Should Alcohol Be Illegal?

Exploring the effects of alcohol

The consequences from the misuse of alcohol are becoming more apparent worldwide. For this essay I will focus on the UK and USA as examples to examine various impacts that alcohol has on society, and if the criminalisation of alcohol would benefit society. The USA made alcohol illegal in 1920 to 1933, and there is some debate on the consequences of this change. Therefore, there is a need for the socio-economic benefits to society to be analysed.

This projects explores the effects that alcohol has on our society and our bodies, crime levels, pressure on the health and justice system, and the economy. The project looks at both the positive and negative effects on these aspects, and also examines various ways in which the current system could be improved.

The project concludes that overall the impact of criminalising alcohol in the UK is the wrong approach. A temperance based society has too many negatives, making it not a viable option. Running alcohol underground will increase the amount of crime that is associated with the black market and the amount of time spent trying to catch and convict criminals. But, economically, the extra money that would’ve been spent on tackling the health issues associated with alcohol, could be spent on the justice system or other areas of the health system. This evidence suggests that alcohol should be better managed in how it is distributed and produced so that the benefits that not criminalising would have to society are still present but also that there is a decrease in the serious health and crime issues associated with alcohol.

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Introduction

Alcohol has been present throughout the whole of written history. The reason for this is because it is and always has been easily accessible, no matter your economic situation. Although it has been illegal before, for many different reasons, people are becoming more aware of the hazards surrounding alcohol — not only to our bodies but also to our society. A poll by CNN states that, as of 2014, around 1 in 5 people in the United States of America believe that alcohol should be illegal.[1] With alcohol-related crime at its highest and alcohol-related deaths also soaring way above an acceptable level, would making alcohol illegal be a move in the right direction?

The problem with tackling the negative effects of alcohol is that the majority of the population consume alcohol. In the UK in 2017, only 19% of adults are non-drinkers.[2] As a result of this alcohol has started to become a necessity in our society. This means that even contemplating making alcohol illegal receives scrutiny from the public. Ethical and philosophical questions vary greatly, reflecting the diversity of this area hence why I have chosen to explore it. However, very fundamentally, arguments are similar — questioning of the effects on the human body, positive and negative, are common as these are most people’s immediate concerns. Also, much-discussed is the question of responsibility: “is it the government’s responsibility to make alcohol illegal?” From here, others arise about whether it is morally correct for people to drink and put others at risk, for example, drink-driving.

The two main philosophical questions I wish to answer are: “would making alcohol illegal do more harm than good?” and also “should the change in law only ban the consumption of alcohol?”  With these questions , the other uses for alcohol are also included in the debate. By removing ethanol which is used heavily in the medical industry for making tinctures and for sterilising, would eliminating alcohol cause a different approach to sterilising hospitals and medical facilities. Inebriation is the main source of damage to our bodies and our society. So would it be unnecessary to criminalise the other uses of alcohol in our everyday lives?

For both an ethical and philosophical perspective it may be important to look at the physical and emotional effects of alcohol on the body, not only by itself, but also in conjunction with drugs as it is advised not to drink alcohol when taking prescription medication. I also think that I should explore times when alcohol has been illegal and why it hasn’t remained that way — could it be that it is hard to enforce a law that goes against something engrained in our western culture?

Literature Review

1920-1933

With an increase in pressure from the temperance movement, the US government ratified the 18th amendment in 1920, causing the ban on all sale, transportation, importation, and production of alcohol nationwide.[3] With tens of thousands of unregulated

drink accidents and prohibition driven crime during 13 years of prohibition[4], 36 out of the 48 states ratified the 21st amendment in 1933, thus the prohibition was immediately brought to a close.

Although there was a ban on alcohol, industrial alcohol was not banned. This meant that methyl (wood alcohol), CH₃OH, and ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH, were used in everyday life. Wood alcohol (acquiring its name because of its prior production by the destructive distillation of wood[5]) was added to soft drinks so that paying customers could enjoy their alcoholic beverages secretly.

