Alcohol is a drug.
Fact.
Alcohol is highly addictive.
Fact.
Alcohol kills people and causes disease.
Fact.
The more I learn about alcohol, the more shocked I am that it is still legal.
One description of alcohol is - 'A colorless, volatile, flammable liquid synthesized or obtained by fermentation of sugars and starches and widely used, either pure or denatured, as a solvent and in drugs. Also called ethanol, ethyl alcohol. Intoxicating liquor containing alcohol'.
The words used to describe alcohol are wholly unpleasant and don't make it sound like something pleasant to ingest however, when disguised in a beautiful wine bottle or hidden in a can, we quaff it back like it's the freshest water from a Highland spring.
So why are people still swallowing it?
Why are people spending hard earned cash on something that may ultimately kill them?
I believe part of the problem is that while you're drinking alcohol, you can't see the damage that is being done.
Yeah, you get a hangover but 24 hours after the event, you feel well enough to carry on right?
Yeah, your skin is dry but that's just your skin, right?
Yeah, you vomit after a night of hard drinking but that won't damage you inside will it?
Yeah, you feel low after drinking but that's because of the stupid things you did, right?
Wrong.
Every time you drink alcohol you're causing damage. You just can't see it and therefore it is easy to ignore.
Alcohol has now been proven to cause some cancers, liver disease and mental disorders to name but a few. And yet the shelves of supermarkets are emptied each weekend in a frenzy to get hammered.
I am well aware I was one of the sheep who downed alcohol like it was going out of fashion and at the time, I didn't care about the consequences. But I do now from the other side of the fence. I find it fascinating that we treat cigarettes in such a cloak & dagger fashion but continue to proudly display alcohol in front of our children.
I find it unbelievable that alcohol can be advertised at 8am while our kids get ready for school.
I find it incredulous that it is legal for anyone over the age of 5 to drink alcohol. Yes, you read that right. Age 5.
Unbelievably, it's only 25 years ago since I smoked a cigarette on a plane. I was on holiday with my mum and her friends and we all sat on the back row in the 'smoking area'. How ridiculous does that sound now? The 'smoking area' that filled the whole plane with smoke! The fact we actually smoked on a plane! And yet it wasn't really that long ago and look how our attitudes have changed towards smoking.
I'm convinced the same will happen with alcohol when we understand exactly what we are doing to ourselves. Perhaps it's time we started to see adverts on TV about what alcohol can do to a person.
Perhaps it's time to display photos of damage caused by alcohol on bottles of wine.
Perhaps it's time to face up to the fact that alcohol is a poison and will cause damage no matter how little you ingest.
Perhaps the time is now.
Written by Sober Fish, #day421 2018