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>But many have poked some good holes in the general classification of alcoholism as a disease. With many diseases, medical science can measure/observe characteristics, symptoms, physical anomalies, etc early in the process. There's far less empirical data when it comes to alcoholism - too much of the diagnosis comes after the fact. Big difference.
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>If I smoke a ton of cigarettes for years or drink excessively or if I eat 100 cheeseburgers a day for the next year or if I expose myself to a huge amount of radiation, odds are quite strong that I'll develop severe medical conditions. It's a different story with alcoholics - there is far more guesswork on whether someone will become an alcoholic in the future.
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>Bottom line, it's problematic to generally assess alcoholism as a disease.

There is some empirical data linking a tendency toward alcoholism to genetic factors:

http://niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-use-disorders/genetics-alcohol-use-disorders

Reading further I noted that the likelihood that a native American will have a traffic death related to alcohol is twice that of the rest of the US population.