But, when metabolised, the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase converts CH₃OH into formaldehyde, CH2O, which is then metabolised into formic acid, CH2O2. The reaction from CH₃OH to CH2O is slow, meaning that the symptoms are only apparent a few days after consumption. But the reaction from CH2O to CH2O2is very fast meaning that there is now a very large amount of formic acid in the body. Also on top of this, the formic acid takes a long time to metabolise meaning that it causes catastrophic damage to the ocular nerve which can sometimes cause permanent eye damage.[6]

Charles Norris was a pathologist at the time in New York City, and it is recorded in “The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York” that he found that bootleggers were adding wood alcohol to drinks to preserve as much of the liquor as possible and that sometimes it was also used deliberately to cause serious harm or kill people. He studied the effects of wood alcohol on the body and was one of the first people to formally publish his findings.[7]

Due to the high demand, the production and sale of consumable alcohol did happen. All official distilleries were repurposed into industrial plants, producing industrial grade alcohol, ie. for fuel and creating tinctures. Homemade distilleries, to make homemade alcohol (moonshine), were built behind false walls or in basements and often shut down and destroyed by The Bureau of Prohibition. This meant that alcohol had to be smuggled across the border. The term “the real McCoy” supposedly came into use after the rum runner William McCoy started to bring high-quality liquor into the US.[8] This increase in supply and demand for moonshine led to the creation of speakeasies.

This growth in illegal alcohol consumption led to the interference of the US government. Denaturing alcohol became a popular practice in the production of alcohol. This meant adding a toxic additive to the alcohol so that the public were deterred from illicit drinking. According to Deborah Blum, a science writer, over 10,000 people were killed during the prohibition due to the toxic effects of denatured alcohol.[9]

Since all activity surrounding alcohol during the prohibition was regarded as illegal, involvement in alcohol became a gateway crime. Although correlation is not causation, there is a clear rise in the number of murders. Not only did the rate of crime increase during the prohibition, but crime also became organised with gangs and mafias becoming more popular in major cities.

1939-2000

The view on alcohol changed when World War II began when 160,00 British soldiers were sent into France[10]. During the early stages of the war, the British Army suffered defeats in almost all combat. This led to a serious downfall in morale. Although most everyday products were rationed during the war, alcohol wasn’t as it was believed that a quick drink before “going over the top” would help steady nerves. Drinks like the classic gin and tonic were praised by Winston Churchill for saving “more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire”.[11]

Although alcohol was used as a stress reliever, there was a fine line between reasonable and immoderate consumption in situations of extreme hazard during the war. The Royal Navy, for example, were in onerous conditions with intrinsic risks whilst convoying through the Arctic and saw a serious increase in the amount of stress-related disorders. [12] A report by the medical officer of HMS Leda accounts that some of the officers and sailors were seeking ‘a means of escape in alcoholic intoxication’ as a way to manage with the unrelenting danger.[13]

There was a serious development in how alcohol was consumed. Generally, alcohol consumption in the wine-producing countries lessened, while the degree of consumption rose in the beer and former spirits countries. The change in how alcohol was consumed is linked to how cities urbanised in the period 1950 to 2000. Thomas Karlsson explains in his journal on the comparison of the two that as the population rose in urban areas in beer and spirit countries, the consumption levels rose. Whereas in the wine countries the consumption levels decreased.[14] This could show that the way that alcohol was drank changed. Wine used to be drank instead of water, which was common practice pre-1900 due to water sanitation, but was now being drank with meals and so less was consumed. Whereas with beer and spirits, the bars became extremely popular. With the increase in population, sport became popular and so drinking before, during and after matches as a spectator became common practice. Heavy drinking was now an inexpensive and accessible act and so the numbers of drunks increased in the streets of European town and cities. Post-war binge drinking was associated with drinking over a couple of days and also with the medical definition of alcoholism. But from the 1950s onwards it was associated with having lots of drinks over a relatively short period of time.

Discussion

What Are The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption On The Human Body?

