AHS Views

There was an odd story in a UK newspaper today about the need to include alcohol abuse education in sex education classes. Why would this be? Because a very high number of people have sexual encounters while drinking that they would never have had otherwise. And it’s one more reason why alcohol addiction help should be sought as soon as it is recognized that someone has a problem.

What do these sexual ‘encounters’ consist of?

• Having sex with someone that you never would have had sex with if you hadn’t been drinking
• Starting sex earlier in life than you would have otherwise
• Unprotected sex – which, of course, can lead to unwanted pregnancy and getting sexually transmitted diseases
• Sex with multiple partners
• Rape

Here are some actual statistics:

• Up to 70% of college students admit to having sex primarily because they were drinking or to having sex they wouldn’t have had were they not drinking.

• 90% of all campus rapes occur when one or the other party has been drinking

• At least 20% of college students abandons their normal safe sex practices when they drinking.

• One in twelve college males admit to having committed acts that meet the legal definition of rape.

• 55% of female students and 75% of male students involved in ‘acquaintance rape’ say they were drinking or on drugs at the time.

• 80% of college women with STDs, including genital herpes and AIDS, say they were drinking at the time they had sex with the infected person.

Drinking impairs judgment of any kind, so even those you think would not do anything ‘like that’, like your son or daughter, are more likely to do it while they’re drinking.

Of course, this information should be included in sex education, but if the person drinks, how much difference is it really going to make to know these statistics?

Not much, because they’re drinking, not thinking.

The best remedy is alcohol rehab. Then they’ll kill two birds with one stone.

We all know that alcohol abuse can cause a number of problems both physically and in life, but we don’t usually associate it directly with breast cancer. According to a new study, alcohol abuse and breast cancer are linked – even when you are a relatively light drinker. To protect themselves, women who can’t stop drinking should consider getting alcohol addiction help.

It’s not new news that alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer, but the study showed that it takes very little to increase the possibility of getting breast cancer.

This long-term study followed 100,000 nurses aged 18 and 40 to correlate their drinking habits with the development of breast cancer. They found that having two or less drinks a week doesn’t increase the risk, but drinking more does.

Women who are concerned about this risk can simply stop drinking – or, at least, cut their drinks down to two a week. That will put the risk back down to normal.

Some women, when they try cutting down, are going to find that they are a lot more dependent on alcohol than they thought. That’s one of the problems with alcohol – you sometimes don’t know how dependent you are until you try to stop.

If you find yourself in that position, the best thing to do is get into a good alcohol rehab program.

Breast cancer is now rampant – one in eight women get it, and some experts expect this number to increase. Quitting or cutting down on drinking is no guarantee, but at least we know it is one more risk factor we can control.

Statistics show that kids whose parents really educate them on the dangers of alcohol are 50 percent less likely to drink. A new program in two Seattle high schools is showing that education in schools can have the same effect – their alcohol education program reduced the number of kids who drink by 50 percent. This is important for several reasons – it stops kids, and families, from suffering the consequences of alcohol abuse, and it also greatly reduces the chances that kids will turn into adult alcoholics who need alcohol rehab.

What do we mean by ‘education’? It’s not just ordering kids not to drink or take drugs, and it’s not broad generalities about how they’re bad for you. It’s giving them information about what alcohol is, what is does to the body, how it effects the mind, how it makes a person even less able to control their environment and their thoughts, and less able to address whatever problems they have that are making them want to drink.

It also means giving them statistics on the consequences – driving while under the influence, the increase in other types of accidents and injuries, information on how it effects kids in school regarding their grades, their ability to show up for classes where they can get the education they need to have a good future, and so on.

In other words, they need the full picture. Just like adults, reasonable kids use information to make their decisions. Not all kids will do that, and not all adults will do that, but it decreases the chances of them drinking or taking drugs by 50 percent – so we know that at least ½ of them ‘get it.’

The program in the Seattle schools got everyone involved – the kids, the parents, the teachers, and the police.

If you educate your kids, and get your kids’ schools to initiate a similar education program to back you up, it will really help. Your kids will be safer, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about.

Sometimes education isn’t enough. If someone in your family won’t stop drinking, get them into an alcohol addiction help program so they won’t ruin their lives, or yours.

