Alcoholism - No Easy Solution

Alcoholism - No Easy Solution

Mike Brake’s “Needed: A License to Drink” is a well-written essay that covers the serious issue of alcoholism and goes on to offer a creative proposal to solve the situation. Brake addresses alcoholism as a “primary public health-problem” which holds merit, considering Brake sites alcohol is the cause of 19,000 auto fatalities each year. To remedy these preventable fatalities, Brake proposes to institute a national system of licensing with appropriate penalties for violators. He goes on to say that these licenses should be issued the same way as driver’s licenses. An applicant would have to read a manual, and take a written exam which would include questions such as “How many drinks would it take to intoxicate a 150lb man?” and “What is the penalty for drunk driving?” After passing the written test applicants would be issued a drinking license that would be required for buying any alcoholic drink.

Brake bases his credibility on the tragic premature loss of four family members due to alcoholism which he refers to as a “deadly disease” (Brake 135). And although it would never be acceptable to wish such terror on anyone, the misfortune is not enough to qualify a person as an expert. Brake presents strong family values and plays into the reader’s compassion for loved ones. Brake also spent two years working as a counselor in a chemical-dependency treatment center, where he gained first hand experience working with a young man who passed out while smoking and a nurse who lost her license and became a prostitute. However he mistakenly forgets the patient explanation as to why a young man who passed out while smoking and a nurse who turned prostitute, is relevant to the problem of alcoholism. If ...

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... can not present a legitimate argument, second alcoholism is not a disease and so each person must find it in themselves to stop, or they have family that really loves them and help them stop. Third it would cause more problems then it is solving, and finally it would cost the general public more money then it is worth.

Works Cited.

Brake, Mike. "Needed: A License to Drink." The Genre of Argument. Ed. Rosenberg. Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle, March 14, 1994. 135-136.

Falcone, Timothy J. "Alcoholism and Drug Addiction FAQ's Saint Jude Retreat House. 19 April 2004. Online. Internet. 19 April 2004. Available: http://www.soberforever.net/FAQ1.cfm.

"National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration." Operating Administrations, U.S. DOT FY 2005 Budget in Brief. 19 April 2004. Online. Internet. 19 April 2004. Available: http://www.dot.gov/bib2005/admins.html#nhtsa.