The American Association for the Study and Cure of Inebriety (AASCI) was founded in New York City. It was on November 29, 1870. Fourteen doctors, trustees, and heads of the six homes and asylums for inebriates. (These were all known to exist.) They convened and formed the group. The name was almost identical. It was changed in 1888 by adding “the Study and.”

The members adopted the following set of principles.

1. 1. Intemperance is a disease.
   2. It can be cured.
   3. Its major cause is a physical susceptibility to alcohol.
   4. This susceptibility may be either inherited or acquired.
   5. In excessive quantity, alcohol is a poison. It is this effect that causes inebriety.
   6. There is a great demand for treatment facilities.
   7. Every large city and every state should have at least one treatment facility.
   8. The law should treat intemperance as a disease. Inebriates should not be fined or jailed.

Quarterly Journal of Inebriety

In 1876, the Association began the Quarterly Journal of Inebriety. In 1907 it became the Journal of Inebriety. It published articles on a wide variety of topics. The Journal included “descriptions and reports of asylums and laws controlling them.” It also had ads for treatment facilities. But most were scientific papers and reviews on the medical treatment of alcoholism. Over 90% of the articles were written by doctors.

Editor

The editor, Dr. T.D. Crothers, rejected any submission he considered to be disguised ads. He also insisted that the Journal not take positions on the temperance and prohibition debates that were raging. Crothers served as editor for 38 years until its demise in 1914. By 1891, over 2,000 doctors subscribed to the Journal. In 1893, it published some of its major papers under the title The Disease of Inebriety and Its Treatment.

The AASCI generally used the term inebriety. But the terms alcoholism and dipsomania were also common. This is reflected in the titles of some of the books authored by members. The Treatment Dipsomania or Drinking Insanity  by Alexander Peddie. Alcoholism and Its Treatment by J.E. Usher, And The Disease of Inebriety by T.D. Crothers.

In 1903, the Association passed a resolution. It stated that it was the duty of legislatures to both build and encourage the construction of hospitals for the “detention and treatment of inebriates.”

The next year the group merged with the American Medical Temperance Association to create the American Medical Society for the Study of Alcohol and Other Narcotics.

American Association for the Study and Cure of Inebriety

Resources

• • Blumberg L. The AASCI.  Alco Clin Exp Res, 2(3), 235-40.
  • AASCI. In: Cherrington, E. (Ed.) Book of the Alcohol Problem. V. 1, pp. 151-152.
  • Levine H. The discovery of addiction. J Stud Alco, 39, 143-74
  • Malleck, D. AASCI. In: Blocker, J. et al. (Eds.)  Alcohol and Temp, pp. 38-39.
  • AASCI. In: Padwa, H., and Cunningham, J. (Eds.) Addiction, pp. 68-70.
  • Weiner, B., and White,W. The Journal of Inebriety (1876-1914). Addict, 102(1), 15-23.
  • White W.  Slaying the Dragon.