Alcohol in America , livre ebook

National Issues Forums Institute - Maura Casey

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23 pages

English

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What Can We Do about Excessive Drinking?Alcohol is a legal beverage, but its misuse hurts people, costs our nation billions of dollars, and makes the public less safe. The question remains: What can we do about excessive alcohol use?"This issue guide presents three options for deliberation:Protect Others from DangerSociety should do what it takes to protect itself from the negative consequences of drinking behavior.Help People with Alcohol ProblemsWe need to help people reduce their drinking.Change Society's Relationship with AlcoholThis option says that solutions must address the societal attitudes and environments that make heavy drinking widely accepted.

Sujets

Abnormal psychology

Sociologie, société et politique

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Publié par	National Issues Forums Institute
Date de parution	01 décembre 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781943028436
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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About This Issue Guide

T he use—and misuse—of alcohol is a sensitive and often personal topic. It encompasses questions of public safety, personal responsibility, and even freedom of speech. Deliberative forums on this issue may not be easy. It will be important to remember, and to remind participants, that the objective of these forums is to begin to work through the choices and trade-offs involved when addressing Americans’ relationship to alcohol.

Participants in these forums may become angry, and those with strong feelings may feel attacked by those who hold other points of view. This can sidetrack the deliberation. In productive deliberation, people examine the advantages and disadvantages of different options for addressing a difficult public problem, weighing these against the things they hold deeply valuable.
The framework in this issue guide encompasses several options and provides an alternative means for moving forward in order to avoid polarizing rhetoric. Each option is rooted in a shared concern, proposes a distinct strategy for addressing the problem, and includes roles for citizens to play. Equally important, each option presents the drawbacks inherent in each action. Recognizing these drawbacks allows people to see the trade-offs that they must consider in pursuing any action. It is these drawbacks, in large part, that make coming to shared judgment so difficult—but ultimately, so productive.
One effective way to hold deliberative forums on this issue:
• Ask people to share their general and personal views about how our society treats alcohol and the abuse of alcohol. Participants are likely to mention the concerns identified in the framework.
• Consider each option one at a time, using the actions and drawbacks as examples to illustrate what each option entails.
• Review the conversation as a group, identifying any areas of common ground as well as issues that still must be worked through.
The goal of this issue guide is to assist people in moving from initial reactions to more reflective judgment. That requires serious deliberation or weighing options for action against the things people hold valuable.

The National Issues Forums Institute
This issue guide was prepared for the National Issues Forums Institute in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation. Issue guides in this series are used by civic and educational organizations interested in addressing public issues. These organizations use the books in locally initiated forums convened each year in hundreds of communities. For a description of the National Issues Forums, log on to the website: www.nifi.org .
Other Topics and Ordering Information
Recent topics in this series include higher education, bullying, Medicare and Medicaid, and immigration. For more information, please visit www.nifi.org or contact NIF Publications at 1-800-600-4060 or info@ait.net .
Writer: Maura Casey
Executive Editor: Brad Rourke
Managing Editor: Joey Easton O’Donnell
Design and Production: Long’s Graphic Design, Inc.
Copy Editor: Laura Carlson
Alcohol in America: What Can We Do about Excessive Drinking?
Copyright 2014
National Issues Forums Institute
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-945639-69-5

This publication may not be reproduced or copied without written permission of National Issues Forums Institute. For permission to reproduce or copy, please write to Bill Muse at bmuse@nifi.org .

Founded in 1927, the Kettering Foundation of Dayton, Ohio (with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City), is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute that studies the public’s role in democracy. It provides issue guides and other research for the National Issues Forums. For information about the Kettering Foundation, please visit www.kettering.org or contact the foundation at 200 Commons Road, Dayton, Ohio 45459.
CONTENTS
Introduction: Alcohol in America: What Can We Do about Excessive Drinking?
Option One: Protect Others from Danger
On the Road
Stopping before They Start
The Game Changer
What We Could Do
Option Two: Help People with Alcohol Problems
Access to Help
Binge Drinking
Funding Treatment
What We Could Do
Option Three: Change Society’s Relationship with Alcohol
The Tobacco Example
Happy Hour and “Alcopops”
Reasonable Alternatives
What We Could Do
Summary: Alcohol in America: What Can We Do about Excessive Drinking?
INTRODUCTION

©Tracey Thom