Archive for April, 2009

What do you mean by Alcohol Abuse?

Alcohol abuse means different for different people. While students enjoy heavy dose of alcohol and its consequences as a part of teen treat, those restricted by their religion consider even taking a sip of it as alcohol abuse. Activist view young couple consuming alcohol after dinner as abuse, while the enforcement officers at national highways, consider an accident by the driver of a vehicle under intoxication is viewed as an extreme example of alcoholic abuse.

Alcohol viewed in cultural back drop

While our cultural celebrations talk about enjoying alcohol with family which includes small children, prohibition and related activities consider alcohol to be a killer drink which is the root cause for all miseries. A sense of fear was cultivated in the minds of people against alcohol. Again, the problem starts only when alcohol is consumed excessively so as to loose control over one’s self that you tend to falter due to impairment. Later when prohibition was slowly repealed, a portion of them continued to abstain from drinking alcohol while the remaining population enjoyed drinking in moderation, mainly due to the fear of extreme consequences.

Alcohol Abuse and Youthful Drinking

Youthful drinking especially those under the age of 21 are increasingly targeted against consumption of alcohol. A zero tolerance is practiced against them in order to ensure that individuals below 21 years of age are appropriately protected against the consequences of alcohol and related beverages.

Recently a senior at Park View High School at Loudon County was suspended was usage of alcohol based mouth wash in school premises. Complete intolerance is practiced against alcohol with students to drive home the point that even a trace of alcohol usage will not be entertained. During the ten day suspension he was sent to Substance Abuse Program held in the county.

How far such zero tolerance programs will be effective in restraining youngsters from the usage of alcohol is a big question mark. Loosing personal touch with students, it becomes very difficult to implement such restriction and even if done the effectiveness of the rule will be questioned. Alcohol Abuse has become a challenge for everyone

Youth and their drinking habits

Every article and alcohol advertisement, TV show and claim report talks about increasing drinking habits among youngsters. But an analysis pertaining to the percentage of youngsters involved in drinking among a larger population has been declining steadily. Records from 1980 till 2006 reveal that various analysis show that there has been a steady decline in the percentage of youngsters involved in alcohol. Various classifications namely

• Percentage of high school seniors who have ever consumed alcohol
• Percentage of high school seniors who have consumed alcohol in the previous year
• Percentage of high school seniors who have consumed alcohol in the previous30 days
• Percentage of high school seniors who have consumed alcohol on a daily basis

All these figures and analysis show that the percentage has been down over the period of time.

Drunken driving law

There is a drop in the drunken driving related accidents over a period of time say from 1982 -2005, considering the years for which the statistics is available. Alcohol related traffic fatalities have reduced from 60% to 39% in 2005 which indicates the effectiveness of DWI Laws and their implementation. The intoxication related deaths per 100 million miles has reduced from 1.64 deaths to .56 deaths in 2005. The overall alcohol related fatality among total traffic fatal cases has reduced 35% while other sober cases account for 53%.

Health Issues

Heavy consumption of alcohol over a period of time will lead to serious health issues finally resulting in death of an individual. Diseases such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) which is an irreversible condition related to excessive alcohol consumption by pregnant women. Cirrhosis is the most widely recognized extreme illness due to chronic alcoholism. Pitiful condition leading to progressive replacement of healthy liver tissue with scars and resulting in liver failure and death.

Help from Alcoholic Abuse

Those who wish to seek help from alcoholic abuse can visit the following websites that offer support and guidance

• http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/
• http://www.rational.org/recovery/
• http://www.sossobriety.org/
• http://recovery.alano.org/secular.html

What is Alcohol Abuse?

People normally tend to consume alcohol in social gatherings and certain other relaxing moments. When their alcohol consumption results in any kind of negative side effect on their health, relationship and work it is referred to as alcohol abuse. It is not a state of physical dependence on alcohol, but where an individual is physically impaired of a stable conduct, poses problems in relationships, greatly affects the work and family atmosphere and spoiling their peace of mind. A prolonged state of alcohol abuse will result in alcoholic dependence.

