other organizations combating alcoholism are gaining ground bringing to the public a sense of the true nature of the problem through such spokesmen as the director of the National Committee for education on alcoholism mrs. Marty man alcoholism has too long been a taboo subject justise tuberculosis used to be 40 years ago we're trying to teach people the truth but alcoholism is a disease and it because it is a disease it should have no stigma attached to it alcoholics should be dealt with like other sick persons in hospitals and clinics not in jails alcoholism America's fourth greatest public health problem can be solved by Community Action the National Committee stands ready to help your community plan such action science has not yet fully explained the inner mechanisms of the problem drinker but today it has been demonstrated through experience that the sympathy and understanding of one alcoholic can help reclaim another and that in such Brotherhood lies many an alcoholics last best hope you think you're sunk you think you're through well you're not you may not be able to help yourself there are plenty of us to help you you really want us to time marches on