ncreasing problems in the lives closest to them. Alcohol addicts its victims both psychologically and physically. As the psychological addiction progresses, so does the physical dependency as well. Alcohol is consisted of both ethyl and methyl alcohol. The ethyl alcohol is what gives a person “feel good”. Ethyl alcohol is quickly absorbed into the blood stream. Methyl alcohol is similar to embalming fluid, takes longer to breakdown and is responsible for the morning after “hangover”. The traditional “cure” for a hangover is to have another drink. Drinking more slows down the methyl alcohol while the body absorbs the ethyl alcohol, resulting in the person feeling good temporarily. The research that has been reviewed for this paper has utilized the Vietnam Era Twin, (VET), Registry consisting 3356 pairs of male twins. These twins were born between January 1, 1939 and December 31, 1955 and served in the military on active duty during the Vietnam War era (1965-1975). This follows a previously published study by Swan, Carmelli & Cardon (1996), which reported a genetic correlation between smoking and alcohol consumption in male American World War Two veteran twins. In a study of female twins, Prescott and Kendler (1995) found that family system dynamics contributed modestly to nicotine and alcohol dependence with only small genetic influences common to both substances. Three sources of influence in this more recent study that accounted for individual difference are genetic effects or experiences and separate or different environmental effects. Shared environmental effects may be exposure family drinking and or smoking, going to same schools and living in the same neighborhood. These individuals who met criteria for nicotine and alcohol had an onset of this dependence at an average age of 17.1 years for nicotine and 20.4 years for alcohol. Those individuals with nicotine dependence, 50.9 percent met the cri...
