ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

A drug or a substance that affects how the brain works and causes changes in mood, awareness, thoughts, feelings or behavior is known as a psychotropic substance.

Caffeine, Alcohol, Nicotine, Marijuana, certain pain medications, Heroin, LSD, Cocaine and Amphetamines are Psychotropic substances.

Alcohol as given above is one of the Psychotropic substances. It is absorbed into the blood stream. It is a chemical depressant that slows down the brain and the central nervous system. It also affects other organs like heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys and the digestive tract. Alcohol puts a person at great risk for cancer and organ failure and slows down the immune system.

The depressant effect of alcohol changes our thinking, judgment, perception, temperature, reaction time, muscle control, vision, hearing, balance, movement, mood and emotions. It can change the size of the brain.

It also impairs decision making capacity. So drinking and driving is asking for trouble. If there is a crunch time in traffic one cannot take a decision fast enough which can result in an easy accident.

Alcohol is the most easily available, widely consumed, and widely abused recreational drug. Beer alone is the worlds most widely consumed alcoholic beverage; it is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage.

Much more males drink alcohol than females. Both genetic and environmental factors affect alcohol use.

Alcohol addiction is different from mere alcohol consumption. Addiction is a physical or mental dependence on alcohol and a strong compulsion to drink without any control. They have to drink larger amounts as time passes and it would have severe withdrawal symptoms if they stop drinking alcohol.

It is natural to assume that the higher the average alcohol consumption, the higher the addiction. However, research does not point to any such correlation.  

In the alcohol drinkers of the world 3.73% of the males and 0.58% females are addicted to alcohol.  

In India alcohol addiction in males is 3.47% and for females it is 0.42%. So, we are more or less going at the world average.

Heaviest drinking countries of the world by consumption per capita:

1.       Belarus

2.       Lithuania

3.       Grenada

4.       Czech Republic

5.       France

6.       Russia

7.       Iceland

8.       Luxemburg

9.       Slovakia

10.   Germany

Countries with highest male addiction rates:

1.       Russia   (16.29%)

2.       Hungary

3.       Lithuania

4.       South Korea (13.10%)

5.       Latvia

6.       Belarus

7.       Estonia

8.       Niue (Island in the Pacific Ocean, population only 1600)

9.       Colombia

10.   Thailand (10.18%)

Russia is the country that has the highest addiction to alcohol at a big 16.29% of the males and 2.58% of the females.

On the lower end Afghanistan only has 0.18% of males addicted and 0.12% females.

The USA has 5.48% addiction in males & 1.92% in females. So comparing between male & female the female addiction is much more in the US. Perhaps one of the effects of more equality of sexes.

Among the Asian countries South Korea and Thailand are highly addicted.

Countries with highest female addiction rates:

1.       Australia (2.61%)

2.       Russia

3.       Norway

4.       Colombia

5.       Hungary

6.       Sweden (2.27%)

7.       New Zealand

8.       Moldova

9.       Lithuania

10.   Unites States (1.92%)

 

In the entire African continent alcohol addiction is very low low, as is also the case with Middle East Asian countries.