Alcohol is widely accepted in our culture, and is found in many homes throughout the western world. It is used to enhance social events, helping people feel relaxed and free to enjoy themselves. It lowers inhibitions and pushes back reserve. Many of you will have already have tasted your first alcohol, and it was probably given to you by a member of your family. People fondly feel that giving children and young people a taste of alcohol is sweet and kind. This is as maybe, but remember the pet can turn into a monster. Negative effects: The other side of the coin is that alcohol can take you into a whole world of activity where you would not normally go. People do reckless things under the influence of alcohol. Some become violent and disorderly. They can hurt people and vandalise property. This can lead to court cases and ultimately to prison. Others engage in sexual activity where they would not normally do so. Perhaps they lose their virginity in a drunken state, and regret it in the morning. Or, if they are already sexually active, perhaps they have unprotected sex resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. This has severe implications, not only for them for the rest of their lives, but also for the growing foetus. Or, they may contract one of many sexually transmitted diseases, at worst hepatitis C or HIV. Drinking and driving is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Many young people´s lives are put at risk either by driving themselves whilst under the influence of alcohol, or by being driven by someone else in a drunken state. This not only puts the lives of the people in the vehicle at risk, but also other road users and pedestrians. At best, this can result in losing your driving licence, at worst this can mean living with the knowledge that you were responsible for causing injury or even death to others. Drinking too much can also severely damage your health. Obviously in the long term it can cause severe liver damage and ultimately an early or untimely death. In the short term, however, it also has implications – many young people suffer from alcohol poisoning and have to be taken to casualty. This whole question will be dealt with more fully in the next section of ´healthm8´ which will focus directly on alcohol.