Don't Lose to the Booze
You’re at a holiday jam. Everyone is having a great time, and alas, somebody has brought some alcohol. Putting the legal implications of underage drinking aside for a moment, here are some things to consider before you start ‘turning up’.
How it works
As a depressant, alcohol slows the nervous system. It is absorbed into the bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine and spreads throughout the body quickly. Your blood alcohol content (BAC) measures the amount of pure alcohol in your bloodstream. The legal level of impairment in Canada is .08%. Depending on how fast you drink, your size, and gender, your BAC can rise significantly within just twenty minutes.
Alcohol and the Brain
Drinking alcohol sets off a chain reaction in your brain. As you continue to drink, new areas of your brain are affected, and your reactions and impairments worsen. The last area of the brain affected by alcohol is the brain stem, which controls involuntary reflexes like telling your lungs to breathe and your heart to pump. At toxic levels, (BAC of .35%—.50%) alcohol slows or stops the functions in the brain stem, often resulting in death if there is no early intervention. But long before alcohol affects the brain stem, it has already been absorbed by the major organs in your body.
Short-term effects of binge drinking
Liver disease
Alcohol poisoning
Heart disease and stroke
Neurological Damage
Sexual dysfunction
Want drugs with that?
It’s very common for people to combine drugs with alcohol. When this is done, the effects of other depressants (like marijuana) can be increased, or the effects of stimulants (such as cocaine) can be reduced. Combining alcohol and drugs is always dangerous because you have no idea how they will react to each other. Combining depressants can result in lowered heart and breathing rates for instance. Combining alcohol with stimulants causes stress to your heart and other organs and can keep you from feeling the full effect of either substance, increasing your chance of overdose.
47,000 Canadian deaths are linked to substance abuse annually. Don’t be one of them. Party safe and never, EVER drive impaired.
