Alcohol: Cradle to Grave

257 Pages·2001·0.69 MB·English

by  Eric Newhouse

Alcohol:
Cradle to Grave
ERIC NEWHOUSE
HAZELDEN®
Alcohol
Cradle to Grave
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Alcohol
Cradle to Grave
ERIC NEWHOUSE
HAZELDEN®
Hazelden
Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176
1-800-328-0094
1-651-213-4590(Fax)
www.hazelden.org
©2001by Hazelden Foundation
All rights reserved. Published 2001
Printed in the United States of America
No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner
without the written permission of the publisher
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newhouse, Eric, 1945–
Alcohol : cradle to grave / Eric Newhouse.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-56838-734-2(hardcover)
1. Alcoholism—Montana—Great Falls. 2. Alcoholics—Montana—Great
Falls. 3. Drinking of alcoholic beverages—Montana—Great Falls. 4. Great Falls
(Mont.)—Social conditions. I. Title.
HV5298.G74 N48 2001
362.292'09786'611—dc21
2001024805
05 04 03 02 01 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author’s note
The articles reprinted in this book were originally published in 1999by the Great
Falls Tribune.Hazelden has reprinted a slightly revised version of the original series
with the permission of the Great Falls Tribune and Gannett Co. Inc. Photos by
Larry Beckner are also used with their permission.
Cover design by David Spohn
Interior design by Elizabeth Cleveland
Typesetting by Stanton Publication Services, Inc.
This book is gratefully dedicated to all those courageous people who shared
their darkest secrets with me in hopes of helping others conquer alcoholism.
To the Great Falls Tribune and particularly Executive Editor Jim Strauss
and Publisher Pat Frantz, who gave me the opportunity to investigate a
community problem.
And to God, without whom none of this could have been possible.
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Contents
Preface ix
January How alcohol permeates a community during a day. 1
February Genetic reasons why alcoholism is a medical disease. 23
March Fetal alcohol syndrome: how drinking harms children. 41
April The alcoholic makes the whole family sick. 57
May Teenage keg parties and college binge drinking. 75
June Readers tell us that drinking fuels domestic violence. 101
July Drunken drivers destroy lives. 117
August Alcoholism is epidemic on Indian reservations. 127
September Alcohol abuse keeps people off the job and in hospitals. 149
October Nearly all of Montanta’s prisoners are addicted to
alcohol or drugs. 167
November Alcoholism costs the state of Montana more than the
university system. 183
December How do we treat this disease? 205
Postscript 229
Bibliography 239
About the Author 243
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Preface
Great Falls,Montana, is a small town (population about 60,000) that
straddles the Missouri River. It was named after the Great Falls of the
Missouri, which forced the Lewis and Clark expedition to take a long hike
nearly two centuries ago. The river still identifies the town to this day. The
River’s Edge Trail allows walkers, joggers, bikers, and in-line skaters to
enjoy the Missouri and its bluffs for a dozen miles downstream, then back
again on the other side of the stream.
But a second river flows through the town, and it was one that I wanted
to explore. It’s the river of booze trucked into town each day and sloshed
down each night in the town’s many watering holes.
Every newspaper editor and reporter sees the flotsam and jetsam of that
stream: the divorces, lost jobs, battered wives and children, crime, drunken
drivers, car wrecks, medical bills. It’s just that we’re all so accustomed
to this debris underfoot that we rarely wonder why it’s there—or if it’s
necessary.
Several years ago, the Great Falls Tribunedid a series of stories on the
unsolved murders on one Indian reservation in Montana. All were alcohol-
related, and most were unsolvable because all the witnesses were too inebri-
ated to cooperate. Those stories stuck in the mind of the Tribune’sexecutive
editor, Jim Strauss.
I, in turn, had been watching the national tobacco settlement unfold in
the late 1990s and had been impressed with the way the lawyers had tied
together the social and economic ramifications of smoking. Why hadn’t the
newspapers provided that perspective, I wondered.
ix