Is Iowa City's "Stepping Up Project" going to reduce the harm from local alcohol consumption?  Not unless we all confront the seriousness of the problem.
 
  Why is it we talk about "responsible drinking," but not about "responsible heroin use"?

  Why is our concern about alcohol limited to "binge" drinking, when our concern about cocaine seems focused on much smaller quantities?

  When was the last time you heard a teacher, or parent, counseling a youngster, "Social glue sniffing is OK, Johnny, but I don't want to see you abusing it or sniffing alone."

Why the difference?  Alcohol is the hard drug used by respectable people like you and me.

But respectability doesn't change the fact that, by any conceivable measure, alcohol is our nation's -- and Iowa City's -- number one hard drug.

The harm it causes is far more serious than that from all other drugs combined.  It's long past time we stopped the hypocrisy and started treating it as such.

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• Health.  Alcohol is a poison.  Unlike the more benign drug, heroin, it can cause permanent damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems.  Withdrawal from alcohol, and its delirium tremens, can kill.

In fact, complications from alcohol are a leading cause of death.  It doesn't take "binge" drinking during pregnancy to cause physical and mental retardation to an unborn child.
 

• Economic impact.  The losses to American business from absenteeism, the property damage, and other economic losses are estimated to be well in excess of $100 billion a year.

The effects of alcohol cost the average Iowan $1000 a year in excess health, auto and property insurance premiums and property taxes.
 
• Crime.  If you're concerned about the misery and costs of crime, you have to be concerned about alcohol.

The numbers vary, but it's involved in between one-third to one-half of all homicides, suicides, robberies, rapes (date and stranger), and the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of wives and children.

The costs of keeping over one million Americans in prison are staggering.  Roughly half are there, at least in part, because of alcohol.  Every crime reported in the April 27 Press-Citizen "police blotter" report involved alcohol.

So hats off to Iowa City's "Stepping Up Project," and its chair, Carolyn Cavitt, and coordinator Julie Phye.  A round of applause for the contributions of the panelists -- Jim Clayton, Mary Sue Coleman, Dale Helling, Allison Miller, Art Schut, and Jodie Theobald -- who led the discussion at the Project's "Town Meeting" April 27.

But I question how much success is possible when the mission statement speaks of "expectations for responsible drinking," and a purpose "to reduce binge drinking."  Reduce?  How about "eliminate"?  And that's before the compromising even begins.

I am skeptical that effective coalitions to reform alcohol abuse can include bar owners and others who profit from the sale of alcohol in Iowa City.

Meaningful progress in social change requires the fearless ability to pick one's enemies with as much care as one's friends.

We're talking a multi-billion-dollar industry and a mass media -- local as well as national -- that surrounds us all with the joys of alcohol consumption in story lines, product placement and commercials.

Maybe we don't really care.  Maybe we care, but we don't want to rock the boat that sails on a sea of alcohol.  Maybe we just want the "feel good" sensation that we are "doing something."

If we do want more, there are strategies that might work.  But I'm afraid that any noticeable reduction in Iowa City's alcohol consumption is going to require much more toughness than all the civility I heard at the town meeting.