Alcohol

In the UK, drinking has been so common that it is classed as a hobby! Alcohol has become a recent problem where excessive 'binge' drinking threatens to destabilise the over-stretched NHS and the Police Service to its limits. Alcohol can be extremely damaging to your health; too much in 1 session can be lethal. Drinking excessively can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and other long term health problems. But overall, is drinking alcohol bad?

From what health experts say, drinking one glass of wine or beer per day is actually good for you: wine and certain beers contain antioxidants that reduce the risk of cancer. Alcohol in a controlled environment affects no-one. When it is combined with Happy Hours and drinking promotions it can be a problem. Under-age drinking is on the rise and is proving problematic to all concerned. Alcohol has the potential to break up family relationships despite the obvious health concerns attached to it.

Advertisements for smoking were banned some years ago and the same is becoming true for alcohol. The government believed 24-hour licencing in certain establishments would reduce the drinking culture to a more relaxed, cafe European style: it is evident that this is failing. It is still quite surprising that the UK has some of the highest taxation on alcohol in Europe, yet has the most alcohol related illness cases out of them. Someone please try and explain that analogy...

Overall though, compared to drugs and smoking, we could oversimplify and say it is the least dangerous out of the three and not as bad. But, in the long term, it is no better; if not worse than them.

Here is a link for more information on alcohol and the affects it can have:

http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/servlets/home