Alcohol Abstinence Essay

Ever known someone that was a victim of an alcohol related death or had their lives ruined because of it? Well I have. More than 100,000 US deaths are caused by excessive alcohol drinking each year. Alcohol is a huge fetter to people and I believe that everyone should be abstinent from it. Alcohol is harmful to the body, teens abuse it and drink underage, and it has harmful effects on children. Every year, more money is spent promoting alcohol than any other product. Perhaps through its elaborate and creative marketing, the most basic, yet important fact about alcohol is often overlooked: It is a drug. One concept that many people find difficult to accept is that alcoholism and alcohol problems are a disease. Research has shown that alcohol interacts with the bodys systems in predictable ways to lead to physiological addiction. Alcohol significantly impairs judgment and coordination, it can increase the chance of aggressive acts, it can do permanent damage to vital organs, and it can cause cancer, gastrointestinal irritations such as nausea, diarrhea, and ulcers, malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies, sexual dysfunctions, high blood pressure, lowered resistance to disease, and others. Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among young people today. Underage drinking costs the United States more than 58 billion dollars a year. Thats enough to buy every public school student a state of the art computer. Concerning the past 30 days, 50% of high school seniors reported drinking, with 32% report being drunk at least once. About 30% of failures in school are caused by alcohol and 2-3% of teens die from it. Despite the tireless efforts of thousands of advocates, impaired drivers continue to kill someone every 30 minutes, nearly 50 people a day, and almost 18,000 citizens a year. Lots of people think the only people affected by alcohol are adults and teens but children can also be affected by it. More than 18% of American children experience alcohol abuse by a parent or other adult in their lives. Parents can influence the use of alcohol as well. Almost 65% of youth surveyed said that they got the alcohol they drink from family. Mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy can also affect children. These infants may suffer from mental retardation and other irreversible physical abnormalities. In  addition, research indicates that children of alcoholic parents are at greater risk than other children of becoming alcoholics. Since alcohol is something that would be extremely hard to ban and probably wouldnt work if tried, people need to refrain from poisoning themselves with it and become abstinent. Alcohol forces people to do irrational things and endanger peoples lives. People need to be abstinent from alcohol so this world can become a better and safer place for the generations to come. Bibliography â€Å"Alcohol.† GDCADA- Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol on Drug Abuse. 6 Mar. 2006. 14 Feb. 2009 . â€Å"Alcohol and Drugs.† Alcohol and Drug Information. SAMHSA. 14 Feb. 2009 .