Alcohol has the ability to destroy lives, marriages, families, it can cause someone to act offensively and do unforgivable things, it causes blood poisoning and death, and it is abused again and again, yet it is completely legal. At a fairly young age, you could go into a liquor store, buy copious amounts of alcohol, and drink yourself stupid or dead.
So why is alcohol legal when nearly all other forms of drugs have been banned because of their harmful effects? Because the tax revenues are huge! I'm not totally against alcohol, but it's hard to overlook just how often and how badly alcohol is abused. So who cares if alcohol leads to dependency, torn lives and families, deteriorating health, and death, as long as money is being made!
Some people develop a physical dependence to alcohol, and let it interfere with work, family, and their social life. They stop participating in activities and neglect to eat or eat poorly. And all they need to do to access their drug is walk into a liquor store and pick up a bottle. Signs of alcoholism include women having more than 12 drinks a week, and men consuming more than 15 per week, whereas binge drinking, which can be just as detrimental as alcoholism, is seen as consuming more than 5 drinks per occasion at least once a week.
It's ironic to me that having a hangover is often not a deterrent to abusing alcohol. I've seen people almost boasting of the hangover they're suffering, considering it a token of a good night, even though the nights' events can't even be remembered. I don't understand why so many people go out with the intent of getting obliterated, only to wake-up nauseas, puking, dizzy, and sore, with a pounding headache. And since when is drinking to the point of blacking out a goal or something to be proud of?
This mass attitude that destroying your body with alcohol is somehow cool is ridiculous. I've had that attitude before, and now I can see how absolutely unproductive and detrimental it is. It's one thing to start drinking, and lose focus on when you should stop, but it's another to go out with the mind state of getting right messed up on alcohol. We forego our limit in favour of getting stupid, and despite waking up absolutely ill, we continue to do it. For some it's as often as more than once a week. Binge drinking has become socially acceptable.
No matter how many stupid things you do while intoxicated, no matter the types of things that happen and you end up regretting, the source of the problem is often not solved. Regardless of the countless bad experiences, or awful hangovers, we continue to drink well beyond a reasonable point. What for?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against drinking, but there is a point when reasonable becomes ridiculous. A few drinks is fine, drinking to the point of incoherency is not. I've done that before, and I'm not proud of it. Not only does intoxicating yourself with alcohol cause some people to act out of character, perhaps in vulgar or childish ways, but it also has serious adverse health effects.
Alcohol abuse can lead to bleeding in the digestive tract, brain cell damage, brain disorders, cancer of the esophagus, liver, colon, and other areas, delirium tremens, dementia and memory loss, depression and suicide, erectile dysfunction, heart damage, high blood pressure, inflammation of the pancreas, liver disease, nerve damage, poor nutrition, and sleeping problems. And drinking while pregnant can lead to some severe birth defects.
Abusing alcohol is a serious issue that does not get treated as one. We laugh at how drunk people become, telling and retelling drunken tales, we think not being able to remember the night is a good sign, and we joke about the extent of our hangovers. Binge drinking has become nothing more than a funny story.
The amounts of accidents that are alcohol-related are phenomenal. Fifteen hundred alcohol-related severe trauma hospitalizations were reported in eight provinces in 2003 alone, with over 750 of these incidents being vehicle collisions. We've heard again and again the horrendous consequences of drinking and driving, but that's not the only source of alcohol-related accidents. There are instances when someone under the influence has beaten another individual, fights get started, even murders occur in a fit of rage, or maybe as an accident, we trip, fall and do who-knows what else injuring ourselves in the process, or poison our bodies to the point where we require our stomach be pumped at the hospital. Are the risks really worth it?
It seems to me that less and less people try to find non-alcohol related activities to do, and base their fun on drinking, or maintain a belief that an activity won't be fun without a little alcohol. Yes, alcohol can be fun at times, but just because we're older now doesn't mean we can no longer use our imagination. I realize too that in a small town your options are limited unless you want to drive to a city, but there are still options that don't involve getting trashed.
I'm not saying everyone should cease drinking immediately, though I don't think it hurts to evaluate how often and how much one consumes. Drink in moderation, and drink responsibly.
