Folake Olayinka (1231) Dr.

Razvi English 1301- 6 October 21, 2013 A Harmless Drug The intoxicating liquid is slowly absorbed into the body system poisoning the cells, impairing ones judgment and depressing the brain like a snakes venom. As more and more of the foul liquid is immersed into the cells on a daily basis, the liver and stomach gradually die but the hallucinogenic feeling one gets as the gruesome fluid flows through the body is too much of a high to resist. Alcohol is a drug that numbs the brain and when consumed over a long period of time can cause damage to major organs in the human body like the heart and liver. Although the drug alcohol plays a major role in society, the negative effects the substance has on the human body calls for more legal restrictions. The effect alcohol has overall on the body is negative and the amount that is consumed by the public on a daily basis is frightening. When alcohol enters the body it travels through the esophagus and into the small and large intestine. The liquid is absorbed into the blood stream stimulating the production of dopamine and endorphins which gives a heady sense of pleasure. Entering the heart, alcohol reduces the force of the heart muscle contractions. There is a sense of heaviness as the poisonous substance slowly relaxes the blood vessels all over the body and temporarily decreases the blood pressure. As time goes on the liver which is where poisonous substances are metabolized slowly diminishes because of the quantity of the drug. The negative effect alcohol has on the organs of the body should make society wary about how lenient the laws are on the consumption of alcohol.

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The disastrous prohibition movement on alcohol in the 1890s which according to the 31st president of America, Herbert Hoover was a noble experiment shouldnt influence how lenient the legal restrictions are on alcohol in the 21st century. The difference between the alcohol abuse in the 19th century and the 21st century is that parents arent the only victims of alcohol. There is a high rate of underage drinkers some of them who are as young as 13. One might ask themselves how a 13 year old can access alcohol. Well, the answer lies in the free circulation of alcohol in society. Anyone who looks the age can walk into a grocery store, smoothly take out a fake-id, hand it over to the cashier and buy an alcoholic beverage with no problems at all. The lenient restrictions on alcohol shouldnt take all the blame because with movies like The Hangover about a bunch of adults that get drunk and have the best night of their lives, the idea that alcohol is harmless is so engraved in pop culture, that most young adults think that drinking alcohol is a coming of age tradition. A lot of teenagers might think drinking alcohol is the moment you experience life in its fullest. But what most of them dont realize is that alcohol makes you feel like a conqueror because like every great conqueror in history, when the battle is over all that is left is a blood bath and in the case of alcohol all that would be left would be a poisoned body. The thinking process that alcohol is a harmless substance has impacted society in a lot of destructive ways. Today underage drinking is a major cause of death among young people, also there are a lot of drunk drivers that roam the street making it unsafe for everyone. How many times do we have to hear the story of a drunk driver killing an innocent person before we realize that alcohol doesnt do any good and only does evil? How many times do we have to hear the story about a teenage girl that got drunk at a party and raped? The answer is that we would keep hearing this stories until we take action and society realize that alcohol isnt a friendly drugdoes

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kill people and there is no positivity in drinking alcohol. According to NCADD (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence) .org The U.S. Department of Justice Report on Alcohol and Crime found that alcohol abuse was a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes committed in the United States. All of the aggression, violence and death alcohol causes is enough for society to be aware that alcohol isnt a friendly substance, but a poisonous liquid that has long-term effects. Some people and alcoholics might disagree that alcohol has a calming effect on the body, makes a person more social and that when drank lightly is totally safe. But this observational selection fails to point out the negative side effect of using alcohol as a stress-relief medication. Alcohol itself can serve as a stressor, activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, which constitutes a major component of the hormonal stress response, according to a research done by Howard C. Becker, a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences in the Medical University of South Carolina, about the effect alcohol dependency has on stress responsiveness. Alcohol makes a person feel calm isnt a positive thing because the calm feeling one has as he/she consumes alcohol is because the brain is numb and the blood level is low. An evaluation done in the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, on how a low level of response to alcohol predicts later heavy drinking suggest that people with a low level of response to alcohol have a high chance of becoming alcoholics in their 30s. So, because one doesnt get drunk on their first alcoholic drink doesnt mean that they wouldnt keep trying to get drunk. Also, alcohol isnt the best drug to get a calm feeling. There are drugs like weed, cocaine, and marijuana that are more calming to the body. Therefore if the justification for using alcohol is that it calms the body then anyone could justify their addiction to weed on the logic that its a stress-relief, calms the body and make them more sociable.

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There should be more legal restrictions on alcohol because like any other drugs alcohol causes a lot of damage physically, emotionally and socially. One of the lasting emotional effects of alcohol is a feeling of depression. The heady feeling makes the alcoholic feel invincible and the actions he/she takes after the alcohol has been absorbed into the blood stream is usually harmful to others. But as time goes on depression slowly starts to encompass the alcoholic and that heady feeling transforms into a sickness. There are lot of negative lasting impressions alcohol has left in society: underage drinking, abuse, disease and death are some of the social effects of alcohol. Without any doubt the negative effects of alcohol out weight the positive effects, so the lenient laws on alcohol doesnt make any sense. There should be no doubt that alcohol is one of the most used drug in society because mostly everyone has access. Whether its through a friend, parent or at a party, the fact remains everyone is susceptible to becoming an alcoholic because of the easy access to the drug. If there are more legal restrictions on alcohol the abuse on the drug would slowly stop because society would realize that alcohol is a drug, and a 13-year-old wouldnt have easy access to a rotten poison.