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Alcoholism the scourge of hundreds of thousands of homes in Kenya, killing countless of its citizens, yet a disease which though everybody seems able to quantify its moral, social, economic consequences, none seem able to define.

The myths and stories which surround it are myriad and as assorted as the different brand names though basically there are only two types of alcohol methyl alcohol (methanol) and ethyl alcohol (ethanol) with methanol when added to your kumi-kumi causing blindness, coma, even death and ethanol the one in your beers, wines and spirits.

To understand the disease, one must understand the substance alcohol, an oddball combination of food, chemical and drug capable of creating exquisite pain or pleasure. Ethanol is made by fermentation i.e. yeast, a fungus with a hunger for sugars found in food grains, fruits, berries and other plant materials, eats them and releases an enzyme which converts the sugars into alcohol

Because yeast expires when alcohol concentration reaches 13 or 14 percent, natural fermentation stops at this point. Distillation which was discovered in Arabia is the art which continues the process where the yeast leaves off ('alcohol' is derived from the Arabic 'alkuhl' meaning essence.) The percentage of alcohol in distilled liquors is commonly expressed in degrees 'proof' rather than as a percentage of pure alcohol. This measure developed in the seventeenth century from the English custom of 'proving' that an alcoholic drink was of sufficient strength by mixing it with gunpowder and attempting to ignite it. If the drink contained 49 percent alcohol by weight or 57 percent by volume it could be ignited.

Proof is approximately double the percentage of pure alcohol. Thus 100 proof whiskey is 50 percent pure alcohol; an 86 proof whiskey is 43 percent alcohol.

Since alcohol is a derivative of sugar, and sugars can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream without any chemical change, i.e. without digestion it is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Once in the body, it is carried to wherever the blood goes and thus in a healthy person weighing about 70 KGs, the blood circulates throughout the body in about 30 seconds. That means that within thirty seconds the alcohol will have passed throughout your fingers, heart, liver, brain, earlobes, -everywhere! You now have alcohol in your body. Let us begin our journey into alcoholism.

With all the stories that abound and the dozens of articles that have been written, none seems to answer clearly the seemingly simple question namely, what is alcoholism? Yet every Onyango, Koech and Mwangi can tell you what an alcoholic is and they usually use one word, mlevi! kiswahili for drunkard. So just what definition falls under mlevi?

Well there is drunkard, irresponsible, a person who spends all his time in the bar, broke, unkempt, no fixed abode, a conman, shiftless, vagabond, jailbird ad infinitum and they all fall under mlevi. So is this an alcoholic or are these merely manifestations of alcoholism or alcoholic behavior?

Alcoholism as defined by The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is "a chronic illness characterized by the habitual consumption of alcohol to a degree that interferes with physical or mental health or with normal social or occupational behavior". In simple terms you drink all the time until it interferes with your health and social and work relationships. Thus you become a mlevi.

But what causes it and why is it that the vast majority can drink socially once in a while but yet for the minority they become alcoholic such that they constantly think about and crave alcohol? Why is that some people can drink and go home while others come to drink in the bars which then become their homes? There are several reasons advanced ranging from physiological (body): hereditary (runs in families or particular ethnic groups); bio-chemical imbalance - too much of one thing? Not enough of another? liver defects. Psychological (mind and will): guilt, stress, resentment and socio-cultural: peer pressure, problem drinking in the home and soon. But some of these 'causes' could be effect. We do not know.

But one thing we do know. ALCOHOL DOES NOT CAUSE ALCOHOLISM. If that were the case anyone who drank alcohol would became alcoholic. So where are we? Let us first then try to define an alcoholic.

According to Dr. Fred Owiti, of Arrow Medical Center, who is a consultant psychiatrist an alcoholic is someone who is controlled by alcohol but denies it. He goes on to state that alcoholism is a much bigger problem than drugs in this country bar the fact that alcohol is socially acceptable. Dr Owiti further acknowledges that there are a lot of myths and beliefs about alcohol not based on scientific fact.

Mr. Joseph Jangima, General Manager of Dutote Promotions an, advertising, marketing and public relations firm in Nairobi says an alcoholic "is a person who is always drinking alcohol and is always drunk. He has too much alcohol in his blood and in some cases may not function well without taking alcohol. One becomes alcoholic by increasing his alcohol intake to such an extent that he becomes addicted, or rather cannot do without alcohol."

Dr Max Okonji who is a consultant psychiatrist at the Chiromo Lane Medical Center defines an alcoholic as "a person whose dependence on alcohol has major effect on his mental, physical and social life and he/she cannot perform in the absence of alcohol." As to some of the myths about alcohol he says that certain communities believe that alcohol can cure some diseases e.g. measles. Dr.Okonji believes that thousands of deaths as a result of alcoholism are wrongly attributed to other causes such as heart failure, liver failure, accidents etc. Supporting this view on wrongly attributed deaths and myths, is Ms. Joyce Fiodembo a counselor in Nairobi who also counsels among others, alcoholics. She points out that a common myth about alcoholism is that one is demonic or is bewitched.

In his book ‘Under The Influence, a guide to the myths and realities of alcoholism,’ Dr. James R. Milam gives some of the myths as;

• Myth; alcohol is an addictive drug and anyone who drinks long and hard enough will become addicted.
• Reality; Alcohol is only selectively addictive to a minority of its users namely, alcoholics. Most people can drink occasionally even heavily without becoming addicted to alcohol. Others (alcoholics) will become addicted no matter how much they drink. Myth; people become alcoholics because they have psychological or emotional problems which they try to relieve by drinking.
• Reality; Alcoholics have the same psychological and emotional problems like everyone else before they start drinking. The only thing is the addiction to alcohol aggravates these problems. Alcoholism he says undermines and weakens the alcoholic’s ability to cope with the normal problems of living. Furthermore the alcoholics emotions become inflamed both when he drinks excessively and when he stops drinking. Thus when he is drinking and when he is abstinent, he will feel angry fearful and depressed in exaggerated degrees.
• Myth; when an alcoholic is drinking he reveals his true personality.
• Reality; Alcohol’s effect on the brain causes severe psychological and emotional distortions of the normal personality. Sobriety reveals the alcoholic’s true personality.
• Myth; if people would only drink responsibly, they would not become alcoholics.

Continues next week

David Ogot snr. is a freelance journalist/producer with personal experience with alcoholism. He can be reached at goinghomedotcom@yahoo.com website: www.goinghomekenya.org