Laws and policy for preventing alcohol abuse

Different ideas come up to control alcoholic abuse. We aim at evaluating the effectiveness of public, educational and legal framework in force that help in controlling alcohol abuse. A section of public propagates eliminating alcoholic drinks from being available. Prohibitionist view to control alcohol abuse by way of curbing the availability of alcoholic drinks is clearly impracticable. It will only result in increased legal violations, corruptions, availability of dangerous and illegal alcoholic beverages, loss of revenue and various other serious problems.

DWI Driving Law

Regulations pertaining to drunken driving law namely DUI and DWI legislations help in actually controlling the increase in DWI offenses which in turn curbs alcoholic abuse. DWI driving law imposes severe punishments on those involved in drunken driving offences.

Prohibition of Alcohol

While prohibitionist talks about eliminating availability of alcohol, in modern times they talk about reduced availability of alcoholic beverages considering a practical aspect of it. Introduction of legal action against a number of alcohol based problems alone can seriously help in preventing alcohol abuse and its impact.

Consumption of Alcohol

Consumption of alcohol is the reason for all drinking problems. More the availability greater will be the drinking problem. Not mere consumption but the quantity of alcohol consumed determines its effect on an individual’s mental and physical health.

Advocates of Reduction of Consumption of Alcohol

After having understood that complete prohibition of alcohol is not an effective solution in dealing with the problem, now they aim at reduction in the consumption of alcohol. Availability makes one drink more, efforts to make alcohol an unaffordable drink is sure to help curbing the quantity of alcohol consumed.

How To Reduce Consumption of Alcohol?

Following measures are being advocated by means of legal enactments in order to reduce consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Restriction on Alcohol based advertisements


• Restriction on ads
• Explicit display of warning signs on the beverages sold.
• Warning messages in alcohol advertisements

Limiting the sale of alcoholic beverages

• Reducing sales outlets
• Limiting the time of the day when alcohol beverages are sold.
• Restriction on sale of alcohol to specific age groups.
• Increasing the taxes on alcohol based beverages.
• Warning signs to be displayed in sales outlets.

Alcohol content regulation

• Reducing the alcohol content in beverages

Legal Implications

• Expense on alcohol beverages not allowed under expenses
  Reducing the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level to be observed while driving the vehicle under DWI driving law
• The responsibility of consequences subsequent to drinking alcohol imposed on the server.
• Imposing severe punishment by way of DWI law on any DWI related violations.

What Do You Mean By Legal Drinking Age?

The age at which a person is allowed to purchase and consume alcohol legally is called the legal drinking age. The legal drinking age varies across the world. While people in continents like Europe consume alcohol at a very young age of 16, in India it is as high as 25 years. In Islamic countries consumption of alcohol is completely prohibited by the people of that religion. Every country has a defined legal drinking age prescribed for its citizens. The issue of identifying the optimum drinking age in order to avoid alcoholic abuse is a never ending problem. It involves a number of issues like freedom, parental interference and responsibility.

What Is The Legal Drinking Age In The US?

Legal drinking age in the US is 21 years. Though a legal age of 21 is prescribed in the US, citizens are legally allowed to drink even below the legal age. Prior to the enactment of National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, different states in the US had different legally prescribed age for drinking. With the enactment of this Act all the states where required to rise the minimum age for purchase and consumption of alcoholic beverages to 21. Those states which do not comply with the said requirement will face a reduction in their share of highway funds allotted under the Federal Highway Aid Act. This law does not apply to a person below 21 years of age where he is found in public possession of alcohol where it is required under religious, educational, medical and private and professional or occupational purposes.

The exception to this rule is extended where the family member of the individual consents. Certain other aspects like consumption in a private property also allows individuals below the age of 21 to consume alcohol under exception rule. Again, what is considered a private property differs from state to state.

Legal Drinking Age In The US Is Considered The Highest

The legal drinking age in the US is considered too high. Well the question here is about the effectiveness of the 21 years legislation in curbing the alcoholic abuse. As of January 2007, close to 14 states in the US prohibit underage consumption of alcohol while 19 states do not specifically prohibit consumption of alcohol below 21 years of age and 17 states allow underage consumption under family consent or private consumption criteria. How effectively one can curb alcoholic abuse and what will be the right age for its implementation is irreconcilable.