Alcohol: Facts & Fiction
FICTION: Switching between beer, wine, liquors,
or other alcoholic beverages will bring on intoxication more quickly.
FACT: Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is
the only determination of sobriety or intoxication. All alcohol is alcohol to a
breathalyzer.
FICTION: There are tricks to help you sober up after
drinking.
FACT: The only way to ‘sober up’ is to
wait. Black coffee, cold showers, exercise, or certain foods will not help you
to become sober. Alcohol leaves the body at a constant rate of .015 percent of
BAC per hour, this is not dependant on sex, age, or weight.
FICTION: All young people drink.
FACT: Abusive alcohol use among 17 year
olds and younger in the United States dropped by 65.9% between 1985 and 1997.
In a recent 15 year period, deaths associated with young people and drunk
driving dropped by 47%.
FICTION: I won’t get in that much trouble drinking underage.
FACT: The United States has the
strictest under aged drinking laws in the Western World. The United States also
has the highest minimum drinking age, 21 years old.
FICTION: People who can ‘hold their liquor’
behold
an
admirable trait.
FACT: People who can consume more
alcohol without becoming intoxicated have developed a tolerance level. This is
one of the first steps in establishing a dependency on alcohol.
© Sarah Shirley 2010