Being in college, the topic that seems to suffice everyone’s attention span would contain reference to consuming a drink with some presence of alcohol. Party, kegger and beer all convert a seemingly dull conversation to a hysterical joke that everyone understands. The person that consumed the most liquor and either passed out or vomited uncontrollably reins over the mere individuals who staggered out of the event only half full. While some crown them the king of the party, others who comprehend the effects of drinking coin the phrase alcoholic.
Alcohol, a chemical compound of varying parts of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen,” (23) has become a serious problem for Americans, who strive to have a good time. While not all people who drink heavily are alcoholics, the addiction to liquor is caused by several varying aspects and the problem will only be answered once there is a national awareness of the consequences. What is alcoholism? One source states, “Alcoholism is a specific disease to which some people are vulnerable.
Those who are vulnerable develop the disease if they take up drinking” (2) while others call it merely an obsession. To be able to understand the result of drinking, the beginning of one’s fixation should be clear. Some of the reasons a person begins to drink depends on how often they are around the substance, if their parents were addicted and their mental state prior to drinking. It has been proven that alcoholism is an inherited trait from one’s family tree. Family members pass along their negative aspects such as a drinking fascination which develops early in a child’s life.
A father who is suffering from a drinking problem may effect his son’s or daughter’s outcome in life due to either his genetic material or because the father as driven the son or daughter to drink. An offspring may turn towards alcohol at a young age if the child has been exposed to the drug early on when the brain has not finished growing. New research has shown that a person’s brain does not stop maturing until the early twenties. This new discovery explains why kids who start to drink at a tender age are more likely to continue towards alcoholism then a grown adult.
When a young adult, ages 12 to 20, consume a beverage that contains liquor they damage parts of the brain responsible for memory and retention, and other growth mechanisms (Ariniello 2). The Islander Waves states that “Those with familial history of the disease are at a higher risk, but alcoholism is not exclusively a genetic disorder” (Griffin 8) and that other factors contribute to one’s struggle with the drug. Although the age for the consumption and purchasing of liquor is 21, there are 9. 7 million minors who drink each year.
Minors tend to see drinking as exciting and a chance to spend time with an older group of friends. The person who buys the beer, malts or wine not only breaks the law by providing the drug to kids who are underage but they harm them for the rest of their lives. Many underage bingers tend to depend on the alcohol for the rest of their life and continue the trend of handing over the drinks to children under the age of 21. The availability of alcohol scars a person for life and makes them crave the ambrosia. Billboards, television commercials and radio ads all contribute to the increase of liquor drinkers.
Commercials often feature scantily clad women or men playing sports which appeal to a person since they toy with their emotions. Advertisements scream “Drink me and look this good! ” to all that listen when in reality a beer or a malt beverage ill in most cases, not win you the big game or the dream girl. “Alcohol is a powerful drug” states the author of Drinking, Jack Weiner (214). Jack also asserts that since alcohol makes the drinker feel “loose and carefree” the liquor attracts people who can not find alternate ways of relieving stress in their lives.
A man who loathes his job is more likely to drink heavily then a man who enjoys going to work. Liquor evaporates the tensions and creates a new world for the drinker to live in, one that he believes he controls. The top three causes of alcoholism provide deadly ffects that create a hazardous world for even the non-drinker to exist in. The predicament of alcohol dependence affects the people who drink, the businesses that sell and distribute the product, the fluctuating economy and the people whom have nothing to do with the using or purchasing of alcoholic products.
People who consume liquor have physical or mental problems that affect their way of life. Alcohol can be used as a drug and people become addicted to the substance. “It is astonishing how many drinkers are ignorant of the way their favorite alcoholic potions affect them” (Weiner 214). These people believe they need to drink in order to function in everyday life, while they are only harming themselves and the community they live in. Diseases such a liver damage, kidney failure and brain trauma are effects that many users encounter after constant usage of liquor.
The alcohol is spread throughout the system at a constant rate but when a person drinks quickly, it reduces the amount of time that the system has to evenly distribute the liquid and results in high blood alcohol levels. The bloodstream then transfers the drug to the liver, and the brain (214). Cirrhosis of the liver occurs when an alcoholic consumes so uch liquor that the liver can not function properly and shuts down. There is a higher risk for people who drink obsessively to contract cancer, especially the liver.
The heart and circulatory system need thiamine, a vitamin that is vital to the body, and when alcohol enters the bloodstream it lacks thiamine cause the organs not to function properly. The most important organ that liquor effects is the brain, which causes severe damage that is irreversible. Alcohol introduces itself to the brain by attacking the cerebrum and the destruction of the frontal cortex. The cerebrum harbors reason, conscious thinking, memory and control while the rontal cortex contains power and judgment (Bennett 7).
After awhile the blood in the system thins, the brain stops working properly and although problems may not occur right away, the person is stuck with life long complications such as liver and heart injuries. Early death is always the ultimate end to an alcoholic’s life. Consequently, individuals that choose not to succumb to the pressures of alcohol bare the cost of others that enjoy the liquor. Family members that pass away due to excessive drinking leave relatives alone and wondering what they could have done to help and any other questions regarding one’s addiction to alcohol.
Alcohol, like any other cause of unnecessary death, hits a family hard and never leaves them the same, but a little more knowledgeable and understanding. Speaking on a person note, tragedy due to drinking in my family has caused me to turn away from alcohol and endeavor to make others recognize the harms it produces. On the other hand, there are also people who decide to drink and drive, which either’s allows the person to get home safely, or causes an accident that injuries the vehicle or a person/s in the car. Also wreck can involve innocent drivers, or pedestrians.
When a person drives drunk they run the risk of damaging lives since when a person is intoxicated they lose reaction time responses and “believe they are driving more skillfully” (Weiner 217). The drunk driver swerves, speeds and hits animate and inanimate objects that they do not see due to the blurred vision that occurs. There is a fatal accident involving a driver that is legally drunk, which is . 08 or higher, every 30 minutes and make up for more then half of the traffic accidents in the United States (Cable 1).
These are “certain characteristics that a majority of alcoholics” posses and a tartling majority have a “low frustration tolerance” which means they are angered easily (Pittman 38). Drinking causes an imbalance in the brain which results in mood changes and they often lash out at others. When a person who is intoxicated is around other people their minds are clouded and a minor action can produce a huge commotion often involving fighting. This is practically scary if you are a family member, friend or acquaintance who can not escape their abusive ways. There are many ways that innocent people are affected by someone’s decisions to drink.
While he drunken individual hurts the naive person they are unaware of the damage they are causing in their own drunkenness, not only to the other person but to themselves as well. Alcohol is a drug of choice for many people who try to flee from their surroundings. There are many reasons that drive a person to drink, but it also comes with consequences that will follow them until they die. The only way to solve the problem of alcoholism is to understand what causes it and how it affects everyone in the country. If there was no alcohol the death rate would be lower, abuse would decrease and people could lead happier lives!