And a lot of kids feel that by sticking to wine or beer they’re going to avoid the sorts of problems that their drug-taking peers are going to have.

 Neither group ought to feel too good about this. There isn’t a problem caused by illicit drugs that can’t be caused just as easily by alcohol.

 Alcohol and the LAW

If you under 21, ALCOHOL is just as illegal to possess, buy or be under the influence of as other drugs. And if you get caught Driving Under the Influence the conviction won’t clean when you turn 18. It will screw up your driving record, insurance, etc. just as bad if you were an adult.

Alcohol and Health

"Crack" gets all the press coverage these days as the Deadly Drug. But the truth is that NO DRUG will mess up your body as much as Alcohol in frequent and heavy doses. There’s hardly an organ in your body that isn’t seriously harmed by alcoholic drinking.

Alcohol Dependence

Of course, the big argument for Alcohol is that millions use it without ever growing dependent or becoming alcoholic. They never move beyond being "social drinkers."

Let’s look at this.

• The idea behind "social" or "moderate" drinking is to drink without getting drunk – to have one or two or three drinks as part of a larger event.

• Is that how most kids drink? If you look at most teenage parties you are struck by the fact that most will use alcohol the same way they use other drugs – to get intoxicated.

• There really isn’t a teenage equivalent of having two drinks and going out to dinner. Or buying a bottle, having a shot or two, and putting it away for the next week. The agenda at a keg party is to drink until the keg is empty. And when three friends buy a bottle of booze, they generally plan to drink it all that night.

• No one denies that many or even most people drink occasionally and moderately. But the point is that most adolescents do NOT drink this way. If you can make a distinction between using alcohol as a beverage and using it as a drug, then most kids use it as a drug.

• They get into bad drinking habits FAST.

 How Alcohol Dependence Happens

When people first start to drink, they KNOW ABOUT alcohol problems (marital, job, money, health, etc.) but that’s not what’s going on. All they experience at first is the good feelings they get from being high.

 They always figure that if problems DO show up, they’ll cut down or quit. Unfortunately, this rarely happens.

 At first, alcohol is used when you’re already feeling bad (like at a party) and want to feel better. But it all takes is one experience when you’re feeling bad (for instance, bored) and alcohol makes you feel BETTER (cures the boredom) and you’re on the road to dependence.

 Say I’m at a party where I feel out of place. Someone gives me some booze and all of a sudden I’m loose, relaxed, and having a great time. The next time I feel lousy at a party, I may remember how well the booze worked and try it again. In no time at all I don’t even wait to get to the party to see how I feel. Drinking becomes something I automatically do in a party situation.

 Soon, any party with no drinking as a drag. It may feel like "I drink because I want to, not because I have to." But the truth is that I have to drink to enjoy myself in a party situation.

 THAT’S DEPENDENCE

 Alcohol and Alcoholism

 Somewhere in the middle of Alcohol Dependence lies Alcoholism, which is a form of drug addiction.

 Signs of alcoholism include an early and high tolerance to alcohol (being able to drink and handle more than average drinkers), drinking fast at the beginning to "catch the buzz" quickly, and trying hard to get as much as possible when the supply is limited.

 A VERY serious sign is "Blackouts", little chunks of amnesia where you don’t remember part or all of the night before. This often doesn’t happen until later on in alcoholism, so if it shows up early in your drinking career, it’s a REAL BAD SIGN!!

 The DEFINITE sign of alcoholism is "lack of control" over drinking. This means not being able to stick to a drinking limit. Suppose you decided you were drinking too much and decided to cut back. You set a limit that won’t get you buzzed (no more than two or three) and try to stick to it for the next several months. But you find that many times when you drink you go over the limit. Non-alcoholics who try to stick to such limits can do so. Your failure means you are an Alcoholic.

 Since there is no way to cure this condition once it develops (No going back to non-alcoholic drinking) your two options are to have it get worse and worse as the years go by – or to learn how not to drink.

 Dealing with Alcoholism

Most people won’t believe they can’t be ‘cured’ and learn to drink moderately again. They usually have to prove this to themselves. If you think you can learn to drink normally again, by all means give it your best shot: No more than two or three from now on and NO CHEATING.

 Of course, if you’re under 21 this is illegal. And you may get into other kinds of trouble while you’re horsing around. So give some serious thought to quitting drinking.

 Most people can’t do THAT on their own either. But again, if you think you can, have at it.

 If it doesn’t work out, give us a call at (510) 792-HELP. We’re always available to talk about this more. Many people who haven’t reached a decision use us to help sort out their thinking. There’s plenty of help for you – Free and confidential.

Don’t spend half your life finding out you can’t handle booze. There are few recovering alcoholics who don’t wish they’d cleaned things up sooner than they did. Take the time to find out what your situation is with Alcohol and deal with it while you’re still young and haven’t loused things up too badly.

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