Alcohol And Its Effect On Society

Submitted By adeebs
Words: 2176
Pages: 9

Alcohol & its effects on our society What is alcohol? And why do people drink it or use it? Alcohol has several uses. It can be used for medical reasons to remove germs from wounds. It also can be mixed with drinks to make people relax and forgot about the problems in their lives and have a good time. However, when people drink alcohol, it affects their minds. Drunken people cannot think clearly like when they are sober, and they tend to make bad decisions that they regret once the alcohol is out of their bodies. Not only does alcohol cloud people’s judgment about things, it also affects their health and causes liver diseases and many more. The problem is that in today’s society it is possible for anyone to get alcohol. Even teenagers can ask older people to buy it for their parties. Usually the older people do not find buying a few beers for teenagers a problem, although it is illegal. Why are there alcohol stores in every corner? Alcohol is rampant in our society, and the occasional “getting wasted” is considered normal for the everyday American. Yet some of the worst incidents occur when people are under the influence of alcohol. It is unethical for our society and authorities to treat alcoholism like it is not a problem at all. People ,who like partying while drink alcohol and do it every one in while, might say that this is a free country and everyone can do whatever as he or she wants or that drinking alcohol is a choice of which no one is forcing anyone to drink. Some also say that there is no harm in drinking a few drinks every once in a while, and if the drunken people are not driving, then no one will get hurt. Most of that is true; but, every other kind of drug is optional no one is forcing anyone to use it. Alcohol make people let go out of the way they act or think normally. Also, it makes them forget the problems they are facing in their lives, thus people drink it to have a good time. Why is it thought of differently than other kinds of addictions like tobacco, cocaine, and heroin? The only difference is that cocaine and heroin affect the body in a short period of time and does more damage. Tobacco affects the body over a long period of time. Tobacco causes lung cancer and heart problems, while alcohol, on the other hand, can affect someone’s life in a short period of time due to the behavior it can encourage. Even if it was consumed responsibly, it will cause long term problems. When a person consumes too much alcohol, he is doing something that might cost him his life, job, family, or the life of another person. While he is drunk he might do harmful things that will have a great impact on his life. Alcoholic addicts have a hard time keeping their jobs. From a personal experience, I know a person who drinks 40 grams of pure alcohol per day. He lost his job, and his social life started to fall apart. As I said before, when people drink they tend to do things they would not do if they were sober. If the inebriated person is violent he or she will tend to become more violent. However, studies by Mary McMurran shows that from 15% to 85% of violent crimes are alcohol related (McMurran 3). In fact, the percentage shows that more than half of the violent crimes in America are cause by drunken people who had consumed several drinks within a few hours of the violent act. The same study by McMurran suggests that the authorities focus only on the people who have the highest consumption of alcohol with little consideration to those who have had a few drinks and are quite affected by them. This study reveals that only 14% of violent crimes are caused by theses heavy drinkers. Therefore, the authorities should consider that any amount of alcohol could cause people to fight and harm themselves or others (McMurran 7). Those entire problems happened within few hours of drinking, or even while drinking, and most violent crimes do not require any equipment (bare hands fights). What would happen if a violent drunk