It is no surprise that alcohol has both a positive and negative health effect on the human body. The UK Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines say that alcohol can cause a large range of health problems, which comprise of cancers of the mouth, breast and throat.[15] This risk increases the more you drink. Therefore, the unfavourable effects health question whether or both alcohol has a place in society. Although there is a negative effect on the body, there also is a positive effect. The Mayo Clinic says that drinking responsibly can reduce the risk of diabetes, ischemic stroke and the development of heart disease.[16] So, on the one hand, alcohol has serious, possibly life-changing effects on the body, yet on the other, it could possibly help prevent very serious disease. Alcoholism can also lead to the development of substance abuse. This mixing of alcohol and drugs and lead to serious health and behavioural complications. Not only can drinking and drugs increase the impact of each substance, but it can also cause dangerous reactions.

Cocaine increases blood pressure, alertness and heart rate. This means that if alcohol is consumed, it is taken up to the brain much faster. Additional dangers include heart attack, overdose or death. Marijuana and alcohol are both depressants. Alcohol can cause vomiting, but when paired with alcohol, this can be reduced meaning the alcohol cannot be removed from the body without being metabolised and so could lead to alcohol poisoning. Alcohol and painkiller are already causing liver damage but when combined, this can lead to serious liver problems and possibly liver disease.

I think the NHS should be more restrictive on how they prescribe medication, and a patient’s drinking routine should be made available to the health services.

What Are The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption The Health System?

One of the biggest negative effects alcohol has had on health has been the huge number of A&E alcohol-related admissions. There are two different measures for alcohol-related admissions – “Narrow Measure” and “Broad Measure”. “Narrow Measure” means that the main cause for admission to hospital was due to alcohol whereas “Broad Measure” means that the main reason for hospital admission or secondary prognosis was related to alcohol. In 2016-2017 there were approximately 337,000 admissions which were “Narrow Measure” and also corresponds to 2.1% of all hospital admissions. On the other hand, there were approximately 1,100,000 admissions which were broad measure. This means that the total expenditure of the NHS on alcohol is roughly £3.5bn/year, or 3.6% of its annual expenses.[17]  Overall, the evidence seems to show that alcohol is having a negative effect on the public health system. Not only with the huge numbers of people being admitted but also for the staff who have to deal with the increasing number of patients being admitted for drug related health problems.

Crime and Society

“Alcohol-related crime” is used to describe, generally, the scale of a crime committed by someone. It is rarely used on a legal basis as there are two different classes of crime when it comes to alcohol – “Alcohol-defined offences” such as drunkenness offences or drink driving and “Offences in which the consumption is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offence” which are usually related to the offender being under the influence of alcohol at the time. These commonly relate to offences where the offender is inebriated, such as assault, breach of peace, criminal damage and other public order offences.[18] For drink driving, one can get 6 months imprisonment, a driving ban of at least 1 year (3 years if the second offence in 10 years), or an unlimited fine. The act of drink driving alone, could cost someone’s life and the Government £17,651 – the cost of keeping a person in jail if they are a category D prisoner.[19] Although breaching of the peace is not a criminal offence, the magistrates’ court can bind someone over to keep the peace for a certain period of time. If this is then broken a financial penalty and or a jail sentence may ensue. A Cabinet Office estimate in 2003 states that alcohol misuse costs the government £11.9bn a year for crime alone.[20]

Not only does alcoholism bear a financial toll, but alcohol abuse can also affect relationships within a family, marriage, the work environment and the larger community. It is not necessarily someone with an addiction to alcohol that has the biggest impact on society. More than 75% of excessive drinking in the US is due to binge drinking. A child growing up with a family member with a drinking problem like binge drinking will more probably develop a drinking problem of themselves. Not only that, they are more likely to develop a mental health problem.[21]

Overall it is clear to see that alcohol-related crime is costing the government too much money and the risk to others that is caused by consuming too much alcohol can be fatal and so I pose the question that is it fair that the government are allowing, not only themselves, but others to be put in an unfavourable situation? I think not.

