只是飲兩瓶啤酒？ 飲酒現在已成為文化戰爭的一部分

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Only 2 beers? Drinking is now part of the culture wars

Experts say that any amount of alcohol is dangerous, a reversal of earlier advice about moderation

Alexander Nazaryan

Updated Thu, August 31, 2023 at 12:57 p.m. PDT

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is usually not part of the nation’s seemingly endless culture wars. But that changed earlier this month, when the federal agency’s director, George Koob, said that the United States could, in the future, adapt Canada’s new drinking guidelines, which stipulate that adults should restrict themselves to only two drinks per week.

Sobriety has gained popularity in recent years, with the advent of Dry January and even alcohol-free bars. But the (somewhat exaggerated) prospect of Prohibition 2.0, which had been mounting for some time, suddenly seemed more real, at least to some. To others, the new Canadian guidance only conforms to new findings about the ill effects of alcohol on the human body.

“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesn’t matter how much you drink — the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage,” an official with the World Health Organization said in a statement issued early this year.

So far, however, no new recommendations have been proposed, let alone endorsed. But the controversy is evidence that the intersection of public health, personal choice and politics is as fraught as it has ever been.

What the Canadians did

Earlier this year, Canadian officials recommended that adults limit themselves to two drinks per week — that is, if they are unable to avoid drinking altogether. The main message from this new guidance is that "any amount of alcohol is not good for your health,” an Ontario public health official said at the time.

Some criticized the new guidelines for not considering the social connections that drinking culture can foster. Such connections are especially important, those critics argued, at a time of increased isolation.

What the science says

For many years, it was conventional wisdom that moderate drinking was beneficial, especially if red wine was involved.

That conventional wisdom turned out to be wrong, new research says. Any amount of alcohol, some studies have said, is toxic to various systems of the body. “Risk starts to go up well below levels where people would think, 'Oh, that person has an alcohol problem,'" a Canadian substance abuse researcher told The Week.

Drinking spiked during the pandemic, but many Americans appear to be rethinking their relationship to alcohol. Younger Americans in particular are embracing the anti-alcohol message, opting instead to use cannabis, which is becoming more widely available across the country for both medicinal and recreational purposes.

The political controversy

Speaking to the Daily Mail last week, Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, offered that the federal government could eventually issue guidelines similar to Canada’s. “If there's health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we're at,” he said.

Those guidelines would not keep anyone from guzzling martinis at lunch, Mad Men-style, forcing them to drink mocktails instead. Still, Koob’s suggestion outraged some conservatives, who saw it as the latest move by the Biden administration to restrict personal freedoms.

Members of the conservative media in recent years have falsely charged that Democrats want to end all meat consumption and force people to eat bugs. And now they were coming for alcohol, too? “I am a nondrinker, but this is ridiculous,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News.

Earlier this week, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was asked about Koob’s apparent praise of the Canadian guidelines.

"I will leave it to the experts," she said.

President Biden does not drink. Neither did his predecessor, Donald Trump. George W. Bush also abstained from alcohol, having struggled with substance abuse as a younger man. Jimmy Carter avoided alcohol as well. Many other occupants of the Oval Office, however, loved their wine or scotch.

Translation

專家表示，任何數量的飲酒都是危險的，這與之前關於適度飲酒的建議相反

國家酒精濫用和酒精中毒研究所通常不參與國家的看似無休無止的文化戰爭。 但這種情況在本月早些時候發生了變化，當時聯邦機構主管 George Koob 表示，美國未來可以根隨加拿大的新飲酒指南，該指南規定成年人應限制自己每週只喝兩杯。

近年來，隨著戒酒一月甚至無酒精酒吧的出現，清醒越來越受歡迎。 但一段時間以來，禁酒令 2.0 的（有點誇張的）前景突然變得更加真實，至少對某些人來說是這樣。 對於其他人來說，加拿大的新指南僅配合有關酒精對人體不良影響的新發現。

世界衛生組織的一位官員在今年早些時候發布的一份聲明中表示: “我們不能談論所謂的安全飲酒水平。 喝多少並不重要 - 對飲酒者健康的風險從第一滴酒精飲料就開始了”。

然而，到目前為止，還沒有提出新的建議，更不用說得到認可。 但這場爭議證明，公共衛生、個人選擇和政治之間的交叉點一如以往充滿問題。

加拿大人做了什麼

今年早些時候，加拿大官員建議成年人每週限制飲酒兩次 - 也就是說，如果他們無法完全避免飲酒的話。 安大略省公共衛生官員當時表示，這項新指南的主要信息是 “任何數量的酒精都不利於健康”。

一些人批評新指南沒有考慮飲酒文化可以促進的社會聯繫。 這些批評者認為，在日益孤立的時期，這種聯繫尤其重要。

科學怎麼說

多年來，人們普遍認為適量飲酒是有益的，尤其是在喝紅酒的情況下。

新的研究表明，這種傳統觀念被證明是錯誤的。 一些研究表明，任何數量的酒精都會對身體的各個系統產生毒性。 一位加拿大藥物濫用研究人員告訴《The Week》： “風險遠低於人們認為的水平, 說‘哦，那個人有酗酒問題’ 的門檻下降了。”

疫情期間飲酒量激增，但許多美國人似乎正在重新思考他們與酒精的關係。 尤其是年輕的美國人正在接受反酒精的信息，他們選擇使用大麻，大麻在全國范圍內越來越廣泛地用於醫療和娛樂目的。

政治爭議

國家酒精濫用和酒精中毒研究所所長 Koob 上週在接受 Daily Mail 採訪時表示，聯邦政府最終可能會發布類似於加拿大的指導方針。他說: “如果對健康有好處，我認為人們會開始重新評估我們所處的位置” 。

這些指導方針不會阻止任何人在午餐時像《廣告狂人》那樣狂飲馬提尼酒，而是強迫他們喝無酒精雞尾酒。 儘管如此，Koob 的建議還是激怒了一些保守派，他們認為這是拜登政府限制個人自由的最新舉措。

近年來，保守派媒體錯誤地指責民主黨希望結束所有肉類消費並強迫人們吃蟲子。 現在他們也來干涉喝酒？田納西州共和黨眾議員 Tim Burchett 告訴霍士福新聞: “我不喝酒，但這太荒謬了” 。

本週早些時候，白宮新聞秘書Karine Jean-Pierre被問及Koob對加拿大指導方針的明顯讚揚。

她說: “我會把它留給專家” 。

拜登總統不喝酒。 他的前任特朗普也沒有。 喬治·W·布殊年輕時曾與藥物濫用作過掙扎，因此也戒了酒。 卡特也避免飲酒。 然而，橢圓形辦公室的許多其他入主人士都喜歡他們的葡萄酒或蘇格蘭威士忌。

       So, the United States could, in the future, adapt Canada’s new drinking guidelines, which stipulate that adults should restrict themselves to only two drinks per week. I am wondering whether such an advice will change people’s drinking habit.

Note:

Mad Men《廣告狂人》 is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. The show is set from March 1960 to November 1970. According to the pilot episode, the phrase "Mad men" was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves, "Mad" being short for "Madison”. (Wikipedia)