Alcoholism and Cancer. Why is One More Respectable Than the Other?

Here are some thoughts I had relative to a recent announcement that our church was putting together programs to help families with cancer in the family. Yes, cancer is a devastating set of ailments, but in total they pale by comparison with another cluster of diseases centered on alcoholism. Before I go any further, I must point out that the two diseases are directly related in that alcoholism leads to cancer.

There are eight cancers directly caused by alcohol (mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, liver, breast, rectum, and colon) (3, 4, 5), and, while the chemical ethyl alcohol itself is not carcinogenic, the first metabolite of the breakdown by the liver of alcohol...acetaldehyde, is HIGHLY carcinogenic. This is why people who regularly swallow alcohol multiply their overall chances of contracting all forms of cancer many times (5). But let's set aside the medical dangers, and just focus on the relative net effect of the two diseases in terms of human misery.

Please, consider this. As many as 10.5 million Americans show signs of alcoholism or alcohol dependence alone, and another 7.2 million show persistent heavy drinking patterns associated with impaired health and or social functioning. (1) An alcohol-related family problem strikes one of every FOUR American homes. (2)

Alcoholics, because of their disease, are impaired. The missing contribution of every alcoholic has to be replaced by extra effort on the part of at least four high-functioning adults (see reference on the Al-Anon web site at www.al-anon.al-ateen.org). So for every one of those 17.7 million people habituated to alcohol, they are being enabled by four others who are IMMEDIATELY nearby. This includes spouses, children, parents, siblings, employers, neighbors...and so many others. In 1990 this represented about 71 MILLION co-dependents!

Translated into the impact of the two diseases on our congregation, where we have 100 people in our congregation facing cancer, we have 2000 facing alcoholism.

But here is the problem. Alcoholism doesn't carry the "respect" of cancer. Alcoholism is a disease, not just of the body, but also of the mind and soul. Because alcoholism is not socially acceptable, a massive denial effort is made everywhere. The self-destructive behavior resulting from this disease is routinely excused, and tolerated; it is so prevalent among our leaders that it is encouraged (i.e., by the media, governing agencies, industry, even in some instances among church leadership).

So many helping institutions have grappled with this. The medical profession, law enforcement, politicians, psychologists, clergy, the justice system. However, the problem continues to grow. The 12-Step Programs have the highest success rate here, but even within the 12-Step community we have to accept that only about half of those who voluntarily and publicly come forward to take a "desire chip" are sober five years later.

OK. There is the problem. How can you and I serve to be part of the solution?

If you are a clergyman reading this by chance, you may not realize as you sit and read that just a few blocks from your office, in some community center, hospital room, library, or maybe in another church, there are Al-Anon and AA meetings that have been meeting weekly for years. Through these meetings there there are thousands who who have been healed from their alcoholism (or its co-disease, codepency) through what we call "The Program."

So I'll conclude with some questions for our culture in general, and for church leaders in particular. Do you want to really ‘tweak the Devil's tail? Do you want to face a problem that has a solution, but most are afraid to tackle?

Please, think about stepping outside of the box as a communigty and as a church and facing this one with a group of people who have been quietly doing so for decades with more success than any of your institutions. For example, open your churches to 12-step meetings. They work.

Take care,

Ken P.

(1) From the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Seventh Special Report to the US Congress on Alcohol and Health from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Jan 1990, P. 36.
(2) From the Gallup Poll, "Alcohol-Related Family Problems Strike one-fourth of US homes," 4/87.
(3) Mufti, S.J. "Alcohol Promotes Cancer of the Gastrointestinal Tract," Cancer Detection and Prevention, 22(3):195-203
(4) Thun, M.J., "Alcohol Increases Death Rate from Breast Cancer by 30 Percent." New England Journal of Medicine 337 (24): 1705-1714
(5) Noda, T. "Alcoholics Have Higher Mortality Rates from All Cancers." Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 55 (5) 466-472