Economy

With £6.82 per hour as a median hourly wage, the alcohol industry provides some of the lowest paid jobs in the British economy. This is due to jobs in bars and pubs being mostly part time. According to the IAS, only 35% of pub jobs are full time.[22] On the other hand, most alcohol production jobs are well paid, being, on average, above the minimum wage quite considerably. In their report, titled “Splitting the Bill: Alcohol’s Impact on the Economy”, it is stated that alcohol is worth approximately £46 billion per year. This includes imports investment, exports and spending and generates around £11 billion in taxation.[23] There are several companies that distribute alcohol to on-trade and off-trade retailers.  On-trade retailers sell alcohol for consumption at the point of sale, such as pubs and restaurants, whereas off-trade retailers sell alcohol for consumption off of their premises — i.e. supermarkets or specialist alcohol retailers such as Majestic Wine plc. Off-trade retailers make up 70% of UK sales, with supermarkets taking up two-thirds of that, which is half of the total market.[24]

The way that the alcohol industry promotes business is by either trying to prompt more people to drink, by encouraging steeper priced drinks to be bought or to get customers to drink more.

One way of getting more people to drink is to expand globally. “Developing markets remain the engine of volume growth for the global beer industry”.[25] Although corporations say that they abstain from targeting underage drinkers, producing alcoholic products that appeal to the sweeter palettes of younger customers means that the next generation of customers to your company is secured. Companies that manufacture alcoholic beverages clearly need to sell the maximum amount of alcohol as possible, and advertising may be a great way to encourage consumption but targeting underage drinkers could be seen as unethical. I do believe that as producers of a controlled substance, companies have the duty to society to keep with bounds the exposure of their product to certain groups such as young children or underage drinkers.

Alcohol producers try to promote a secure and positive relationship with their customers. By deepening their relationship with existing customers, producers are able to increase the amount of alcohol purchased and consumed. Although this sort of promotion is positive for the major companies, it isn’t positive for someone is struggling from an alcohol addiction. I think that if companies want to advertise their products then they should do so at certain times to ensure that potentially underage customers aren’t enticed into purchasing products. This idea is similar to how betting sites are being asked to reduce the number of betting ads being aired on TV during sports events. Preventing overexposure and the inevitability of giving into the social pressures as a young teenager to drink mean that the impact that alcohol is greatly reduced.

The evidence shows just how beneficial underage drinkers and addicts are to the growth of the alcohol industry and that how unethical the approach is to promoting the consumption of alcohol. Although this is the case, higher tax revenues does benefit the overall economy of the country.

Conclusion

On starting this essay, I knew that it would be entirely unrealistic to come to a single opinion and answer on whether or not criminalisation would benefit society. With previous failures in the criminalisation of alcohol and with data being interpreted and manipulated in so many different ways it was hard to reach a single, clear precise conclusion on a topic so vast with so many differing opinions, views, data and statistics. Despite this, my exploration of the topic has allowed me to construct a personal opinion on how the effect of legislation would effect our society as a whole, and therefore the true benefits and consequences legalisation would have on society if it were made illegal.

The USA didn’t benefit at all during the prohibition in the early 20th century. In fact crime rates rocketed, and not only in alcohol-related offences. Therefore, it seems society would suffer from the criminalisation, not just in higher crime rates, and linked to this, greater number of police hours spent on alcohol related incidents, more drug related arrests, more court and prosecuting time and more money spent of alcohol related charges. Not only that but also more money is spent on prisoners. In health, legalisation could possibly cause a drop in alcohol-related deaths and injuries, meaning that time spent on treating patients would decrease. This would save the NHS money and would be able to boost treatment research in other areas. The gain to society is clear, alcohol has had a major place in our society for millennia. But that is exactly what causes the debate. Alcohol also brings people together. The majority of social events revolve around alcohol.

It would be interesting to see how the future of alcohol in the UK, and in other countries, will pan out. Legalisation is a very extreme approach to tackling the alcohol problem. With current findings being published regularly and with data being readily available to the public, I believe that people should be allowed to make their own judgment on when, where and how much they drink.

Making alcohol illegal would criminalise the majority of our society, running everyday activities underground and possibly becoming a gateway to more serious crimes. Better management would still allow the consumption of alcohol, the growth of a massive industry, while reducing the risk to our bodies, our society and the infrastructure of our health system. Ideas such as non-alcohol areas at sporting events provide a safe area for children to enjoy the sport without it being tarnished by drunkard behaviour and ensure that the reputation of the sport is upheld.

