Alcoholism and Americans in Their 20's

Alcoholism and Americans in Their 20's

Thesis:

Alcoholism can be found in every town, country, state in America, although alcohol is legal to obtain for those that are of the legal age, it still poses a problem for law enforcement agencies and there are millions of drunk driving arrests every year and tens of thousands of accidents that include fatalities have been caused by a driver that had a Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) above the legal limit of .08. In this paper I will briefly discuss how the 21st Amendment legalized the sale of alcohol in 1932. The 21st Amendment reads; "Section 1, is pretty self explanatory. It repealed the 18th amendment to the Constitution which began prohibition. Section 2. Gave the states the right to determine alcohol laws for their own state, after the 21st amendment was passed, some states continued to be "dry." Section 3. Is a section that usually appears With most amendments, It describes processes for the ratification and repeal of the Amendment. Although alcohol was legalized it still has many dangers besides drunk driving associated with the drug; diseases such as; Cirrhosis of the Liver, Alcohol Epilepsy, Cardiac Lesions, Cerebral Lesions, abnormal intestines and stomach problems, high blood pressure and in males it could also cause impotence. These are just a few of the health problems that can be caused excessive alcohol consumption. From personal experience I have interviews and first hand observations of how This terrible disease can cause distress in a family and personal relationships, loss of jobs, personal freedoms, and in severe cases the will to live. Since alcohol is considered to be a downer drug it does effect the mood levels produced in the brain and can cause a person to become depressed or unhappy with themselves on how their life is going especially if they have recently been arrested for 5th or 6th time and are on the brink of losing everything they have worked hard to achieve. However, there are ways that loved ones can help to turn their lives around and support them with their decision to become sober; attend AA meetings with them, there are also meetings for family members and loved ones of alcoholics, some alcoholics can only become sober by distancing themselves from everyone in their life, or even entering a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, the most important thing that family and friends can do for a loved one is support their decision to become sober and if they ask for time to get through withdrawals, and start on their road to recovery alone, give them the space that they asked for, it is not because they do not love you or appreciate everything you have done it is because they have always used alcohol as a crutch and do not want to now use those around them as their crutch to survive they want to prove to themselves that they can do this and function in society without any crutch. All of the individual stories I will discuss is something I have personally gone through myself or with a loved one. I will also be sharing a story of how simple items that are found in your bathroom, or drug story that you would not usually consider someone to consume to get drunk can be used when a person is desperate and afraid of being caught with an alcoholic beverage on their person or in their vehicle. Finally in my paper I will show how various groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), and local law enforcement authorities across the nation are using teaching and "scare" techniques to show those in high school or even college the risks and dangers that one stupid mistake of drinking and driving can change many lives in the span of a few minutes. By teaching children at a young age as DARE does in elementary schools it can help those young kids to possibly tell their older family members to not drink and drive either call a cab, friend, Relative or even AAA will give you and a ride home if it is under a few miles. Although we are constantly reminded of the dangers and consequences of drinking and driving people continue to do it every day because something triggers in their brain that they are ok to drive. Overall I hope to not only discuss the history of alcoholism, the dangers of the disease to a person's body, the education of the disease and personal stories and interviews I also hope to show that like other drugs such as crack, heroine, PCP, and meth people who are severely inebriated can take on the same "superman" effect and the best thing that a person can do is leave them alone, take their keys and wait until they are sober to discuss the effects that their drinking has on all of those around them. Hopefully by the end of my paper I will have made an impression on at least one person's life and they think twice before turning to alcohol as a way out and most importantly they do not drink and drive.

Literature Review:

Topic: Alcoholism: New Victims, New Treatment

Source: Anonymous, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943635,00.html

Monday, April 22, 1974

In this article that was published in 1974 it discusses issues with alcoholism and various treatments that were being made available thirty five years ago, however I still find that some of these problems with alcohol abuse and treatments are being seen today. For instance there are two examples of teenagers in New York and San Francisco that were on their way to school with their books and a bag with a beer bottle or some type of alcohol that they will pass on to their friends at school. The Department of Health has only one good thing to say about the younger ages of people drinking alcohol and that is because they are drinking it is keeping them away from the hard drugs. Dr. Morris Chaeftz, who is the director of the Department of Health, education and Welfare"s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) stated that; "Youth's are moving from a wide range of other drugs to the most devastating drug-the most widely misused of all alcohol." In 1974 there were some alarming health and social issues caused by alcohol abuse; Alcoholism is the third biggest health problem in the USA this only behind heart disease and cancer. The leading cause of death from alcoholism is cirrhosis of the liver which averaged about 13,000 per year.

* Half of all of the murders in the United States alcohol played a factor in; the victim, the killer or in some cases both had been drinking. 25% of all suicides reported in 1974 were completed by a person with blood alcohol content significantly higher than the legal limit.

* If you are