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Alcoholic Beverages and Alcohol Abuse |
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Ethanol ChemistryAlcoholismHealth EffectsAddictionDeTox
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Alcoholic beverages are foods with great potential for abuse.
These foods trigger cravings and compulsive eating and drinking as other foods do, but the
health and social consequences are more drastic. The compulsive use and abuse of
Alcoholic Beverages (ABs) can be devastating to individuals and their society. Dr. Sidney Cohen, a drug abuse expert, described alcohol as "the most dangerous drug on earth". The direct material and medical cost of Alcoholic Beverage Abuse (AB Abuse) in the U.S. alone is estimated to be over 20 billion dollars per year. Absenteeism in the U.S. government due to AB abuse is estimated to be in excess of half a billion dollars per year. The inestimable social cost is expressed in suffering, despair, illness and death. The behavioral aberrations of alcohol-abusers and their families affect their communities in a variety of negative and costly ways. Heavy drinkers are often disruptive in their families and social environments; drinkers have a higher risk of injury and death from motor vehicle accidents and drinkers commit more violent crimes than their sober neighbors.With the introduction of stricter drinking and driving laws, the definition of alcohol abuse has to be altered to include the illegality and potential damage done by drinking and driving. When you consider that an average weight man who drinks four bottles of beer at a friends home while watching a football game on TV and then gets up to drive home is committing a crime and endangering himself and others, then common social drinking patterns must be considered to be alcohol abuse. The Problem: drinking too much.The Solution:Environmed Research Inc. |