Overall, the conclusion of this study is that the negative effects of prohibiting all aspects of alcohol out way the positive effects the change would have. Having evaluated the medical, social, and economic effects that removing alcohol would have on our daily lives, the decision has its ups and downs. Thus I believe that the main course of action that could be taken if there were to be a serious debate on the possible criminalisation of alcohol:

Better managing how major companies promote alcohol and the way that alcohol is sold at large gatherings of people, such as sporting events. This option would reduce the potential targeting of underage drinkers to ensure the health and wellbeing of the younger people in our society. Also, by reducing the number of areas where alcohol can be sold and consumed at sporting events would reduce the exposure to potential drunkenness and the violence that can come-about from that state. Areas such as non-alcohol areas at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff reduces the risk to children and ensures that they’re not exposed too heavily to alcohol in the early stages of their life.

Evaluation

I have greatly enjoyed writing this EPQ. I have found it to be greatly beneficial to my other studies as it has helped me with my time management, planning, evaluation and research skills. Writing an essay of this size has been great practice for doing similar essays, such as articles for the school’s academic journal. I have acquired many more transferable skills and knowledge which will be of great utility when writing essays or similar projects in the future. Referencing and the bibliography are aspects of an essay that I have only touched upon in a couple of essay previously, and therefore it was hugely beneficial to understand the structure involved in a task such as the EPQ. I found it at times very easy to stick deadlines and was usually on time with tasks. However, towards the end of the EPQ, I found going through and polishing very tedious and I sometime lost the motivation to change and edit minor aspects of my discussion or literature review.

When I initially started this EPQ, I was sitting on the fence on whether alcohol should be illegal, that removing it would cause serious negative effects on society, yet the positive effects would be huge and the money saved from a reduction in alcohol-related crime/health issues. However, I have found through evidence that it is not as clear as a Yes/No question. Not only has this EPQ changed my own personal opinion on the importance of alcohol in our society, it has also made me more interested in the topic.

There are a few aspects where this study could be further explored, countries where the percentage of non-drinkers is much, much higher. This could be done to make a comparison of the effect of alcohol consumption on different societies and whether removing alcohol really would make a difference. With data comparison the essay could portray a more realistic and overall conclusion of the effect of criminalisation rather than the effect on a single country. All these possibilities for further research would provide me with he opportunity of greater understanding of the true effects of criminalising alcohol in a major economy.

This project only scratches the surface on the effect of alcohol on our bodies and our society, and could’ve been expanded much more detail in areas of crime, economy and health, further research perhaps with more sections such cultural, educational, and political impacts all could’ve been explored. This would’ve allowed me to have a much deeper and diverse understanding on a larger scope of benefits or consequences to society. However, when concluding my initial research for my topic, I found it very hard to find a reliable source and substantial evidence to prove points. This narrowed the scope of the project for me to one or two reputable sources, and then using the source they provide in their documentation online. This was one of my main issues with the EPQ. I found it at times difficult to write as the topic I chose is so vast, and there was a lot of conflicting information of similar topics which then meant that the data that was provided was skewed, but at the same time, a huge lack of information on other, more diverse aspects such as cultural or political impacts.

