st severe liver disease. Cirrhosis is a disease in which the liver becomes so scarred that the patient lacks sufficient healthy tissue to perform the organs functions. Once youve got it, you are stuck with it. (Gross, 6) The worst thing about these diseases is that you will not know you have them unless you are medically examined on a regular basis. Alcohol consumption is a large contributor to the development of several types of cancer- mostly dealing with the neck and brain. We know that cancer kills and therefore it is safe to say that in some cases, alcohol can be deadly. It is important to realize that alcoholism is a disease. A heavy drinker will experience the effects of withdrawal syndrome (which include hypertension, anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, and seizures) if he decides to stop drinking. Being addicted to alcohol is similar to being addicted to any other drug in that once one starts using, it is tough to live without. It is also a gateway drug just as marijuana and other sedatives. (Bennett, Woolf, 13-23)Heavy drinkers may develop a tolerance or immunity to certain amounts of alcohol. That said- the more often you drink, the more you can handle next time. The human body recognizes alcohol as a foreign substance and will use every method possible to rid it from the bloodstream; whether it be sweating, urinating, or just plain breathing. The body tries to adapt itself so that the alcohol is not so harmful and so that it is eliminated more quickly from the blood. BAC is the acronym for the Content of Alcohol in ones Blood. This is the scale in which authorities measure intoxication of offenders. Tolerant drinkers are able to ingest larger amounts of alcohol without reaching as high a BAC level as intolerant drinkers. (http://library.thinkquest.org/23713/effects/longterm.html) Once in the bloodstream, alcohol is spread all throughout the body-including the liver, through which all the blood in the bod...
