The Myth of "Alcohol Harm": How and Why You’re Being Gaslit by Anti-Alcohol Zealots
Or, in defense of being a jerk.
I have a reputation among some (though no one who actually knows me well) as being a jerk. Some would say I can be a “D*ck”. Here’s why.
The other day, purusing a list of “tweets” that fall under a list of accounts I’ve labeled “Bad Health”. The list is filled with X accounts that tend to be active members of the anti-alcohol cabal that try to convince folks that a sip of alcohol will kill you straight away. One tweet caught my eye. It alleged that “Alcohol Harm” significantly impacts individuals and society.
The comment I posted underneath went something like this:
“Alcohol never harmed anyone. Are bottles of alcohol leaping off shelves and attacking you? No, alcohol harms no one. What harms people is the excessive and improper USE of alcohol.”
My mother, who witnessed my brand of push back that was developed at a young age, would have told me not to be so “flippant”.
Maybe she was right. But here is what’s true: The term "alcohol harm" is a cornerstone of anti-alcohol advocacy and policy debate. Those who use this term are attempting to shift the linguistic focus and reframe the entire conversation from one of individual lifestyle choices to one of collective societal impact. This is both an effective strategy and a dangerous one. More importantly, all of us who are concerned with the hysterical claims being made by the anti-alcohol cabal need to be willing to be labeled a “jerk” or “flippant” by pushing back when we see this term bandied about.
This is a graph showing the frequency of Google searches for the term “Alcohol Harm” made in the U.S. between 2016 and the current day. The increasing frequency of searches for this term that you see in the graph is due to the increase in this term’s use by those who want to switch the language of the debate and convince you that the harm that comes from alcohol is due to alcohol’s mere existence in society, rather than from the harmful use of alcohol by individuals.
Let me provide some examples:
“AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder), like other alcohol harms are determined by the environment where people live. And alcohol marketing shapes these environments, creating positive attitudes to alcohol, promoting brands, shaping values and concepts of a good life and making alcohol available and desirable.
MOVENDI“To pursue prevention strategies at that scale requires being able to understand alcohol harm at that scale—and that, in turn, requires the investment in resources and expertise that the U.S. Health and Human Services just obliterated.”
ALCOHOL JUSTICE"We know the public wants more action to reduce alcohol harm and we know how to do it: restrict irresponsible promotions, tackle ultra-cheap products with minimum unit pricing, and empower local leaders to control the availability of alcohol in areas with high rates of harm. It’s time to put public health before private profit. We simply can't allow these deaths to continue to spiral."
KATHERINE SEVERI, INSTITUTE OF ALCOHOL STUDIES“Health Taxes Are Key to Reducing Alcohol Harms: When set high enough, alcohol taxes are a winning formula to reduce harms while generating much-needed government revenue. For instance, reducing alcohol consumption in Brazil by 20% with the help of an excise tax could save 10,000 lives a year.”
VITAL STRATEGIES“International Model of Alcohol Harms and Policies provides an online tool to accurately estimate the extent of alcohol-related harm in any population (be it a city, region, or country) from available data on per capita alcohol consumption and the recorded prevalence of various causes of death, injury, and illness.”
TIM STOCKWELL“Reducing alcohol harm contributes directly and indirectly to economic development with demand and jobs created in other sectors….Taxation offers the most cost-effective strategy for minimizing alcohol harm in most countries.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Every single one of the above examples, as well as the thousands of other examples of the use of the term “alcohol harm,” assumes that the responsibility for any harm resulting from alcohol consumption comes from the existence of alcohol in society rather than improper and imprudent use of alcohol by the individual.
Traditionally, many alcohol-related issues were framed through the lens of “alcoholism” or “problem drinking.” This places the focus—and the blame—on the individual’s behavior or biology—where it should be.