Bibliography

1.  CNN/ORC Poll. (Alcohol prohibition) January 7, 2014. Available at: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/07/cnn.orc.poll.marijuana.1-7.pdf
2. drinkaware.co.uk.  Alcohol Consumption UK. Available at: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/data/consumption-uk/
3. Constitution.laws.com. 18th Amendment – constitution | Laws.com. Available at: https://constitution.laws.com/american-history/constitution/constitutional-amendments/18th-amendment
4. Mark Thornton, The Economics of Prohibition, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991.
5.  The Chemical Company. Methanol – The Chemical Company. Available at: https://thechemco.com/chemical/methanol/
6. Korabathina, K. Methanol Toxicity: Background, Etiology and Pathophysiology. Emedicine.medscape.com. Available at: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1174890-overview
7.  Blum, D. The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. 1st ed. Penguin Press.
8.  OUPblog. Everything you ever wanted to know about Prohibition | OUPblog. Available at: https://blog.oup.com/2011/10/prohibition/ .
9. B Blum, D. The Chemist’s War. Slate Magazine. Available at: https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-little-told-story-of-how-the-u-s-government-poisoned-alcohol-during-prohibition.html
10. En.wikipedia.org. British Army during the Second World War. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army_during_the_Second_World_War#1939%E2%80%931940
11. Monthly, M. War Culture – Military Drinking. Military History Monthly. Available at: https://www.military-history.org/articles/war-culture-military-drinking.html
12. Jones, E. &Greenberg, N. (2006). Royal Naval Psychiatry: Organisation, methods and outcomes 1900 – 1945. Mariner’s Mirror, 92, 190 – 203
13.  Coulter, J.L.S. (1956). The Royal Naval Medical Service Volume II Operations. London: HMSO
14. Karlsson, T. and Simpura, J., 2001. Changes in living conditions and their links to alcohol consumption and drinking patterns in 16 European countries, 1950 to 2000. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 18(1_suppl), pp.82-99.
15. Drinkaware.co.uk UK alcohol guidelines : the Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking recommendations. Available at: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcoholic-drinks-units/latest-uk-alcohol-unit-guidance
16. Mayo Clinic. (2019). Alcohol in moderation: How many drinks is that? Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/alcohol/art-20044551
17. Arnett, G. and Robineau, D.  Alcohol and the NHS – five key questions. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2016/jan/22/alcohol-and-the-nhs-five-key-questions
18. Ias.org.uk. Alcohol-related crime in the UK – what do we know? – IAS. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/Alcohol-knowledge-centre/Crime-and-social-impacts/Factsheets/Alcohol-related-crime-in-the-UK-what-do-we-know.aspx
19. Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/563326/costs-per-place-cost-per-prisoner-2015-16.pdf
20. Ias.org.uk. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/factsheets/fs%20economic%20impacts%20042016%20webres.pdf
21. Verywell Mind. How Alcoholism Affects Society. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/impact-on-society-63268
22. Ias.org.uk. What is the economic contribution of the alcohol industry? – IAS. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/Alcohol-knowledge-centre/The-alcohol-industry/Factsheets/What-is-the-economic-contribution-of-the-alcohol-industry.aspx#_ednref4
23. Bhattacharya, A. Splitting the bill: Alcohol’s impact on the economy. London: Institute of Alcohol Studies
24. NHS Health Scotland. MESAS monitoring report 2017. Available at: http://www.healthscotland.scot/publications/mesas-monitoring-report-2017
25. SABMiller. Annual report 2013. Available at: http://bit.ly/1tgtv2i

[1] CNN/ORC Poll. (Alcohol prohibition) January 7, 2014. Available at: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/07/cnn.orc.poll.marijuana.1-7.pdf

This source could be reliable as the margin of sampling error is ±3%, but then only 1010 people were interviewed.

[2] drinkaware.co.uk.  Alcohol Consumption UK. Available at: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/data/consumption-uk/

The source used could be unreliable as it is used to promote the negative effects that alcohol has and so could be exaggerated as a deterrent.

[3] Constitution.laws.com. 18th Amendment – constitution | Laws.com. Available at: https://constitution.laws.com/american-history/constitution/constitutional-amendments/18th-amendment

I was unable to verify the sources used by this website and so questioned the reliability. This led to me cross-referencing with wikipedia to ensure that the source was correct.

[4] Mark Thornton, The Economics of Prohibition, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991

I was unable to verify this source but the author of the paper is an expert in this field and so I feel like it is possible for the source to be reliable and factually correct.

[5] The Chemical Company. Methanol – The Chemical Company. Available at: https://thechemco.com/chemical/methanol/

This source is reliable, as when I cross referenced the information with other sources such as wikipedia, the information was present in these sources too.

[6] Korabathina, K. Methanol Toxicity: Background, Etiology and Pathophysiology. Emedicine.medscape.com. Available at: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1174890-overview

This source is reliable, as when I cross referenced the information with other sources such as wikipedia, the information was present in these sources too.

[7] Blum, D. The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. 1st ed. Penguin Press.

This source is mostly accurate but there is some poetic license to ensure that the book is engaging to all audiences, so this should be taken into consideration.

[8] OUPblog. Everything you ever wanted to know about Prohibition | OUPblog. Available at: https://blog.oup.com/2011/10/prohibition/ .

This source is reliable, as when I cross referenced the information with other sources such as wikipedia, the information was present in these sources too.

