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JAMA. 1984;252(14):1829-1830.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In New York City bars, restaurants, and liquor stores, signs have been going up: "Drinking Alcoholic Beverages During Pregnancy Can Cause Birth Defects." They were posted following the passage of a city ordinance and are a measure of the change that has taken place in the past 15 years toward the problems associated with drinking.

As recently as the late 1960s, alcoholism was a neglected disorder, the whole issue was shrouded in disapproval, hospitals would refuse to admit alcoholic persons as patients, and they were often regarded as sinners or weaklings. Nearly half of all arrests, other than for traffic offenses, were for drunkenness.

Then in 1966, in a case involving a homeless person classified as an "alcoholic" who was jailed for being drunk in public, the US Court of Appeals held that alcoholism is involuntary. Thus, persons said to be "alcoholic" are patients with a disease, not people who . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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