Alcohol Abuse and Young People

Chris M. Alexander — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:11:25 +0000

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 Later when prohibition was slowly repealed, a portion of them continued to abstain from drinking alcohol while the remaining population enjoyed drinking in moderation, mainly due to the fear of extreme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

DWI Blog » Youngsters