[9] Blum, D. The Chemist’s War. Slate Magazine. Available at: https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-little-told-story-of-how-the-u-s-government-poisoned-alcohol-during-prohibition.html

This source is reliable as cross-referencing has done in the body of the article.

[10] En.wikipedia.org. British Army during the Second World War. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army_during_the_Second_World_War#1939%E2%80%931940

This source is reliable as the page uses over 250 sources.

[11] Monthly, M. War Culture – Military Drinking. Military History Monthly. Available at: https://www.military-history.org/articles/war-culture-military-drinking.html

It is hard to determine whether this source is reliable and accurate as no sources are included at the end of the article.

[12] Jones, E. &Greenberg, N. (2006). Royal Naval Psychiatry: Organisation, methods and outcomes 1900 – 1945. Mariner’s Mirror, 92, 190 – 203

This source is reliable as it isn’t speculative, and the research has been done by various universities, ensuring the accuracy of this source.

[13] Coulter, J.L.S. (1956). The Royal Naval Medical Service Volume II Operations. London: HMSO

This book explores the history of how medical staff worked on naval ships, and what they encountered. The book contains Government published official histories and so will be accurate.

[14] Karlsson, T. and Simpura, J., 2001. Changes in living conditions and their links to alcohol consumption and drinking patterns in 16 European countries, 1950 to 2000. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 18(1_suppl), pp.82-99.

According to the document, some data was unavailable about certain countries, and so this could slightly skew the general trend, meaning that the source is potentially inaccurate.

[15]Drinkaware.co.uk UK alcohol guidelines : the Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking recommendations. Available at: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/alcoholic-drinks-units/latest-uk-alcohol-unit-guidance

Similar to source 2, this source used could be unreliable as it is used to promote the negative effects that alcohol has and so could be exaggerated as a deterrent.

[16] Mayo Clinic. (2019). Alcohol in moderation: How many drinks is that? Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/alcohol/art-20044551

There are no sources or data present on the page to back up the claims on this website, but when researching, severals sources do compliment the content of this page.

[17] Arnett, G. and Robineau, D.  Alcohol and the NHS – five key questions. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2016/jan/22/alcohol-and-the-nhs-five-key-questions

As this source is a newspaper, it is open to some bias, but reliably uses credible sources, such as gov.uk.

[18] Ias.org.uk. Alcohol-related crime in the UK – what do we know? – IAS. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/Alcohol-knowledge-centre/Crime-and-social-impacts/Factsheets/Alcohol-related-crime-in-the-UK-what-do-we-know.aspx

The organisation where this article originates, specialises in alcohol studies and uses several sources to back up the content of the article and so is reliable.

[19]Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/563326/costs-per-place-cost-per-prisoner-2015-16.pdf

This is an official government document and therefore it is safe to assume that it is reliable.

[20] Ias.org.uk. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/factsheets/fs%20economic%20impacts%20042016%20webres.pdf

The organisation where this article originates, specialises in alcohol studies and uses several sources to back up the content of the article and so is reliable.

[21] Verywell Mind. How Alcoholism Affects Society. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/impact-on-society-63268

I am unable to find any data to back up what has been said in this source, but I do believe that the article explains everything logically and clearly and is not trying to hide or create facts about what is being said.

[22] Ias.org.uk. What is the economic contribution of the alcohol industry? – IAS. Available at: http://www.ias.org.uk/Alcohol-knowledge-centre/The-alcohol-industry/Factsheets/What-is-the-economic-contribution-of-the-alcohol-industry.aspx#_ednref4

The organisation where this article originates, specialises in alcohol studies and uses several sources to back up the content of the article and so is reliable.

[23] Bhattacharya, A. Splitting the bill: Alcohol’s impact on the economy. London: Institute of Alcohol Studies

This document is again published by the IAS and so I believe that the content of the article is reliable.

[24] NHS Health Scotland. MESAS monitoring report 2017. Available at: http://www.healthscotland.scot/publications/mesas-monitoring-report-2017

This is from the NHS and so will be factually correct, and so reliable.

[25] SABMiller. Annual report 2013. Available at: http://bit.ly/1tgtv2i