Many parents face the dilemma of trying to bring up their kids so they don’t drink alcohol. Or, at least, don’t abuse it. If someone does have an alcohol problem, they can get alcohol addiction help through an alcohol rehab program. But prevention is far easier than the cure: Once a person gets to the point of getting treatment, they have often done a lot of damage to their body, their family, and themselves. And sometimes it’s irreversible.

Educating kids on the dangers of alcohol is a common prevention method, but here are a few relatively new statistics that could be pretty convincing.

• One out of every five alcoholics who attempt to stop drinking without medical intervention end up dying as a result of alcohol withdrawal delirium. So, in fact, it’s not just will power or the mental and emotional dependence on alcohol that keeps people from quitting. The symptoms they experience are so severe they feel they just have to have another drink or they’re going to die. And, in one out of every five cases, they’re right. That really gives you a clue as to how bad drinking can be.
• 68% of people who go to hospital emergency rooms have an alcohol or drug problem. Just to give you more of an idea of how many people that represents – there are nearly 124 million ER visits every year, so that means over 84 million people with drug or alcohol problems are in ERs. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about not wanting to go to a hospital emergency room because they don’t want to wait for hours in a room with a bunch of ‘drunks’ or ‘druggies.’ Does your son or daughter want to be one of them?
• They should also know that most of these people in ERs aren’t hardcore, long-term alcoholics. The millions of accidents and injuries that occur while drinking often happen to people who are not really alcoholics at all.
• 20% of suicide victims in the US are alcoholics. You might be tempted to say that’s logical because if they weren’t really depressed or otherwise kind of messed up, they wouldn’t be alcoholics in the first place. Well, to a degree, that’s true. But people often start drinking for much more mundane reasons than wanting to kill themselves. They start because their friends think it’s cool, or because everyone around them drinks and they want to feel like they’re part of the crowd. And, by the way, this isn’t always because of ‘peer pressure’ – sometimes it’s just a matter of having people to talk to and hang out with. If all the people around you who you might want to hang out with are drinkers, it’s hard to talk to them unless you’re drinking too. Even just being a ‘little high’, not drunk, can be a vastly different world than being ‘sober.’
• Whatever the reason the person started drinking, alcohol can make you depressed – the longer you drink, the worse it gets. Also, the chances of alcohol causing problems in your life are very high – someone’s orderly life can turn into a mess once they start drinking. They lose family, jobs, friends, money, relationships, etc.
• At this point, you can be sure that they have wanted to quit for along time – they’ve seen the slide in their life. But, because alcohol is so addictive both mentally and physically, they have not been able to quit. So they slide down even further – their self-esteem is destroyed as they see their lives go down the drain and can’t do anything about it. Is it really surprising that under those circumstances someone would kill themselves?

Let your kids know about these things. Get them to really look at how bad it can get. That should help them realize that drinking has consequences that they really don’t want.

And in case they think they’re immune to all that, point out to them that there’s not much chance that anyone thought they’d become one of those statistics when they started drinking. No matter how they feel now, or who they think they are and  how they would react or respond to things, alcohol will change them.

Wow. A recent survey conducted on 500 kids under the age of 16 revealed that half of them had been embarrassed by an adult’s drinking. You may have had that experience yourself. Very unpleasant for a kid. Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS), a charity that focuses on reducing the harm caused by alcohol, is now on an all-out campaign to get adults to start setting a good example. No doubt, alcohol rehab and addiction help will be part of it.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying we have quite that bad a situation in the U.S. – although I’m certain there are some States, cities or areas that would get similar results if a similar survey were conducted – but AFS is on the right track in trying to reduce the alcohol abuse problem overall. If their efforts manage to convince adults that they should cut down on the booze, then fewer kids will drink as well.

Parents setting a good example – regarding alcohol, or anything else – is a very important part of kids not turning to drugs or alcohol. Of course, there are some adults for whom drinking is so normal that they really don’t care if their kids drink or not, and they actually expect them to. But most parents would prefer to know that when their kid goes out for the evening they’re not going to get a DUI on the way home or, worse, have an accident and get hurt or killed, or do the same to someone else.

