Contemporary Thoughts Of Alcohol

Contemporary Thoughts of Alcohol

"Alcohol is a drug. Unlike other drugs, it is available to anyone of legal age and easily acquired. Two out of three Americans over age 18 use some alcoholic beverage" (Wilcox, Introduction). Seeing how alcohol has some to be one of the mainstream accepted lifestyles in contemporary America, we need to question many aspects of it. "The NIAAA estimates that more than 11 million adults in the US are alcohol dependent and another 7 million regularly abuse alcohol" (Wilcox, Introduction). Seeing that this is such a big problem we need to seek solutions for those who already have problems with alcohol and prevention so other do not join these people.

First of all, what is alcohol? The chemical composition of it is that "to a spine of two carbon atoms are attached five hydrogen atoms and a hydroxyl (oxygen-hydrogen) group (Edwards, p.1):

"The source of all beverage alcohol is the breakdown of naturally occurring carbohydrate (starch or glucose)... When swallowed, he alcohol is absorbed from the stomach and the small intestine" (Edwards, p. 4-6). When the alcohol reaches the brain most people feel a sort of "euphoria... but every drinker will react differently in terms of talkativeness, happiness, enthusiasm, stimulation, sedation, loosening of thought association, and feelings of power or sexuality... alcohol affects brain functioning by its capacity to interfere with the biological system of chemical messengers" (Edwards, p.6-7) When asked why anyone began or not began to drink, one will want to answer that it is because of society and not because one is intrinsically inclined to drink for the mere fact of it. "An individual's decision to use alcohol and the frequency, quantity, and situation of such use are the result of a combination of biological and social factors. Drinking is not only a personal choice, but also a matter of custom and social behavior, and is influenced by access and economic factors" (Holder, Introduction). Of course that once a person begins drinking, they will experience a different future with their relation to alcohol. Some of the factors that will greatly affect future alcohol consumption are whether there are genetic tendencies that are receptive to alcohol and whether one enjoys the experience he or she has when they drink. Some people drink responsively while others take it to extremes. Where to draw the line between these two point is a bit fuzzy, but legal regulation such as setting certain blood alcohol levels as levels of intoxication serve to give us a sort of standard of what we should consider intoxicated (Holder, p. 1)

Certain societies more effectively than other are able to deter the use of alcohol. A good example of this is how the Jewish use their culture and tradition to teach not to drink in excess. "Jews learn how to drink properly by example and experience in the home and they simultaneously learn how not to drink... Sobriety is considered a Jewish virtue, while drunkenness is a Gentile vice... Consequently while Gentiles are expected to become drunk, Jews who do so are subject to scorn as expressed in the well-known Jewish folk saying" (Hanson, p.35). Furthermore, there are certain ways and approaches to reducing drinking problems. Among them one of them is to understand the truth about alcohol, in this case that "it is the misuse of alcohol, not alcohol itself, that is the source of drinking problems,... that it is important to distinguish between drinking and alcohol abuse... and that the misuse of alcohol can be reduced by making individuals make the decision of either to abstain from drinking of drinking responsively" (Hanson, p.78) It is important to teach young people the truth about alcohol and doing so by metaphors and culture assignment is an effective way of making this be a part of their reality.

Trying to fight alcohol consumption in certain environments can prove to be an overly difficult task. If a college freshman doesn't drink by the time he enters college, "they learn that just about everybody drinks, has a good time, and it is the norm" (Wilcox, p. 2). Sometimes people do not feel they have to drink but they still want to socialize. The main events in weekends are parties where everyone drinks. If one goes to these parties one is continually being pressured to drink by peers and others. If one rejects such invitations they are scorned and you do not feel that you fit in because you feel out of place because you are not drinking and because others do not like the fact that you don't drink like them. In cases of these parties many times stronger drugs than alcohol are present and one who does not even drink alcohol is left there while everyone continues to act as though they are drunker or more intoxicated and thus this seems to add to their enjoyment. When drinking becomes the mainstream source of enjoyment for so many people one wonders why he or she should not drink too If he sees that all his peers are doing likewise. It is hard to tempt someone not to eat if you put food in front of their face, even if they are not hungry.

Alcohol use can be very dangerous especially when it is consumed in certain places or situations. Among those that are known to be especially dangerous public drinking, alcohol-involved violent behavior, drinking in dangerous places such as beaches, operating dangerous machinery or guns, and of course drinking under the influence of alcohol (DUI) (Holder, p.97).

Among the factors that are given the most exposure today in the media is the fact of drinking drunk. "Deterrence of drinking and driving trough DUI enforcement depends primarily on divers' perceptions of their risk of arrest for DUI, which in turn depend not only on the actual risk of arrest, but on the legal BAC limit (which affects both perceived and actual risk), the level of public attention to DUI enforcement, and changes in any of these factors" (Holder). A factor that is very troublesome in today's media revolved world is that there seems to be many messages in the media that portray alcohol as a positive source of enjoyment. A good percentage of all TV commercials concern themselves with showing how happy people are