Alcohol

One of the most commonly used, abused and misunderstood substances readily available to us, is alcohol. Alcohol is prevalent throughout all of our Métis Communities across the province. Alcohol is used by most of us on a regular basis. The following information will help explore some of the misconceptions about this very popular beverage.

What is alcohol?

Alcohol is often not thought of as a drug - largely because its use is common for both religious and social purposes in most parts of the world. It is a drug, however, and compulsive drinking in excess has become one of modern society's most serious problems. The beverage alcohol (scientifically known as ethyl alcohol, or ethanol) is produced by fermenting or distilling various fruits, vegetables, or grains. Ethyl alcohol itself is a clear, colorless liquid. Alcoholic beverages get their distinctive colors from the diluents, additives, and by-products of fermentation.

How Alcohol Works:

Alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream from the small intestine, and less rapidly from the stomach and colon. In proportion to its concentration in the bloodstream, alcohol decreases activity in parts of the brain and spinal cord. The drinker's blood alcohol concentration depends on:

• * the amount consumed in a given time
• * the drinker's size, sex, body build, and metabolism
• * the type and amount of food in the stomach

Once the alcohol has passed into the blood, however, no food or beverage can retard or interfere with its effects. Fruit sugar, however, in some cases can shorten the duration of alcohol's effect by speeding up its elimination from the blood.

In the average adult, the rate of metabolism is about 8.5 g of alcohol per hour (i.e. about two-thirds of a regular beer or about 30 mL of spirits an hour). This rate can vary dramatically among individuals, however, depending on such diverse factors as usual amount of drinking, physique, sex, liver size, and genetic factors.

Brief Description:

Alcohol is produced by fermentation (the action of yeast on liquids containing sugars and starches.) Pure alcohol has no colour nor taste. Alcoholic drinks vary in colour and taste because of other ingredients that are added to them.

Effects:

• After a few drinks : Feel more relaxed, reduced concentration and slower reflexes
• A few more drinks : Fewer inhibitions, more confidence, reduced coordination, slurred speech, intense moods
• Still more drinks : Confusion, blurred vision, poor muscle control
• More still : Nausea, vomiting, sleep
• Even more : Possibly coma or death

Statistics and Trends:

• Most drinkers (39.5 per cent) consume alcohol on a weekly basis.
• Males (46 per cent) are more likely than females (33 per cent) to drink weekly.
• Nearly one in three teenagers are weekly drinkers, and almost half consume alcohol less than weekly. Fewer than one in 100 teenagers consume alcohol daily.
• The average initiation age for drinking alcohol is 17.1 years

Alcohol addiction

When does casual consumption of alcohol turn to dependency drinking and finally to biochemically-controlled drinking?

The answer is, even most alcohol addicts themselves don't know when they became addicted to alcohol. Alcohol is the most sinister of drugs, one that draws a thin, usually imperceptible line between social use and addictive use. Alcoholic addicts rely on alcohol as a key component of their personality - without a drink, they simply cannot "be themselves."

Alcohol effects

Alcohol affects people differently, depending on their size, sex, body build, and metabolism. General effects are a feeling of warmth, flushed skin, impaired judgment, decreased inhibitions, muscular in coordination, slurred speech, and memory and comprehension loss. In states of extreme intoxication, vomiting is likely to occur, possibly accompanied by incontinence, poor respiration, a fall in blood pressure, and in cases of severe alcohol poisoning, coma and death.

Drinking heavily over a short period of time usually results in a "hangover" - headache, nausea, shakiness, and sometimes vomiting, beginning from 8 to 12 hours later. A hangover is due partly to poisoning by alcohol and other components of the drink, and partly to the body's reaction to withdrawal from alcohol.

Combining alcohol with other drugs can make the effects of these other drugs much stronger and more dangerous. Many accidental deaths have occurred after people have used alcohol combined with other drugs. Cannabis, tranquillizers, barbiturates and other sleeping pills, or antihistamines (in cold, cough, and allergy remedies) should not be taken with alcohol. Even a small amount of alcohol with any of these drugs can seriously impair a person's ability to drive a car.

People who drink on a regular basis become tolerant to many of the unpleasant effects of alcohol, and thus are able to drink more before suffering these effects. Yet even with increased consumption, many such drinkers don't appear intoxicated. Because they continue to work and socialize reasonably well, their deteriorating physical condition may go unrecognized by others until severe damage develops - or until they are hospitalized for other reasons and suddenly experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Psychological dependence on alcohol may occur with regular use of even relatively moderate daily amounts. It may also occur in people who consume alcohol only under certain conditions, such as before and during social occasions. This form of dependence refers to a craving for alcohol's psychological effects, although not necessarily in amounts that produce serious intoxication. For psychologically dependent drinkers, the lack of alcohol tends to make them anxious and, in some cases, panicky.

Physical dependence occurs in consistently heavy drinkers. Since their bodies have adapted to the presence of alcohol, they suffer withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop drinking. Withdrawal symptoms range from jumpiness, sleeplessness, sweating, and poor appetite, to tremors (the "shakes"), convulsions. hallucinations. and sometimes death. Alcohol abuse can take a negative toll on people's lives, fostering violence or a deterioration of personal relationships. Alcoholic behavior can interfere with school or career goals and lead to unemployment.

Long term alcohol abuse poses a variety of health risks, such as liver damage and an increased risk for heart disease. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may result from a pregnant woman's drinking alcohol; this condition causes facial abnormalities in the child, as well as growth retardation and brain damage, which often is manifested by intellectual difficulties or behavioral problems.

For assistance or more information on alcohol or substance abuse you can contact any one of your local MNO Health Branch Offices or the MNO Ottawa Office at 1-800-263-4889 and ask for Health Services.