Teen Drinking May Result in Drug Abuse

Forty percent of those who began drinking at age 13 or younger developed alcohol dependence later in life. Ten percent of teens who began drinking after the age of 17 developed dependence. Teens that drink are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than teens who never consume alcohol. Alcohol kills 6 ½ times more young adults than all other illicit drugs together.

Those are some statistics that should get the attention of parents who do not think it is a big deal when there teenager drinks alcohol. Surprisingly, many people, adults included, do not even think that alcohol is a drug. Seemingly, the fact that it is legal and, therefore, much more socially acceptable leads them to this erroneous assumption.

The reality is that just as any other drug, alcohol is a poison and if you drink too much of it in too quick of a time it will kill you. There are also, obviously, ramifications that are less serious than death such as a hangover. This phenomenon is what takes place when a person drinks too much alcohol . It burns off the supply of vitamins in one’s body, particularly B vitamins, and the resultant shortage is extreme tiredness, sluggishness, a ill feeling and quite often a bad headache. When a person does this too many times they will begin to develop a dependency on alcohol, both physically and psychologically.

A person can also get to the point where if he drinks often enough and regularly he will burn off so much of the body’s store of vitamins that he will develop what is called DTs or delirium tremens. The symptoms are severe, shakes and hallucinations. When you get to that point death is not far behind.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Certainly, burning off your body’s vitamins is only one of the results of alcohol abuse. It affects every major organ in the body, including your brain.

Regardless of how one may justify it drug abuse and alcohol addiction are very critical matters, one that will affect a person’s life negatively in many ways. The further travesty is that it affects those around them almost as much. The alcohol abuser is not only a liability to himself http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifbut also to all those around him.

Alcohol addiction can be taken care of and generally drug rehab is the answer. But in choosing a rehab program make sure it is one that has a good track record for effectiveness. Not all programs are created equal.