Man always seeks pleasure and a way to hide from fear, sorrow, and misery of life. Unlike other
animals, human needs are complex. The man
has a lot of concerns other than finding
food and mating. He invented the concept of recreation. Finding pleasure has
become the lifelong quest of mankind. The man
has a verity of ways to get pleasure in which drinking alcohol plays a
prominent role. Consuming alcohol or in other words “Drinking” is not only a
recreational habit but also a part and parcel of the culture.
The root of drinking
goes back to the prehistoric era. Before
man settled down for farming in valleys they lived a nomadic life doing from
place to place seeking shelter and food.
Alcohol was introduced when man accidently discovered fermentation when they
drink wild barley fermented water. They surely started falling love with it
because it has the “feel good effect”. That fermented drink resembled beer.
Barley was one of the first crops to be domesticated thus introducing
agriculture which shaped the human civilization. People no longer needed to
roam from one place to another to gather food instead they grow them. In
medieval times, Europe was literally drunk because the only drink safe to
consume was liquor. Drinking water was mostly polluted but alcohol brewing
process requires boiling so unknowingly Europeans kill the bacteria in the
water used. Drinking has been evolved from generation to generation along with
the culture.
Why people like alcohol this much? We all like to get
pleasure and forget our worries. Alcohol precisely does that. When someone
consumes alcohol, it goes to the small
intestine through the stomach. Walls of
small intestine quickly absorb the alcohol and add them to the blood stream through which it goes to all of
the organs in our body while the Liver tries to remove alcohol from the bloodstream. However,
it takes very little time for the alcohol to reach the brain. Alcohol decreases
the activity in brain’s some neuroreceptors and increases
activity in others. It also increases the chemical dopamine in the brain’s
pleasure center causing the “feel good effect” that occurs after taking a
drink. Dopamine is called the “Pleasure hormone” because of this effect. According
to a report published by World Health Organization, world average alcohol consumption
is 6.1 liters of pure alcohol [1]. Alcohol also results in 2.5 million deaths
per year [2] surprisingly more than the number of deaths from AIDS
Temporary effects of alcohol will be gone after several
hours and the drinker will be back to the normal
sober stage. Alcohol makes a person’s mind free, his animalistic nature is
somewhat revealed. A drunken person seems
to be open and fearless. Drinking makes social
gatherings possible, people tend to meet up others over a round of drinks at a
pub or bar. Even in ancient times, pubs
have become a center of human interaction and sometimes intellectual discussion
forums for great philosophers, artists,
and revolutionists. Even today alcohol plays the
main role in social occasions and becomes a tool helping to get socialized.
Although alcohol consumption opens up a person for good, it
has many adverse effects; physical and psychological.
There are safe limits for alcohol consumption for both men
and women. Pregnant women are advised to retain from alcohol consumption. Weekly
maximum alcohol dose for men is 21 units. For women,
it is no more than 14 units. A unit of alcohol is 10ml of pure alcohol (100%
proof). It is also recommended to have at least two alcohol-free days per week
for both sexes [3]. Alcohol is highly addictive. It affects not only the
drinker but also his family, friends, and
community. Psychological trauma caused by him on his family especially children
can be very harmful in the future.
Alcohol is the cheapest method to get the “feel good
effect”. Alcohol production, distribution,
and consumption are highly regulated by governments but illicit liquor
production which is highly dangerous and black-market trade is rapidly growing.
Taxation on liquor is highly profitable for the government. Generally, alcohol taxes and ultimately liquor
prices are going up every year but those price hikes didn’t help to reduce
consumption. An addicted person may find money by whatever means to pay for
drinks.
Liquor companies maintain close ties with the authorities
and the government. Most of these ties are serving a more sinister purpose. By political
lobbying, sponsoring and bribing liquor companies
to protest against progressive steps to inform the public the harmful
effects of alcohol. People are getting wasted every
day while profit margins of liquor companies grow.
Some religions such as Buddhism and Islam forbids alcohol
consumption while Christianity usually tolerates, nevertheless regardless of
the race or religion, people get drunk. The only
practical thing to do is to educate the masses about the adverse effects of
alcohol and retain our young people from becoming alcohol addicts. Telling the
people to drink not more than their limits is effective than telling them to
stop consuming alcohol at once. Gradually anyone with a strong willingness can
come out of alcohol addiction easily.
Drinking is bound with one’s culture. Separating people from
drinking completely seems impossible. Although drinking helps us to be
socialized, to temporary forget hardships in life and to feel joy it has always
been a silent killer. Since all out war against liquor is improbable, the best
thing left is to tell others to drink responsibly according to safe limits
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