Ethical Essay: The Evils Of Alcohol

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The Evils of Alcohol If one thing were going to bring this country to a devastating and painful halt, then it would most definitely be alcohol. No other substance has caused nearly the amount of death, chaos, crime, and pain. And to make matters much worse, it is almost completely ignored as a poison, or even as a drug. It boggles my mind when I see how ignorant people are concerning alcohol, especially in college settings. The most devastating effect of alcohol is its addictiveness. In 1992, an estimated 27 ½ million people where addicted to alcohol (Grant). This ended up costing the affected, their families, and taxpayers over $148 billion (NIAAA). Besides the costs, alcoholism has ruined the lives of millions. The number one cause…show more content…
Deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, drunk driving, alcohol induced fights and accidents, and cancer just to name a few (NIAAA). Over 300 people die every day in America of something alcohol related. But how does the average American look at alcohol? Most people will say that it is a “safe” and “social” activity. Unless you consider 110,000 deaths “safe” and unless you consider rape and assault as being “social” then these are simply misnomers created largely by the alcohol…show more content…
I made the mistake of going to a hotel party that had a lot of alcohol there. At the time I’d been having mixed feeling about alcohol so I decided not to drink. Unfortunately, I was the only one who didn’t drink there. Everyone else drank themselves into a drunken stupor, and puked all night. One person though, who had past experience in mental hospitals and rehabilitation, pulled out a huge knife and began to saw into his own hand. He cut all the way down to bone and cut right through a vessel. Huge amounts of blood pumped out of the giant gash in his hand. Nobody else seemed to notice or care, so I was left with the responsibility to save this person’s life. I didn’t even know this person and I had to wrap up his hand in toilet paper and duct tape to stop the bleeding. I ordered someone to call someone with a car, because no one wanted to be caught drinking underage. For 20 minutes I kept his hand elevated and kept him awake. By the time someone came to pick him up, he had grown extremely pale from the huge loss of blood, and was barely awake. He went to the emergency room and got 12 stitches. After that I decided not to drink ever again, and found a movement called “Straight-Edge.” A group of people that listen to rock music and live a clean lifestyle without drugs or

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