Should alcoholism be treated as a criminal problem?

We tried that once. It was called "prohibition".

Didn't work out so well.

"Liberal" is correct - we tried that once, and it failed. The same thing is happening now with the "War on Drugs," and just like Prohibition, it's failing dismally.

Addiction/alcoholism is a medical issue, not a criminal issue. Alcoholism is even listed as a medical diagnosis in the DSM-IV. So is drug addiction, but you can see that the two different approaches point out which model works better - the "disease" theory, or the "criminal" theory. Alcoholics get treatment while retaining their freedom. But because we incarcerate drug offenders for mere possession, our prisons are bursting at the seams. The US imprisons more of its own citizens than any other country on earth! There is no room to add alcoholics to the prison rolls.

That's not to say that people should be excused for commiting crimes under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Basically, if you deprive someone of life, liberty or property, that is a crime and should be treated as such! You should investigate the difference between "malum in se" and "malum prohibitum" crimes. That will help you understand why criminalizing substance-abuse problems always fails, and does nothing but create corruption and overloaded prisons.

In your lifetime drunk drivers (many are not alcoholics) will kill about a 1/2 million people.

A lot of folks in jail have substance abuse problems.

It's just a chronic waste of life.

There are substance abuse problems all over the world.

This is one problems that "cures" itself: many will never see retirement age.

(Michigan, for example is trying to promote manufacture and sale of "hard liquors" to create 2000 new jobs.)

It should be a social problem and never an excuse for criminal behavior.

It is not against the law to be a drunk. It is against the law to drive drunk, be drunk and disruptive, drink under age, etc. If someone wants to stay drunk and they don't endanger others (or themselves) or cause a disturbance while doing it then there is no law they can be arrested for.

alcoholism is a disease