Alcohol the legal killer Essay Example for Free

Alcohol the legal killer Essay Alcohol is an ordinary name for a substance which is chemically known as ethyl alcohol, pure spirits or grain alcohol. Ethyl alcohol is a kind of wine which is produced for medical and other purposes. Alcohol drink is every beverage that has ethyl alcohol intoxicating quantities. The amount of pure alcohol must not exceed more than two percent in beers and not more than sixty eight percent in absinthe. Alcohol is legally allowed to produce and sale in the most of the countries of the world particularly in the western countries. Alcohol is not much dangerous for the drunken person if it is taken in low quantities but it will be more dangerous to life it will be used in bulk and on a regular basis. Alcohol is the part of culture in many countries like India and Australia but it is a silent killer and legal killer because of its negative effects. People like to drink for relaxation, socialization, celebration and taste but most of people lose balance in drinking then travel on the path which goes to death. Alcohol is legally allowed in many countries for drinking but there are some conditions on its usage like a person cannot drink more than a specific amount of alcohol and no one can drive a vehicle if he or she has drunk. But these conditions are not discouraging the use of alcohol as it is also a form of drugs like heroin, opium, hash and cocaine. All these drugs are dangerous for life so all are banned on all countries of the world but the only drug which is legally permissible for producing, selling and using all over the world. In other words it is a license to kill the humanity for its manufactures and sellers. Alcohol has many drawbacks and it is very harmful and fatal for human beings so it should also be banned like other drugs. Every year alcohol related problems are being recorded by US Department of Justice which includes physical violence, domestic abuse. Alcohol- related crimes in the U. S. account for 54% of murder and attempted murder, 68% of manslaughters, 52% of rape and sexual assaults, 48% of robberies, and 40,000 babies are born with birth defects. (cdc) In 2000 19,358 alcohol induced deaths occurred not including motor vehicle deaths, 26, 552 deaths from chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis, which are the 12th leading cause of death in the U. S. (cdc). In spite of all this alcohol is still legal and much abused, with 103 million people in the U. S. currently drinking and 11 million of those heavy drinkers. Everyone have different response for drinking alcohol so it is not sure for saying that what a specific number of drinks a man can on daily basis. Alcohol has many side effects on psychologically and physically. Psychologically it can have these effects like confusion, unsteady manner due to mental illness, and disorientation. First let’s find out that how does alcohol is being digested by our body and how does it affect us, there are three stages of ingestion that happen once a drink is downed. First, it is quickly absorbed into the blood stream through the cell membranes of the digestive tract. As it passes through the digestive tract, some of is absorbed by the mouth and stomach, and most of it is absorbed by the small intestine. The amount of food in the stomach affects the rate of absorption. If a drinker has a pint of beer without having dinner first, the absorption rate of the beer will be much faster. The drinker will get drunk much faster, and maybe even vomit. Most of the alcohol is absorbed by the bloodstream within an hour of ingestion. The second stage is distribution. Once the circulatory system absorbs the alcohol, it is sent out to all parts of the body. Some parts, like the brain, liver and kidney receive larger amounts of alcohol than other parts of the body because they receive more blood. And the third stage is metabolism. As the alcohol travels throughout the body, enzymes released by the liver metabolize the alcohol. This breaks down the alcohol and turns it into a food source for the body. Most of the alcohol ingested is released through the liver. The effects of alcohol on the liver can be deadly. In large amounts, alcohol can damage major organs, particularly the liver. There are three different alcohol-related liver diseases: fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Fatty liver disease is one of the first signs that alcohol is being abused. Fat builds up due to alcohol metabolism. This hurts the liver’s ability to work at full strength. Fatty liver disease can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. When the liver is too damaged from alcohol abuse, scar tissue forms causing cirrhosis, and eventually causing the liver to shut down. Symptoms include loss of energy, loss of appetite, upset stomach, weight loss and weakness. Cirrhosis is one of the ten leading causes of death by disease in the United States. The third liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, is the inflammation of the liver, the stage right before cirrhosis. Jaundice, mental confusion and swelling of the abdomen are common symptoms (NIH). Alcohol is known as a depressant, and its effects on the brain and central nervous system are serious. When intoxicated, drinkers experience a mild euphoria, or temporary â€Å"happiness†, and loss of inhibition. Alcohol impairs regions of the brain controlling behavior, judgment, memory, concentration and coordination. On the central nervous system, alcohol acts as a sedative. Large amounts of alcohol can cause respiratory failure, coma and death. Impaired vision, hearing, and motor skills also occur. The drinker may also experience numbness and tingling in the arms and legs caused by nerve damage. This will result in the staggering walk often seen coming out of bars. Long-term drinking can cause brain damage and drinking while pregnant is known to produce sick babies. Heavy drinking also has damaging effects on the stomach and intestinal system. Irritation of the stomach lining can cause peptic ulcers, bleeding lesions and cancer. Blood loss causes loss of iron, which can cause irritability, lack of energy, headaches and dizziness. Risk of pancreatitis is also increased. Other effects of alcohol abuse include irritation of the intestinal tract lining and the colon; nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, sweating and loss of appetite; and increase in blood pressure, risk of heart attack and stroke, and