By using “alcohol harm,” anti-alcohol advocates shift the focus to the mere existence of alcohol. It suggests that the product is inherently risky, regardless of who consumes it or how they consume it. This mirrors the rhetorical shift used in the 1990s against the tobacco industry.
By categorizing alcohol use as a source of "harm," the anti-alcohol cabal can categorize alcohol as a negative externality—a cost that the alcohol industry creates but the taxpayer pays for. This provides a logical justification for "sin taxes" and minimum unit pricing (MUP) to recoup those societal costs.
Here’s why this is important. The word "harm" carries a moral and legal weight that "habit" or "choice" does not. This reframing allows the zealots and nannies to argue for population-wide interventions like higher taxes, bans on marketing, reduced access to alcohol, and minimum pricing because the "harm" creates a moral imperative that affects everyone, not just the person who uses alcohol improperly or excessively.
So, the problem is this: “Alcohol harm = restrictions on liberty.
When the alcohol zealots use “alcohol harm” to switch the debate from individual responsibility to society-wide impact, the only logical response by policymakers is the implementation of policies and laws that focus on society-wide reduction of consumption rather than what’s truly important: preventing overconsumption and treating those individuals with alcohol use disorder.
In 2023, 9.7% of Americans 12 or older had Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Yet, the goal of those who liberally use the term “Alcohol Harm” is to impact the lives of 270 million Americans with their increased alcohol taxes, reduced access to alcohol, and restrictions on sales and marketing of alcohol. That’s 247 million Americans who either don’t currently drink alcohol or who drink alcohol responsibly. It’s the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to push in a tack.
What’s the necessary response to this strategy: pushback. Be a D*ck!
If you are inclined, every time you see the term “Alcohol harm” written or used by someone trying ot portray alcohol as inherently harmful or trying to justify population-wide measures, or just reporting improperly, just tell them the following:
“Point to where the alcohol bottle jumped off the shelf and touched you.”
“Alcohol can’t harm anyone, but people using alcohol excessively harm themselves.”
“The problem isn’t ‘Alcohol harm’, the problem is the harm individuals cause by using alcohol excessively.”
“An individual’s moderate use of alcohol has been shown by numerous studies to lead to LOWER all-cause mortality than those who don’t consume alcohol.”
Tom Wark is the publisher of FERMENTATION, a source of commentary on the wine business that he has written since 2004. He is also the publisher of THE SPILL, a free, daily newsletter that curates the best wine content on the web. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPILL FOR FREE.
Thank you for this! I keep jumping in where I see anti-alc social media posts and making comments in defense of fine wine, and everyone tells me to stop being such a b*tch. I won't.
You are not being a jerk, THEY are being the jerks. Many of them are probably vaping cannabis alone in their room while they dream up new things they want to ban.
Here is what I say to others potentially captured by their jerk labeling.
Alcohol is a naturally-occurring food product. The fruit or grain falls to the ground. Enzymes contained within cause it to ripen... the process of enzymes changing starch into sugar is primarily called enzymatic hydrolysis, specifically driven by enzymes known as amylases. Amylase breaks down complex starch molecules into simple sugars (like maltose) through hydrolysis.
The sugar is then consumed by wild yeast and bacteria that release C02 and ethyl alcohol.
Animals, including humans, eat the ripe fruit that has fermented. They metabolize the ethyl alcohol.
Fermented foods like sourdough bread and kimchi contain ethyl alcohol.
Wine, beer and spirits are part of the culinary arts. They are part of our food supply and food culture. Ethyl alcohol was used through history to make drinking water safe.
Previous studies have concluded that moderate drinking is safe. There are studies that even point to some health benefits from moderate drinking. Reports that no amount of alcohol consumption are fake news. There are no credible scientific peer-reviewed papers that prove that any amount of alcohol consumed in unsafe.
However, there are emerging scientific peer-reviewed studies reporting the dangers of routine cannabis use. There are also credible peer-reviewed studies reporting the dangers of social media use... where most of this fake news about alcohol consumption is promulgated.