The Harmful Effects that are Associated With Alcohol - Research Paper Example

Siera Nilsen ENGL 101 18 March, Alcohol should be Made Illegal In many countries and specifically the United s, alcoholic drinks are legally taxed and sold to anyone of twenty one years or over. Yet, today, the average age that an American boy takes his first alcoholic drink is 11 years whereas for a girl is 13 years ("http://www.helpguide.org"). Alcohol is a very dangerous substance that on prolonged use causes many harmful effects both on the body and mind. The harmful effects that are associated with it are so dangerous that our society needs to overcome it once and for all. Alcohol needs to be made illegal. There are several reasons why alcohol should be illegalized: the number of alcohol-related deaths per year, the negative health effects that alcohol has on a person’s body, personality, coherence, general well-being and the emotional stress that alcohol users and their families go through. If making alcohol illegal were to be realized, our society would greatly benefit from it and become a better place to live in. Alcohol has some positive effects on a person when taken in moderation, which is about one drink in a single day. Some of these effects include reducing the chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, strokes and high cholesterol level. The positive effects are beneficial to a person’s health and encourage healthy living. They might, therefore, convince people that alcohol is good for the society but the likelihood of a person drinking it moderately is extremely low. Alcohol is an addictive substance that once a person starts taking, he or she will most obviously drink more every day. This habit completely hinders the chances of experiencing the positive effects of taking alcohol and instead increases the harmful effects. This means that the risk overwhelms the benefits and therefore it is only the negative effects that remain eminent. There are many ways through which drinking alcohol excessively can harm your body. Alcohol damages body organs and systems that are needed for survival. It extremely damages the brain, liver, heart, immune system and pancreas (Palmera 29). To make matters worse, alcohol is a cancer-causing agent. Once alcohol is taken, it is immediately absorbed into the body and its effects are evidenced. To the brain, it causes massive loss of memory and dizziness, effects which are harmful to the health of your body. Excessive alcohol consumption also significantly affects the brain’s neurotransmitters and makes them inefficient in performing their functions. These effects occurring on the neurotransmitters of the brain often trigger personal moods and behavioral changes. These may include agitation, depression and in some cases even seizures (Jung 455). Alcohol harms the heart. Continued drinking weakens the heart muscles and thus causes a serious condition known as alcoholic cardiomyopathy (Beyond Hangovers 10). Prolonged alcohol use also increases the risk of developing strokes. Basically, alcohol hinders the heart from functioning properly thus straining it and putting you at risk of facing a heart failure. But these are not all; alcohol severely affects the liver and causes liver disease. Liver disease is one of the leading causes of illness and deaths in the United States. Over 2 million Americans suffer from liver diseases that are caused by alcohol (Beyond Hangovers 13). The worst side effect of long-time alcohol use is cancer. Alcohol causes cancer of the mouth, pharynx, liver, breast and esophagus. Cancer is a killer disease and no drunken night is worth getting diagnosed with it. These effects are all life-threatening and need to be avoided as much as possible. Alcohol causes many serious health problems that come at great cost to the society, and yet these effects are avoidable. It is high time our society stopped overseeing the health hazards of alcohol. The effects of alcohol are not only felt by the people who consumes it but also by the people around the consumer. A common evidence of this is seen in drunk driving. In 2004, there were 16,694 alcohol-related fatalities and 615, 271 alcohol-related crashes (Webb, Oyefeso, Schifan, Cheeta, Pollard and Ghodse 7). Thousands of innocent people get injured and even lose their lives on a daily basis simply because of errors and mistakes done by drunk drivers. Anyone under the influence of alcohol is very dangerous and prone to making adverse mistakes when controlling heavy machinery. Therefore, making alcohol illegal increases the safety of pedestrians and other road users and generally reduces the number of accidents. It is very painful to lose a loved one because of another person’s negligence and avoidable mistake. If alcohol does not kill you, it will surely damage your personality. Only one night of drinking can lead you into doing mistakes that you will leave to regret the whole of your life. It makes you do horrible things that you would not do while sober. Just a bottle of alcohol can make you vomit miserably and even end up with an aching migraine the following morning. There are also several body changes that are associated with excessive intake of alcohol. The body usually starts shaking uncontrollably. More to this, there is