these symptoms develop over time. Alcoholism, however, can begin to develop after the first drink. When we think about effects of alcohol, you may think about physical effects alcohol has on our body as I explained above, but beside all these physical effects there are many psychological effects of alcohol on the body as well that you may not have thought of. In many cases, the psychological effects of alcohol are much more damaging and painful to you than the effects that you already know about. Heres a look at some of the psychological effects of alcohol on our body: Depression – As I also mentioned above that alcohol is depressant. This means that once it begins circulating in the system, it will decrease the activity within the nervous system of your brain. For this reason as you drink alcohol, you may notice that you start to have more feelings of depression or become entrenched in a depression as a result of the drinking. Many make the mistake of thinking they can drown their sorrows by drinking more, and make the feelings of sadness and uselessness go away. If this describes you, what you dont realize is you are just making the situation worse and causing your depression to become deeper and last longer. Anxiety If you are like a lot of people, as you consume large amounts of alcohol you will become stressed from the impact of the drug. While you may find the buzz from the alcohol enjoyable for a while, it will give way to a series of stresses on your system that will manifest psychologically. From a general feeling of discontent to restlessness, nightmares and even overwhelming fear, there are a number of feelings of anxiety that can come of your alcohol usage. Personality Changes Have you noticed your family members are treating you differently? It may be because you have changed in how you interact with them. Alcohol can make massive personality that you may not even see. Once you become intoxicated, what were your usual personality traits may change dramatically. You may become selfish, egotistical or even angry about your life and everything in it. Aggression and mood swings are some of the most common traits. These changes are brought on by the alcohols effect on serotonin in your body. Serotonin is a chemical in your body that transmits signals relating to mood to your brain. When its job is weakened by alcohol, moods and emotions can get out of control. Another common personality change brought on by alcohol is a deterioration of morals. As alcohol affects the body, it acts to slow the responses of the synapses in the brain. This slowing down of the brains circuitry decreases thinking and reasoning. For this reason, when you are intoxicated, you may be willing to do and say things you would not usually do or say if you were thinking clearly. Obsession Once you become dependent on alcohol (whether you realize it or not), you will start to become obsessed with drinking. While many think a few drinks are not dangerous, to someone who is alcohol dependent or becoming alcohol dependent, there is no difference between getting those next few drinks, and a drug addict who is looking for their next hit. Your obsession can lead to a loss of other interests in your life and a focus only on how you are going to get another drink, while all along denying there is a problem with your desire for alcohol. Generally, you will not realize you are being pulled in to an obsession until it is too late. Denial Just as you would expect in any other type of addict, those who drink a lot of alcohol go through a number of denial issues. If you have heard from those who you love that you may be drinking too much, you really should listen to them. Often, you will not even notice you are becoming more and more intoxicated on a regular basis, because you are too close to the problem. Alcohol dependency is a progressive illness and you may not be able to see what it is doing to you. Just like any other disease, alcohol dependency is a progressive disease. The longer and more you drink, the more pronounced the effects will be on your system. Additionally, these psychological effects of alcohol are not just felt while you are drinking, or the morning after. They can continue for a number of days or weeks after you have consumed the alcohol. The third effect of alcoholism is can be said as economic, beside the physical and psychological effects of alcohol, excessive drinking of alcohol affects the economy of the a society in different ways . According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention the cost of excessive alcohol consumption in the United States in 2006 reached $223. 5 billion or about $1. 90 per drink. Researchers also found that the cost largely resulted from losses in workplace productivity (72 percent of the total cost), health care expenses for problems caused by excessive drinking (11 percent of the total cost), law enforcement and other criminal justice expenses related to excessive alcohol consumption (9 percent of the total cost), and motor vehicle crash costs from impaired driving (6 percent of the total cost). The study did not consider a number of other costs such as those due to pain and suffering by the excessive drinker or others who were affected by the drinking, and thus may be an underestimate. Researchers estimated that excessive drinking cost $746 per person in the United States in 2006 (CDC). Lastly it can be said that alcohol has many physical, economical and psychological effects which in simple words cause of many problems that have impacts on different aspect of life. But the real problem is that it is a legal killer which is allowed by law of countries. If we think it is also a drug among other drugs which are legally prohibited and discouraged by the law as law has some punishment for using and selling those drugs but alcohol has no legal restriction on its consumptions and business as it is one of the top profiteering business in the world. Works Cited Adams, Gabriel J. What Are The Effects Of Alcohol Addiction? 2013. 4 May 2013 . Ricky Gates. WordPress. com Get a Free Blog Here. The RickyRay Show. WordPress. com, 26 Nov 2009. Web. 12 May 2013. . Buddy, T. The Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. 4 May 2013 .. , NIAH. Alcohol and Health. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). NIAH, 8 Apr 2008. Web. 15 May 2013. .CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Economic costs of alcohol abuse. CDC, 7 2012. Web. 15 May 2013. .