Is it a new trend? No. Alcohol has been a part of the lives of people for centuries. Its uses vary from "worship ceremonies," to "magic and medicine," to celebration of "births, marriages, and initiations." Like today, centuries ago people found drinking a delightful custom, however, intoxication has always caused social difficulty. One of the earliest records of alcohol regulation recovered is in Egyptian "temperance tract" which states
             Take not upon thyself to drink a jug of beer. Thou speakest, and an unintelligible utterance issueth from thy mouth. If thou fallest down and thy limbs break, there is none to hold out a hand to thee. Thy companions in drink stand up and say: "Away with this sot." And thou art like a little child.
             The use of alcohol is thought to have been first present among European culture and was later introduced to America during the years of colonization. Americans soon found drinking to be a "pleasant custom" and often centered their lives around alcohol; it became part of " the social fabric of colonial America." In the past, people did not know what 'alcoholism' was; therefore, they would go on abusing alcohol without giving it much thought. This abuse of drinking resulted in problems for those who drank and the people around them.
             The earliest found manuscript where the smoking of tobacco is documented is in Mayan archives which date back to prehistoric times. With the discovery of the New World, the explorers became exposed to tobacco, a plant that had been smoked for years by the Indians of North America. Columbus and the colonizers from Spain, found it strange that the Indians were "putting little rolls of dry leaves in their mouths and then setting them afire." During the period of inquisition, it was first introduced to the European culture as a medicine brought to Europe by explorers. Subsequently, during the next few centuries, tobacco plantations grew everywhere a...