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The Effects of Alcohol and Drugs

Alcohol and drug use can not only impair your ability to function now, it can have long-range negative effects on your health and well-being.
  1. Health Effects of Alcohol (261)
  2. Costs of Alcohol Abuse (8)
  3. Medication Reactions (4)
  4. Co-Occurring Disorders (57)

What Are the Risks of Heavy Drinking?
If you drink more than the recommended guidelines for alcohol consumption, you may be wondering what exactly are the risks. What is the harm in drinking too much alcohol?

What Is At-Risk Alcohol Drinking?
If you regularly exceed the recommended guidelines for daily and weekly alcohol consumption your drinking pattern could be considered risky.

Alcohol: How Much Is Too Much?
How do you know if you are drinking at a safe level? How much alcohol can you drink and still be considered a low-risk drinker? How much is high-risk?

The Effects of Parental Alcoholism on Children
If you have an alcohol or drug problem and have children in the home, rest assured they are being deeply affected.

Alcohol Named the Most Harmful Drug
Alcohol is the world's most dangerous drug when you consider the harm it does to drinkers, their friends and families and to society in general.

Heavy Drinking Dangers

Alcohol and Pain
The use of alcohol to depress the effects of pain is as old as the fermentation process itself. Alcohol is believed to be one of the oldest and probably the most widely used drug in the world.

The Dangers of 'Non-Alcoholic' Beer
Those trying to abstain from alcohol are warned against the use of non-alcoholic beer, now there may be scientific evidence to support the admonition.

Alcohol Reaction Medication List
There are very few medications that can be taken safely while drinking. If you drink alcohol, check this list before taking any new medication.

Alcoholics Have Problems Recognizing Danger

Even Social Drinking Increases Risky Behavior
A brain imaging study has found that after consuming alcohol, even social drinkers find it difficult to tell the difference between threatening and non-threatening social stimulus.

Drinkers Three Times as Likely to Die from Injury
People who regularly drink alcohol are three times as likely to die from injury as are non-drinkers and former drinkers of alcohol, according to new research.

Alcohol and Tolerance
Tolerance means that after continued drinking, consumption of a constant amount of alcohol produces a lesser effect.

Alcohol Metabolism
Through oxidation, alcohol is detoxified and removed from the blood, preventing the alcohol from accumulating and destroying cells and organs.

Alcohol and Sleep

Angry, Low Control Men Should Not Drink
A person's inability to control the outward expression of their anger plays a key role in alcohol-related aggression.

Alcohol's Drug Properties Reinforce Its Effects
A Binghamton University study has found that alcohol's reinforcing properties during rodent infancy are due to its pharmacological effects and smell and taste are not as important for youngsters.

Alcohol and Minorities
Genetic and environmental factors may put some minorities at risk for alcoholism or protect other minorities from alcohol problems.

Adolescent Rodents Experience Milder Hangovers
Findings indicate that adolescent rodents experience less anxiety during the hangover phase, and recover faster from this hangover effect than do adult rodents, and even show an increase in a specific form of social activity called "play fighting."

Neurotransmitters Key to Treating Alcoholics?
A team of scientists has described the cellular mechanism underlying the brain's response to alcohol, which suggests a possible method for treating alcoholism.

Chemistry Of The Dark Side
New studies of the effects of alcohol on brain chemistry help to explain why alcoholics develop alcoholism in the first place, and why they tend to relapse.

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