Alcohol is a natural chemical, and is produced by fermenting and distilling organic material such as hops, grapes, peaches etc. Drinks vary in the percentage of alcohol present, from beer and wine, which contains anything up to 5-15 % alcohol by volume, depending on brand, to spirits such as mampoer and witblits, which can contain up to 80% alcohol. This concentration is normally published on the packaging.

Although drinking is social pastime, alcohol is a poison and it can kill brain cells. Your body sucks up vital fluids to relieve its effects from your organs to dilute the poison. It activates the adrenal glands to speed up your metabolism so as to remove this poison as fast as possible, causing euphoria.

If you continue drinking, your body runs out of the vital fluids with which to dilute the alcohol, and becomes dehydrated. Too much alcohol generally makes you throw up. Hangovers are caused by toxins and dehydration.

Alcohol acts not as a stimulant, as is often supposed, but as a depressant. It switches off nerve impulses to areas of the brain involved in memory, judgement, and coordination.

Short-term effects of alcohol use include distorted vision, hearing, and coordination, altered perceptions and emotions, impaired judgement, bad breath and hangovers. Long-term effects of heavy alcohol use include loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, stomach ailments, skin problems, sexual impotence, liver damage, heart and central nervous system damage and memory loss. Alcohol can cause major neurological damage as a result of causing a thiamine (Vitamin B12) deficiency - but only in very large doses over a long period of time.

Because alcohol is legal, generally it is abused with a high frequency and with little thought. Drinking can bring on aggressive behaviour. It slows down your reflexes and confuses your mind, so you should not drive when drunk. It's very dangerous not only for you, but for your passengers and other road users. Dancing is difficult when drunk, as it can make you clumsy and uncoordinated.

If your family has a history of alcoholism, be especially careful about regular drinking because you could have the tendency to develop the same problem. Alcohol shouldn't be mixed with Ecstasy since it makes the danger of dehydration more severe. The same applies to depressant drugs (e.g. Heroin). Alcohol and GHB should NOT be mixed since both of them have a sedative effect on your body. Mixing the two compounds this effect, and can lead to deep unconsciousness for a few hours, even a coma.

 

Disclaimer This Guide is provided for informational purposes ONLY. RaveSafe, it's volunteers and its sponsors do not condone or advocate the use of illegal substances. RaveSafe accepts NO responsibility for the way the information in this used, nor for any harm that might occur from the use of the information contained in this document. Although a concerted effort has been made to ensure the validity of the information contained in this document, no guarantees or assurances of accuracy are provided by anyone. Read and act at your own risk.