What is alcohol?
Alcohol is the most widely used mood-changing recreational drug in Australia, with 90 per cent of the population having drunk it at some time during their life.
The active drug in all alcoholic drinks is ethanol. This drug is produced as a result of the fermentation of grains (beer or whisky), fruits (wine or cider) and vegetables such as potatoes (vodka) changing sugars into ethyl alcohol. Pure alcohol has no taste and is a colourless liquid. Alcoholic drinks vary in appearance and taste due to the other ingredients they contain and the method by which they are manufactured.
Alcohol is often mistakenly believed to be a stimulant. This is because drinking a small amount of alcohol may initially reduce tension or inhibitions, making one feel more relaxed or excited. For this reason, people often drink alcohol at social occasions.
fact, alcohol is a depressant drug that acts to slow down the central nervous system and inhibits many of the brain’s functions, affecting almost all of the body’s cells and systems. Increasing alcohol levels in the body slows down a person’s reflexes and rapidly makes judgment, co-ordination and balance more difficult.
Alcohol only takes a few minutes to reach the brain. It is absorbed directly into the blood stream through the walls of the stomach and small intestine, and is then quickly distributed to all parts of the body, including the brain. Food in the stomach slows down the rate at which alcohol is absorbed, but does not prevent intoxication or drunkenness, as all the alcohol a person drinks reaches the blood stream.
Sobering up takes time. The liver is the main organ of the body responsible for removing alcohol from the blood stream. The liver processes alcohol at a fixed rate, taking about an hour to break down the alcohol in a standard drink. Drinking coffee or other caffeine-containing drinks, vomiting or having a cold shower will not influence the rate at which alcohol is removed from the body.
Other names for alcohol
Alcohol is also known as drink, grog, piss, booze, juice, liquor and sauce.
How many Australians have used alcohol?
Most adult Australians have drunk alcohol at some time in their life. According to the most recent research, almost 90 per cent of the Australian population have used alcohol, with more than 82 per cent of the population stating that they had used alcohol in the last 12 months.
Further information on Alcohol see:
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