The First Surgeon General's Report

In 1782, Benjamin Rush, prominent physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Surgeon General of the United States, wrote a seventeen-page medical paper on our condition entitled, "The Effects of Ardent Spirits on the Human Body and Mind." In it, he terms alcoholism "a progressive and odious disease" and urges complete abstinence as the only effective treatment. The paper was widely circulated and well-received, becoming a cornerstone document of the Temperance Movement. Yet, the points he made for abstinence from alcohol as the treatment for a progressive disease seem to have been often forgotten and frequently challenged.