loss of appetite, headaches and blackouts. The consumer as well becomes moody, anxious, depressed and becomes dependent on the substance. Alcohol is by no doubt considered a disease; one that takes control of your body and mind and greatly damages them in the process. Alcohol also causes loss of one’s productivity, unemployment, family problems and violence including gender based violence, child maltreatment, homicide and fights. People behave differently when under the influence of alcohol. For instance, many drunken people always tend to be violent, angry or sexually aggressive. Others also become impulsive and end up making rash decisions and becoming obnoxious. Alcohol changes you in ways that are simply harmful to your well-being. Moreover, drunken people are also usually taken advantage of. This mostly applies to young girls and boys. For instance, when a young girl drinks excess amounts of alcohol, she easily becomes a target for sexual predators and thieves. When the mind has been taken over by alcohol, the chances of protecting oneself become slim, leaving you vulnerable to all sorts of harmful situations, people and things. This frequently happens in our current colleges. Each year, approximately 97,000 students between 18 and 24 years fall victims of alcohol-related assault or date rape ("http://www.helpguide.org"). Despite the many dangers of alcohol that have been discussed above, there are still many more effects of alcohol that are important to explore. Alcohol also affects the consumer’s families and friends. This it does both psychologically and emotionally. There are many divorce cases which are reported annually in families whereas one or both partners take excessive alcohol. A study done by M. Fe Caces, Thomas C. Harford, Gerald D. Williams, Eleanor Z. Hanna clearly provides evidence for the effects of heavy drinking on increased divorce rates and likewise the effects of increased divorce rates on inflated expenditure for alcoholic beverages (Caces, Harford, Williams, and Hanna 5). These many divorce cases are caused by alcohol related problems like domestic violence, over expenditure on alcohol, stress caused by alcoholism and infidelity among many others. Regardless of what the reason might be, alcohol destroys marriages and therefore increases one’s urge to drink. This usually results in psychological torture for the wife, husband, children or other family members of the consumers. Children are rendered orphans after their parents succumb to alcohol related deaths, treated unfairly or just lack parental guidance and someone to provide them with the basic necessities. Some children even find themselves in cars driven by intoxicated parents and this often put them at great risks of facing dangerous accidents. Children nowadays suffer for their parent’s mistakes, something they should not do, thanks to alcoholism. Those children who are raised by alcoholic parents face emotional, physical and psychological pressure and this might in some cases make them become violent and develop social problems in future. If alcohol were to be outlawed, children will not have to suffer these abnormalities anymore. They will not have to suffer for their parents’ mistakes and will usually be provided for well. Since alcohol is addictive, the only best way to keep it away from families is to eliminate it completely. There is not a single good that comes out of alcohol and as a country we need to get that right and pass the message across. Alcohol can never be tolerated in a society that is trying to uphold its morals and evolve into a strong and hardworking nation. It is the destruction of our nation and we can no longer ignore that. There were reasons why alcohol was illegalized 100 years ago and these reasons are destructive and harmful to the well-being of the entire society. Our society needs to vividly see how alcohol hinders its success and the problems that its existence has brought along. The more we stress on illegalizing alcohol and speak about it, the more we can overcome it and its associated effects. The day we will no longer fear drunk drivers or pilots, when our children will never again have to worry about their parents acting inhumanly because of alcohol, the day all alcoholic drinks will not be advertised frequently will be the day our nation will start moving forward. Works Cited Caces MF, Harford TC, Williams GD, Hanna EZ. Alcohol consumption and divorce rates in the United States. J Stud Alcohol, 1999. 647-52. Jung, J.. Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Behavior: Psychological Research perspectives. AGE Publications, Inc., 2010. 450-452. Palmera, C. (2009). 5 dangers Associated With alcohol Use. Del Mar, California, 2009. Print. Webb L, Oyefeso A, Schifano F, Cheeta S, Pollard M and Ghodse HA. Cause and manner of death in drug-related fatality: an analysis of drug-related deaths recorded by coroners in England and Wales in 2000. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2004.67–74. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Beyond Hangovers: Understanding Alcohols Impact Your Health. U.S: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010. Print. Helpguide.org: Mental Health, Relationships, Healthy Lifestyles, Aging, 2008. ("http://www.helpguide.org"). Read More