If a parent cares about the safety and future of their children, it’s a good idea to start with getting into an alcohol rehab program themselves so they can set a good example – it will also give them more credibility when they try to convince their kids that a lot of drinking is not a good thing to do.

Don’t worry about your history – in fact, someone who has had an alcohol problem and then overcomes it would probably have an even bigger and better effect on their kids.

Do you have a problem with alcohol abuse? Do you have kids? Consider getting alcohol addiction help. It could make a big difference to your future, and your kids’.

Many parents think that if they let their kids drink at home, instead of going to bars or parties where they’re unsupervised and going to have to drive home, they’re going to be safe. That is not the case. In fact, it could foster substance abuse. What are your options? Alcohol rehab should be at the top of the list.

Case in point, a news story this week about a girl named Terry. She was at a party at a friend’s house. The parents were home. They had a few drinks with the kids, but then went to bed. They told the kids not to drink anymore.

Instead, Terry decided she would try to down 15 shots. This serious binge drinking poisoned her. She struggled all night lying on the bathroom floor, with her friends trying to help.

No one woke up the parents – the kids didn’t realize how dangerous the situation was. But as the news story put it, Terry wasn’t just struggling, she was dying. By the time the parents were informed, it was too late to save her life.

This incident happened in Michigan, in a county of less than 200,000 people. That county has a remarkably bad record with drugs and alcohol: Emergency medical technicians responded to about 175 overdose incidents and there 208 alcohol-related car crashes and 37 drug-related car crashes in 2009.

But, really, it doesn’t matter where this particular incident happened – it happens all over the U.S.

What went wrong? First, some parents have the idea that drinking with their kids is cool; it’s a way to ‘relate.’ But it sets the worst example. Will kids look up to their parents because they drink? Not likely.

Second, drinking at home, apparently safe, may keep the kids from having to get into a car and drive, but it doesn’t stop them from drinking too much, overdosing on alcohol, or becoming alcoholics.

If you have kids who drink, get them alcohol help. In a good drug and alcohol rehab program, they’ll come to understand that urge and overcome it. They’ll also learn to deal with it when friends around them are drinking. Then you don’t have to worry about them. Whether they’re home or out. They’ve become responsible.

If you’re worried about making sure your kids don’t turn into alcoholics, the best thing to do is start taking precautions against that when they’re very young. If you don’t do that, they could wind up in need of addiction help quite soon, and if they don’t get it, they could be fighting alcoholism all their lives. So, what do you do when you’re starting early?

First, educate them. Not lecture, just kindly give them the information they need. This means you’re going to have to get educated yourself. What is alcohol? How is it made? What is the real effect it creates on the body? Why it is poisonous? Show them drunk driving and domestic violence statistics. Binge drinking. And so on. They need to know what it is, what is does.

Second, set a good example. Don’t drink yourself or limit your drinking to once a week or so and then only have a small glass of wine or something like that. But, truthfully, even drinking in moderation sends the wrong message. The message is that no one needs alcohol. Period.

Third, keep them busy with activity that will give them a sense of purpose, accomplishment and satisfaction. The activity(ies) should be chosen by them, something they’re interested in, not something you’re interested in. It doesn’t matter if it’s track and field, ballet, making jewelry or astronomy. Encourage their personal interests and help them learn about them.

There are no guarantees, but if you want your kids to have the best chance of staying drug and alcohol free and avoiding drug or alcohol rehab in the future, this will give you a good start.

It’s hard for someone who doesn’t have an alcohol problem to figure out why some who obviously does have a problem won’t even admit they need addiction help – let alone actually get it.

But surprisingly enough, that is very, very common. In fact, statistics show that less that 8% of alcoholics actually believe they need help. And even fewer – 1.2% – believe they would get anything out of it.

What I have observed with alcoholics is a sense of hopelessness. And I think that sense of hopelessness carries through to their viewpoint about treatment.

Those same statistics, by the way, say there are nearly 7.4 million people in America who are abusing alcohol and need help.

The director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (SAMHSA), which put together these statistics, “Individuals, friends, and family members clearly need help and support in confronting and doing something about the problem. Without help, alcoholism can be fatal.”

