WHEREAS, Millions in our society are now tragically addicted to alcohol and other habit-forming drugs, and
WHEREAS, The most widely abused drug, alcohol, has not received the urgent attention needed to prevent its epidemic abuse in our society, and
WHEREAS, July 17, 1971, the Congressional Record states: “It is estimated that there are nine million alcoholics and problem drinkers in the nation. A total of 36 million Americans or approximately one in every six is adversely affected. Alcoholism and alcohol related problems cause more than 85,000 deaths annually. More than 50 percent of persons age 15 and older killed on the highway each year have alcohol in their blood at the time of the accident. One third of all deaths reported as suicide are known to be alcohol related and one-half of all homicides are also alcohol related. In conservative economic terms alcoholism costs the nation over 15 billion dollars per year–10 billion dollars in lost work time, two billion in health and welfare costs, three billion in traffic accident costs . . .,” and
WHEREAS, The effect of alcohol and drugs on increased crime, necessity of abortions, broken homes, increased cost of automobile and hospital insurance is evident, and
WHEREAS, There are many things now being done by government, industry, and the business community to combat the evils of alcohol and drugs,
Therefore, be it RESOLVED, that we commend American business, industry, and government for increasing numbers of programs designed to educate their employees and families on the dangers of alcohol and drugs, and
Be it further RESOLVED, that we call on the surgeon general of the United States and other government officials to use their full resources to focus now on the problem of alcohol abuse with even more intensity and greater urgency than that given in recent years to the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and
Be it further RESOLVED, that we call Southern Baptists to work as citizens for better education in our homes, our churches, the mass media, and the teaching institutions of our society, and
Be it further RESOLVED, that we support more effective rehabilitation of addicts through appropriate agencies in our society.