Alcohol
abuse a common trend
By Sonya Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
 Stuart
Espana, 29, began his night by going to
a friend’s house to hang out and drink a
few beers. His night ended with his truck
totaled, after it careened out of control
on a freeway off-ramp, and a blood alcohol
level of .28, well over the .08 limit. He
then paid $3,000 in fines and went to months
of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“I’ve cut back [drinking] since the accident,
but I’m still drinking,” Espana said who
still drinks an average of six drinks a
day.
Espana is not alone in drinking excessively,
according to a recent American Medical Association
article that said underage drinkers and
adult excessive drinkers are accountable
for 50.1 percent of alcohol consumed in
1999. This suggests a progression through
life from underage drinking carrying on
to excessive drinking as an adult.
The article found that underage drinkers,
age 12 to 20, drank 19.7 percent of all
alcohol consumed in 1999.
Also, 78 percent of high school students
have tried at least one drink of alcohol
and 5 million of those students binge drink
at least once a month, according to the
article.
Underage drinking is treated as a common
occurrence these days.
“I go to parties with my friends and drink
to relax and to forget about my everyday
problems,” Renee Lemus, third year journalism
major, said.
When asked about underage drinking Lemus,
who turns 21 in July, said “You have to
be at an age when you are responsible, because
you have to understand the consequence.”
She began drinking at age 18.
Unfortunately, underage drinking can impact
the rest of your life because, “Individuals
who begin drinking before 15 years are four
times more likely to become alcohol dependent
than those who do not drink before 21 years,”
the article said.
This provides the first essential step for
alcohol’s cycle to begin, finding its way
to people before they turn 21 so that it
can, “Increase the chances that teenagers
will become adult heavier drinkers with
alcohol problems later in life,” the article
said.
The next progression for alcohol’s cycle
is excessive drinking as an adult, more
than two drinks a day, which accounted for
an estimated 30.4 percent of all alcohol
consumed in 1999, the article said. Excessive
drinking also led to an estimated $34.4
billion chunk of the total $116.2 billion
spent on alcohol in 1999, according to the
article.
When 27 percent of alcohol consumed is by
the top 2.5 percent of the drinking adult
population, the health risks to alcohol
become the next step, the article said.
Some of the health problems associated with
alcohol are: stroke, violence (50 percent
of violent crimes are committed while under
the influence) and suicide, the study warned.
Many cancers are associated with alcohol
abuse as well, including cancer of the mouth,
pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver and breast,
Ian MacLead, a cancer information specialist
from the American Cancer Society, said.
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