By DON LANDGRAFF Patriot Staff Writer

By DON LANDGRAFF
Patriot Staff Writer

Most alcoholics are intelligent individuals who act like anybody else -- when they're sober. Why, then, do they drink? That's the 64 Proof question.
Alcoholics Anonymous say: "With an alcoholic, the compulsion to drink is so subtly powerful that, in most cases, not even the fear of death or the threat of insanity can break it. And one drink sets up a craving that only more drinking can appease."

AMOUNT DOESN'T COUNT
One thing is certain. It isn't the amount a person drinks that makes him an alcoholic.
State-supported studies at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health showed that one man was an alcoholic on seven beers a day, while another consumed 2 1/2 fifths of whisky and 20 beers each day.
For the recovered alcoholic, there is no turning back to normal, social drinking. Alcoholism is 'a disease' which cannot be cured. It can only be arrested.

CHANCES GETTING BETTER
   In Pennsylvania, an alcoholic's chances for recovery are getting' better — in spite of the General Assembly.
    The state stepped into the fray in 1953, when the General Assembly passed Act 338.
    This act required the Department of Health to establish a Division of Alcoholic Studies and Rehabilitation to, "(1) study the problem of alcoholism; (2) treat and rehabilitate persons addicted to excessive use of alcoholic beverages, and (3) promote preventive and educational programs designed to eliminate alcoholism."
    Act 338 also appropriated $500,000 for the 1953-55 biennium to carry out this three-fold attack.

50 PCT. FOR RESEARCH
   Fifty per cent of this original appropriation was allocated to research projects at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia General Hospital.
    Five counseling centers for alcoholics were set up. And in September, 1954, a 28-bed rehabilitation center was opened at Clark's Summit State Hospital, near Scranton
    For the 1955-57 biennium, the General Assembly appropriated $748,800 For the state’s program
amount --- $750,000 -------several words missing ------(It must have said something like) - For the 1957-59 biennium, the Department requested $750,000, but the General Assembly slashed the request to $500,000. And the Department of Health's program lost speed.

FOUR CENTERS
Today, there are four counseling centers in the state — at Philadelphia, Allentown, Harrisburg (305 N. Second St.) and York. (218 E. Market St.). Recently, plans were approved for another at St. Vincent's General Hospital in Erie. Each center is staffed with specially trained personnel, including a physician and a psychiatric social worker.
Earlier this year, the rehabilitation center was moved from Clark's Summit to Danville State Hospital. And the capacity was increased from 28 to 50 beds.

1,518 GIVEN HELP
   Last year, 1,518 persons were given help at the counseling centers.
    During the 3 1/2 years that the state operated the rehabilitation center at Clark's Summit, about 200 persons were treated there.
    At present, 37 men and 13 women are receiving help at Danville.
    There are 333,450 alcoholics in the state.
    About 300 of Dauphin County's 4,172 alcoholics are receiving help at the counseling center on N. Second St.
    Dr. Charles L. Wilbar Jr., State Secretary of Health, estimates that Alcoholics Anonymous, physicians and private clinics are assisting an additional 1500.

SOME DO NOT SEEK AID
   The remainder are receiving no assistance, because they fail to recognize themselves as alcoholics, or do not seek aid.
    When the General Assembly slashed the 1957-59 appropriations, it killed the rehabilitation program for alcoholics at the Philadelphia General Hospital – a program which was financed in most part by an annual state grant. It also eliminated plans for a new rehabilitation center at Pittsburgh.
    Laurence H. Eldredge, chairman of the board of directors of Pennsylvania Alcoholic Study, Inc. recently said: "Philadelphia Program for the rehabilitation of alcoholics has collapsed, and the program in other parts of the state faces further future impairment.”
    "The Legislature's disregard of the Commonwealth's strong moral obligation to alcoholics is difficult to understand. "The Commonwealth makes a profit of more than $70,000,000 a year out of selling liquor, but uses less than one per cent of these profits to reduce alcoholism and repair the human wreckage resulting from it."

LITERATURE DISTRIBUTED
In the education phase of its assault on alcoholism, the Health Department is distributing some excellent literature. One of the pamphlets — "Am I a Problem Drinker?" contains a list of nine questions which every drinker is urged to answer.
They are:
1. Do you take an occasional drink?
2. Do you drink by yourself if moody or depressed?
3. Do you sneak extra drinks at a party to "keep up" with the crowd?
4. Are you willing to take a day off from work to satisfy your desire for drink?
5. Would you find it hard to abstain for a week at a time?
6. Do you ever draw a blank as a result of drinking?
7. Do you become quarrelsome or unreasonable after a few drinks?
8. Do you drink to blot out reality?
9. After a night of drinking, do you resort to an eye-opener the next morning?

If you answer six or more of these questions affirmatively, you should discuss your drinking habits with your doctor or visit a state counseling center..
You may be an alcoholic.