Mike Gaudet, LICSW, LCDP Director of Quality Assurance, Center Director Arbour Counseling Services Norwell, MA ETIOLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ADDICTION REVISED 2015 Etiology and Epidemiology of Addiction Why are some people addicted to substances and others are not? What exactly is addiction, and just how bad is this problem in the US? ETIOLOGY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ADDICTION Etiology and Epidemiology of Addiction Course Objectives 1. Participants will be able to state the definitions of addiction, etiology and epidemiology. 2. Participants will be able to state no fewer than three facts about alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opioids and cannabis 3. Participants will be able to state three facts about the prevalence of addiction 4. Participants will be able to identify no fewer than three Recovery approaches Etiology and Epidemiology of Addiction History of Alcohol Cavemen to Columbus 1. Beer was probably a staple before bread 2. The world’s oldest known recipe is for beer 3. Alcohol beverages have been produced for at least 12,000 years 4. Early Egyptian writings urged mothers to send their children to school with plenty of bread and beer for their lunch 5. A Chinese imperial edit of about 1,116 B.C. asserted that the use of alcohol in moderation was required to get into heaven History of Alcohol Puritans to Prohibition 1. The Puritans loaded more beer than water onto the Mayflower before they cast off for the new world. 2. While there wasn’t any cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or pumpkin pie to eat at the first Thanksgiving, there was beer, brandy, gin, and wine to drink 3. A brewery was one of Harvard College’s first construction projects so that a steady supply of beer could be served in the student dining halls. 4. A traveler through the Delaware Valley in 1753 compiled a list of the drinks he encountered; all but three of the 48 contained alcohol 5. Abraham Lincoln held a liquor license and operated several taverns. History of Alcohol Prohibition: The Noble Experiment 1. Convinced that alcohol was the cause of virtually all crime that on the eve of prohibition, some towns actually sold their jails. 2. During the 1800’s, temperance societies offered two pledge options: moderation in drinking or total abstinence. After those pledged total abstinence began writing “T.A.” on their pledge cards, they became known as “teetotalers”. 3. Early temperance writers often insisted that because of their high blood alcohol content, “habitual drunkards” could spontaneously combust and burn to death from the inside 4. During Prohibition, temperance activists hired a scholar to rewrite the Bible by removing all references to alcohol beverages. History of Alcohol  Fermented grain, fruit juice, potatoes and honey have been used to make alcohol (ethyl alcohol or ethanol) for thousands of years.  Fermented beverages existed in early Egyptian civilization, and there is evidence of an early alcoholic drink in China around 7000 B.C. In India, an alcoholic beverage called sura, distilled from rice, was in use between 3000 and 2000 B.C.  The Babylonians worshiped a wine goddess as early as 2700 B.C. In Greece, one of the first alcoholic beverages to gain popularity was mead, a fermented drink made from honey and water. Greek literature is full of warnings against excessive drinking. History of Alcohol  Several Native American civilizations developed alcoholic beverages in pre-Columbian times. A variety of fermented beverages from the Andes region of South America were created from corn, grapes or apples, called “chicha.”  In the sixteenth century, alcohol (called “spirits”) was used largely for medicinal purposes. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the British parliament passed a law encouraging the use of grain for distilling spirits. Cheap spirits flooded the market and reached a peak in the mid-eighteenth century. In Britain, gin consumption reached 18 million gallons and alcoholism became widespread.