Well, I’d say that’s definitely the case. Often it takes an intervention to get someone who’s taking drugs or alcohol to admit they need help and agree to get it. And you often need to tell the person that if they don’t get help, you will leave them or stop supporting them in some way. They have to have something to lose.

And, yes, that can be very difficult to say to your husband or wife, or child. And even harder to actually do.

She also said the nation needs to ask “why we stand by and allow so many people to self-destruct before intervening.

That tells me she’s not really in touch with what’s going on out in the world beyond her statistics – you could probably count on one hand the number of people who DON’T try to get their loved ones to get help. Or to help themselves. It isn’t that people allow others to self-destruct – they often try over and over again. They just don’t really know what else to do.

One possibility is to contact a good drug and alcohol rehab facility. They can generally help you organize an intervention or step in and personally convince the alcoholic to get help. Alcohol and drug rehab counselors have dealt with the situation over and over again. And they don’t have the problem of the other baggage of a personal relationship. Call Addiction Help Services, 877-554-7308, if you need to find out what to do.

Wow, something really hit me in the news this week. Here at Addiction Help Services, we help people find the right addiction help for their situation. And we know that a really good drug rehab program actually stops addiction – i.e., the graduate is no longer an addict. The news item that hit me this week was about drugs and alcohol in baseball – it is pushing the idea that once an addict, always an addict, it never really ends.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Ultimately, no person can help another person get sober, and remain sober, unless the person with the issue recognizes their problem and is willing to address it. The reason Josh Hamilton is sober and playing at the highest level of the big leagues now is because of the support he had around him, and still has around him. He recognized he had an addiction, got the proper treatment to turn his life around, and even today, needs to surround himself with the right people looking out for his best interests. Addiction does not disappear once rehab is over, nor does it ever go away, so it is imperative that the MLB develops a policy and opportunity to help players recovering from addiction, from when the problem becomes known, until the player retires and beyond.”

Well, first of all, re “even today, needs to surround himself with the right people looking out for his best interests’ – is that because he used to be an addict? No, that’s how life should be! Our lives should always be full of people looking out for our best interests. True, surrounding yourself with individuals who are out to get you does lead to drug addiction and alcohol abuse – but not only if you’re a former alcoholic or addict. Being in an environment like that gets to everyone.

They also say addiction never goes away – so baseball players have to be taken care of throughout their careers and, basically, until they die. I can see that if a person suffers a debilitating injury on a job due to the employers neglect of safety regulations or some such thing, then that employer has to take responsibility for the damage done. But a baseball player didn’t become an addict or alcoholic simply by virtue of becoming a baseball player or through some neglect of MLB.

But, that’s another story. The point is – addiction isn’t a disease the person is born with that doesn’t manifest until they take their first drink or get high for the first time and, then, never goes away. There is a reason, or reasons, for the addiction, and once those reasons have been dealt with in a good drug rehab program, the addiction is gone.

If it is not, then the reasons for the addiction have not been dealt with. That’s it in a nutshell.

I hate to think of people living with the idea that they can’t change, that they can never really get better.

Don’t buy it.

If drug rehab doesn’t work on someone, they didn’t do the right program.

You may have seen the tourist advertisements for Wisconsin. “It’s the cheese,” they say. Well, cheese isn’t the only thing Wisconsin is known for. In fact, alcohol abuse may be higher on the list of attractions for the locals.

From the University of Wisconsin Madison’s high rankings on the various party school lists to the 1,081 people in Green Bay arrested for drunk driving and the 182 who died in alcohol-related crashes across the state in 2010, alcohol abuse is a worrisome Wisconsin past time. Authorities are so concerned; they are soon to launch a coordinated effort between the police and various agencies in Brown County to crack down on drunk drivers.

Not only is the drunk driving statistic very high, roughly half of those arrested had been arrested for drunk driving in the past. Drinking is part of the culture.

Now is the time to get your friends and relatives addiction help for alcohol abuse if they have a problem. Not only will you help them stop drinking and possibly avoid jail time, you may also save some lives (maybe theirs) in the process.

We’d like to hear from some of the parents whose kids have been involved in drunk driving or other alcohol abuse incidents. We’ll post your stories on this blog – perhaps you can help other parents and kids avoid the same problems. And if the drinking problem is current, give us a call. We can help you get them addiction help services that will straighten them out.