Alcohol the legal Drug (Guest Post) I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some misconceptions regarding alcohol. In this country we tend to categorize drugs as either hard or soft drugs. Alcohol is almost always considered a soft drug because it is legal. Certainly alcohol is not perceived as harmful as some of the “hard drugs” like Methamphetamine or Heroin. The same parents that turn a blind eye to a teenager’s use of alcohol would have a completely different response if the teenager was experimenting with those hard drugs, but let’s take an honest look at it. We know that 95% of all adults dependent on or abusing alcohol started drinking before the age of twenty-one. Introducing alcohol to a young adult or teenage brain has a greater impact because the brain is developing and has not reached maturity. This chemical experimentation changes the brain in fundamental ways. Some of the areas of the body that long-term abuse of alcohol can damage are the Liver, Pancreas, Stomach, Cardio Vascular, Brain, Esophagus, and has also been linked to some forms of cancer. One example that demonstrates the harmfulness of alcohol is withdrawal symptoms from can occur from alcohol use. If a person has been binging on Methamphetamine for a few days they can go through withdrawal without medical intervention, but if a person has been binging on alcohol for several days they need to be screened for medical managed de-tox. The reason for this is that in some cases the withdrawal from the alcohol can be fatal. The tissues of the body get so adapted to the alcohol that when the alcohol is leaving the system the person can go into toxic shock and die. That is a pretty hard-core drug in my book. It is important to remember that a drug is a drug. Whether a drug is legal or culturally accepted makes no difference to the body. There is no red flag in a person’s brain telling a person this drug goes here because it is legal and that drug goes there because it is illegal. The brain and body do not know a legal drug from an illegal drug, all it knows is the impact of the drug. The two legal drugs alcohol and tobacco are responsible for more deaths than all the illegal drugs combined. The number one cause of death for people between the ages of 16 and 34 are alcohol related car crashes. It is important for parents, educators, and others to keep this mind when discussing the impacts of drug use with our teenagers. Disclaimer: If you are needing more extensive assistance or counseling, we can supply you with a list of available agencies to assist you. No blogs are ever meant to substitute a person seeking help through professional counseling.
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