Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol Abuse Essay Alcohol Abuse Essay Alcohol is liquid distilled product of fermented fruits, grains and vegetables used as solvent, antiseptic and sedative moderate potential for abuse. Possible effects are intoxication, sensory alteration, and/or anxiety reduction. Symptoms of overdose staggering, odour of alcohol on breath, loss of coordination, slurred speech, dilated pupils, fetal alcohol syndrome (in babies), and/or nerve and liver damage. Withdrawal Syndrome is first sweating, tremors, then altered perception, followed by psychosis, fear, and finally auditory hallucinations. Indications of possible mis-use are confusion, disorientation, loss of motor nerve control, convulsions, shock, shallow respiration, involuntary defecation, drowsiness, respiratory depression and possible death. Alcohol is also known as: Booze, Juice, Brew, Vino, Sauce. You probably know why alcohol is abused some reasons are relaxation, sociability, and cheap high. But did you know that alcohol is a depressant that decreases the responses of the central nervous system. Excessive drinking can cause liver damage and psychotic behaviour. As little as two beers or drinks can impair coordination and thinking. Alcohol is often used by substance abusers to enhance the effects of other drugs. Alcohol continues to be the most frequently abused substance among young adults. HERE ARE SOME STRAIGHT FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL.? Alcohol abuse is a pattern of problem drinking that results in health consequences, social, problems, or both. However, alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, refers to a disease that is characterized by abnormal alcohol-seeking behaviour that leads to impaired control over drinking. Short-term effects of alcohol use include: -Distorted vision, hearing, and coordination -Altered perceptions and emotions -Impaired judgment -Bad breath; hangovers Long-term effects of heavy alcohol use include: -Loss of appetite -Vitamin deficiencies -Stomach ailments -Skin problems -Sexual impotence -Liver damage -Heart and central nervous system damage -Memory loss Here are some quick clues to know if I, or someone close, has a drinking problem: -Inability to control drinkingit seems that regardless of what you decide beforehand, you frequently wind up drunk -Using alcohol to escape problems -A change in personalityturning from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde -A high tolerance leveldrinking just about everybody under the table -Blackoutssometimes not remembering what happened while drinking -Problems at work or in school as a result of drinking -Concern shown by family and friends about drinking If you have a drinking problem, or if you suspect you have a drinking problem, there are many others out there like you, and there is help available. You could talk to school counsellor, a friend, or a parent. Excessive alcohol consumption causes more than 100,000 deaths annually in the United States, and although the number shows little sign of declining, the rate per 100,000 population has trended down since the early 1980s. Accidents, mostly due to drunken driving, accounted for 24 percent of these deaths in 1992. Alcohol-related homicide and suicide accounted for 11 and 8 percent respectively. Certain types of cancer that are partly attributable to alcohol, such as those of the esophageus, larynx, and oral cavity, contributed another 17 percent. About 9 percent is due to alcohol-related stroke. One of the most important contributors to alcohol-related deaths is a group of 12 ailments wholly caused by alcohol, among which alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and alcohol dependence syndrome are the most important. These 12 ailments together accounted for 18 percent of the total alcohol-related deaths in 1992. Mortality due to the 12 causes rises steeply into late middle age range and then declines markedly, with those 85 and over being at less than one-sixth the risk of 55 to 64-year olds. The most reliable data are for the 12 conditions wholly attributable to alcohol. The map shows these data for all people 35 and over. READ: Review Of On-Line Publications Essay PaperThe geographical distribution for men and women follows much the same pattern, although men are three times as likely to die of one of the 12 alcohol-induced ailments. The geographical distribution for whites and blacks follows roughly the same pattern but the rates for blacks are two and half times higher. In the late nineteenth century blacks, who were then far more abstemious than whites, were strong supporters of the temperance movement, but the movement in the South was taken over by whites bent on disenfranchising black people by any means possible, such .