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Tel: 01865 723909
Email: evolve@cri.org.uk

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Drug: Alcohol

What is it?

Alcohol comes in a wide variety of forms, from spirits like vodka, bacardi and whiskey to lager, cider, and alcopops. As alcopops are sweet and mixed with pop or fruit juice people often underestimate their strength. A lot of them are stronger by volume than lager or cider.

Drag and drop the drug onto the scene
to see what happens when
someone takes the drug.

What are the effects?

Alcohol exaggerates the mood you are in, so if you start off happy, it can make you feel relaxed and giggly. If you start off in a bad mood, it can make you feel depressed or aggressive.
It’s a relaxant, so can reduce feelings of anxiety and reduce inhibitions.
It takes an hour to process one unit of alcohol, so if you drink quickly, you will get drunk, and there is nothing you can do to sober yourself up, only time.
Too much can make you slur your words, stagger about and vomit.

What are the risks?

Your tolerance to alcohol increases, which means you have to drink more and more to get the same effects.
People can become dependant on alcohol. Alcoholism can eventually kill.
Alcohol is also thought to be the cause of many problems in Britain, such as domestic violence, violence on the streets and car deaths.
You can get alcohol poisoning, if you drink too much, which can be fatal.
Pregnant women, who drink six of more units of alcohol a day, may give birth to babies who suffer withdrawal symptoms and also have facial abnormalities and possible retarded physical and mental development, which together is called foetal alcohol syndrome. However such cases are rare in the UK. Lesser degrees of drinking during pregnancy may result in a baby being born with a low birth weight.

Be Safe

When out drinking, don’t leave your drink unattended; someone may put something in it like rohypnol or GHB, better known as date rape drugs. You won’t know they have been put in, as you can’t taste them.

Look after each other, stay with friends and don’t let a friend walk home on their own, if they are drunk.

Know how to put someone into the recovery position, if they are drunk, so they don’t choke on their own vomit.

Never drink or drive, or get into a car with someone, who has been drinking. Many deaths on the roads are caused by drink drivers.

Official guidelines recommend no more than 3 – 4 units a day for adult men, 2 – 3 for adult women. One unit is half a pint of beer, lager or cider, one small glass of wine, or one (pub measure 25ml) of spirits.

Treatment

Contact EVOLVE on 01865 723909 if you are concerned about your drinking and you would like information, advice or just a chat.

The Law

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