Another price of alcohol is family abuse, wife beating, child abuse, child neglect, incest, and child molestation. There are hundreds of thousands of known cases a year, and there are many that have not been reported. It has been estimated that there are 100,000 cases of incest each year, and it is shown that of those cases, many of those are a higher proportion of alcoholics and drinkers at the time of the offense.

So, there’s no argument against the fact that alcohol produces violence. Drunken husbands frequently hurt or abuse their wives. Most battered wives agree that their husbands had been drinking before they physically assaulted them or their children. Many have been permanently scarred both in body and mind. Sometimes a parent will batter his child even when he’s too drunk to know what he’s doing. Even when there is no abuse, there is a huge financial burden of about 2-3 thousand dollars a year on the family that is consumed by alcohol, which can strain the marital relation, destroy families, and is a major cause of divorce.

Then there’s crime. One study reports that 43% of heavy users of alcohol reported physical fights occurring because of drinking. Of 395 criminal homicides in this study, they found that alcohol was present over half the time. Another study claims that 80% of those in prison are there due to alcohol related crimes. There’s a lot of different studies and a lot of different numbers, but all the numbers are 50% or higher.

Violent behavior attributed to alcohol abuse accounts for 62% of murders, 41% of assaults, 34% of rapes, 29% of other sex crimes, 30% of suicides, 56% of fights and assaults in the home and 60% of child abuse in the United States, according to the National Council on Alcoholism.

If there was anything else causing these statistics besides alcohol, there would be a national outcry. Instead, people merely turn away. Other times, people get upset when alcohol is preached against. Christian, we cannot have any part of something that is tearing families apart.