Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a big problem in our society today. Alcohol is the most common drug abused because of its easy accessibility and because it is not illegal. Teens seem to abuse it the most. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens and about 2,000 people die each year in car crashes involving underage drinking. We live in a place where alcohol use is very common. This itself leads to a never ending cycle of alcoholism because genetics influence the likelihood of alcoholism. Therefore, a child who has an alcoholic father has a high chance of becoming an alcoholic also. These people would likely be what is known as Type II or Type B alcoholics. That is they have a more rapid onset usually before age 25 and also usually have close relatives who are alcoholics or have alcohol problems. Studies have shown that sons of alcoholics show less than average intoxication after drinking moderately and that alcohol decreases stress more for sons of alcoholics than for other people. This actually encourages drinking even more for sons of alcoholics which is very bad. Many people believe that alcoholism has no long-term physical or psychological effects but there are quite wrong. In an article I read, it states that there are devastating long term effects on the body such as poor coordination and thiamine deficiency, cardiovascular effects including hypertension, reproductive effects such as impotence and irregular menses, and gastrointestinal problems like pancreatitis. Some of these long-term effects of alcoholism are irreversible and many teens are losing their lives or taking the lives of innocent people because of alcohol related accidents so I believe something should be done to make alcohol less accessible to everyone who abuses it.