Key Points

Alcohol comes in a wide variety of drinks with an equally wide variety of strengths, colours and tastes. Alcoholic drinks are required by law to display the strength of the Alcohol in the drink.

The scientific name for Alcohol is ethanol. It is recommended that adults limit themselves to drinking 14 units of Alcohol week. This should be spread out over 3 or more days and not saved up for 1 whole day session. A unit is a measurement that explains how much pure Alcohol is in that drink. For example a 500 cl can of 4% lager = 2 units.

It is always useful to eat a substantial meal before drinking copious amount of Alcohol and to also alternate between drinking soft drinks and Alcohol on a night out.  

The Law  

It is against the law for anyone under 18 to buy Alcohol in pub, bar, off licence, supermarket or online.

Children aged 16 and under must be accompanied by an adult in a pub or bar. Police can confiscate Alcohol from anyone the suspect to be drinking under the age of 18.

It’s illegal for an adult to buy alcohol for someone aged under 18, except where that person buys beer, wine or cider for someone aged 16 or 17 to be drunk with a table meal while accompanied by a person over 18.

Driving under the influence of Alcohol is considered dangerous and illegal. If found guilty of this then you can face a heavy fine, driving ban or prison sentence and potentially all three of these.

Effects on the body and Risks

Drinking Alcohol can make you:

• Tired
• Dizzy
• Nauseous
• Lose control of functions such as walking
• Slur Speech
• Change your emotions such as become emotional or angry

Drinking Alcohol in large amounts can make you violently ill and lead to a Hangover the following day. This can manifest itself in a headache due to dehydration. 

The Risks

Numerous mental and physical risks are related to drinking Alcohol regularly or from binge drinking.

Due to fact that Alcohol can impair basic motor function such as walking and co-ordination. Many Alcohol related injuries arise from people experiencing trips and falls or even from physical assaults.

Long term physical effects of excessive and regular drinking can be loss of brain cells, liver failure, stomach ulcers, certain types of cancer, heart attacks, epilepsy, weight gain (a strong can of lager has the same calories as a mars bar), Skin problems – once damaged the liver can’t process vitamins in your body. 

Short term Alcohol effects your mood (may feel like makes you happy initially but it’s a depressant), possible alcohol poisoning (level of alcohol in your blood rises so high you can lose consciousness, coma or worse), being sick, make you feel tired or the opposite, disorientated, blurred vision.

It is easy to allow your drinking habits to run away with you and this can eventually lead to addiction, dependency and Alcoholism. Your tolerance increases the more you drink and you therefore require more Alcohol to get the same effect.