How can we ensure people are aware of the serious health effects of alcohol?
by Talklaw Project Coordinator 9:43pm, 19 May 2009The health risks we face depend on how, and how much, we drink. More specifically, the quantity and frequency of our drinking determines the various harms we may experience.
For example:
A person may only drink once a month but when they do they drink large quantities. They may face increased risk of immediate alcohol-related harm such as an injury.
Another person may drink an average of two glasses of wine a day and face an increased risk of longer-term harm such as cancer or liver disease.
The Law Commission is interested to know what more can be done to make people aware of their risks of alcohol-related harms.
Did you know? The World Health Organisation recently classified alcoholic beverages in the same hazard category as asbestos, formaldehyde and tobacco.
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Alcohol - The Risks and the Benefits (217.3 KB)
Quarter Comment 1
9:03am, 9 August 2009
7
0 
Drink driving, as far as I know, does not cause as many deaths on our roads that the ads give them credit for. Yet they seem to be the main way you can get hurt whilst under the influence of alcohol...at least thats what the glorious box of colours tells us (which is where some generations get MOST of their 'knowledge'). Ad campaigns that show the equipment used to cut off a smokers gangrene foot, or surgeons hands squeezing out the cheesy filling of a smokers artery have had a large effect on visualising the harms of smoking to us.
As a youth, if you woke up with unexplained bruises on your body because you were so hammered the night before, usually you laugh it off with your friends, as you try to remember how they came to be. But its not a laugh that comes from a happy place.
A few weeks ago I was with a friend in hospital who had suffered a nasty fall while skatebording and had broken his leg. Unfortunately for us, he did this on a Saturday night. The hospital was inundated with drunks who had hurt themselves (physically or internally) and we may have been classed as the same, for he was young, but non of us had had a drop. We had to wait some time before he was seen too, and the nurse was suprised, and apologetic, once she realised we didn't smell of alcohol, and for the wait (all while he refused pain killers). Saturday night must be a bad night to work in A&E, the workers faces bore it. They looked tired and unamused...same old same old.
I don't think alcohol beverages should be plastered with the same warnings that cig packets have - but I would like to see more of the 'its how we're drinking' ads shown. Many of them often come across as comical, perhaps because of their correct perceptions of reality. But snogging 'Denis from Accounts' or 'breakdancing' at your daughters party hails in comparison to darker realities of rape, loss of teeth/fingers/limbs, liver disease, and cancer.
I stopped drinking large quantities of beer when I realised it triggers estrogen growth in your body - giving you the classic 'man boobs'. Why is it that 'we' see something that turns you into a woman as being 'manly'? It would be good to see an ad that chronicles the life of a young man turning into a fatty bald guy from his drinking habits...I'm sure it would be a wake up call for many.
Buttercup Comment 1.1
8:39pm, 13 August 2009
6
0
To ensure people are aware of alcohol risks.
Maybe we need to have an " Alcohol Awareness Week ", as they do in UK.
Educated,in schools, all places of learning, work, industries, magazines, TV - that alcohol has the potential to reduce your personal safety. Alcohol is a mind-altering drug, which can affect your physical coordination, making you more liable to have an accident. Make you more likely to make risky decisions e.g walking home alone, instead of sticking with friends, driving when you shouldn't.
Some people are more vulnerable to effects of alcohol - depends on age, gender, size, when they last ate, genetics.
Can reduce sexual inhibitions, coupled with altered judgement, leading to alot of damaging situations, rape, stds', unwanted pregnancies.
The more you drink the less likely you are to remember simple steps to keep you safe, just a few ideas .... you can add to them.
Avoid rounds
Pace your self, slow down, drink water, and non alcohol drinks in between
Don't just drink, dance, play pool, distract yourself
Know when to say no. Don't let anyone pressurize you to drink.
Decide on a limit for the evening, and stick to it.
Educate on the statistics of young men and alcohol, induced violence/aggression etc. Depression and alcohol. Alcohol and brain damage. Alcohol and cancer, Going on a date, how to keep safe.
To improve your personal safety/reality check - Take a Personal assessment, online, magazine, TV, at the Doctors ? following up with a supportive cutdown, or quit alcohol programme, if you are at risk.
Hitch the age up to 20,the statistics say it all !
runner Comment 1.2
9:27pm, 15 August 2009
2
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We have pretty much established that widespread in society that people will binge when they drink. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be in some individuals so they need guidance on how to emphasis caution when they drink.
The only way to ensure people are aware of the health effects of bingeing is to identify and educate them on the ramifications of their drinking behaviour and ways to prevent themselves from harming themselves by injury or by incuring illness over a long period of time.
"Think while you drink", could be another slogan.
It's the anti of "drink while you think" which is coercively used in drinking games.
I've been a drinker since my teens. I drank almost once a week up to age 23 then now I have cut back to drink one heavy session a month plus drink smaller quantities at other times. When I drink in the heavier sessions now I think what one extra beer might do to me. If it believe it will make me ill, clumsy or incoherent then I will cut back and reanalyse the situation a bit later on. I won't be coaxed by others when it doesn't suit me.
People need to be in control of their mind when they consume alcohol. It is actually not hard. Once people get the idea that they are not invulnerable to the effects of alcohol and can exercise common sense after a few drinks (be it 2 or 10) then people will be more safe and safety-conscious of others.
Also Quarter is right. There are other health effects that are be detrimental to peoples appearance, particularly men. Over the years I have seen drinking as one of several factors in other males my ages gaining weight and growing man boobs. Which is why at 23 I decided not to follow that path and chose to drink less, eat better foods and exercise more.
Sauniere Comment 1.2.1
12:20am, 28 August 2009
1
3
There is no need for mass media nagging. It pushes people the other way, and is becoming the latest religion. You really have to wonder if the ad agencies sponsor all these reports. Most people have Drs or if they strike a problem hit the hospital. Pick it up with screening there and do brief intervention or arrange follow-up, if they want it.
Kwacko Comment 1.2.1.1
2:13pm, 26 October 2009
0
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*Raise the age limit
*Show the true consequences of short and long term use in all aspects of life
*More recreational facilities targeting youth interests would've been of help
*substitute products possibly
*Raising taxes on alcoholic bevarages(all kinds)
.....
Buttercup Comment 1.2.1.1.1
3:56pm, 26 October 2009
0
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SEE " Alcohol Action" Web Site NOW
" What the Alcohol Industry don't tell you "
mschief Comment 1.2.1.1.1.1
7:38pm, 26 October 2009
0
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Not much point telling young people to drink sensibly, or not at all, when adults are drinking heavily around them. Monkey see, monkey do.
I stopped drinking when I saw the connection with breast cancer and I was already at-risk from other factors. People need to be told the truth about the health risks and make up their minds.
If alcohol damage is costing us all so much in terms of medical expenses, police resourcing costs, ACC, law and order, brain damage, family violence etc then what are we waiting for? Something has to be done when the dangers and harm are so widespread and well documented.
We cannot afford to let things stay the way they are. Justlike with tobacco, now we know what it does, we can't just sit back and talk about it being a lifestyle choice. Other people's choices to get drunk could cost me not just my taxes but my life.
I don't believe in prohibition, but there has to be some legal way of getting alcohol off its pedestal and showing people of all ages how harmful it is.
