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Jung Dong Woo

Professor Vincent Gilhooley
English Writing 2
25 May 2016
Effects of Drinking
Have you ever experienced a blackout because of drinking too much alcohol? It is
not a surprising event for many people, since alcohol is something that almost everyone can
enjoy after something is over. Imagine having the fresh pint of beer on the campus
afterschool, or delightful shots of soju right after the mid-term is over. Isnt it sounds
wonderful? Because of lack of experience, strong alcohols and social norms, not only
university students but many others experience terrible hangover occasionally. However,
there are more serious three negative effects of drinking. They are health issues, lack of
judgment, and hardship of families and friends.
There are several health issues occurring only because of heavy drinking. When
people drink alcohol, they dont drink alcohol only. There are lots of kinds of alcohols in the
world. However, people usually need something to eat with their drinks. For this reason, they
eat much more calories than they actually needed to. For example, many Koreans eat all sorts
of munchies, from chicken feet to sliced raw-fish, only to please their mouth and drink bitter
alcohol at the same time. Because of hard alcohol which is contained in those bitter alcohols,
obesity could occur as well. In order to prevent such illness from happening, no or moderate
drinking is necessary. (Berry, 1) Also, not only physical health, but mental illnesses such as
short memory loss and depression are major issue of drinking. Some depression patients try
to win their symptom by drinking. Even though it could feel like theyre the happiest person
when drinking alcohol, you may feel depressed or guilty.(Samadi, 1) There is an actual
disease called alcoholic dementia, emerging mainly due to heavy drinking. (Tronetti, 1)

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Additionally, lack of judgment is also a heavy problem. Because of follies during
drinking, many people are failing at drinking moderately. Many people already know that
heavy drinking is a seriously bad habit, but when they lose their judgmental ability, they are
no longer aware whether they had enough or not. This kind of lack of judgment can also leads
to other accidents, including drunk driving. Actually, in Korea, a number of frequent drunk
drivers had increased from 39,490 in 2013 to 44,986 in 2014. (Kim, 1) When you check
calculate the numbers correctly, due to the drunk driving, one hundred thirty two people died
a day in 2014.
Last but not least, hardship of families and friends can be lead to serious alcohol
addiction problems. Divorce between parents can be a major problem among the hardship
between family members. For instance, alcoholic parent can be a major reason for a divorce.
Since he or she cant take care of their children when they are drunk, and additionally, it can
badly affect the children. There is an actual case in South Africa Cape Town, where the boy
whose parents got divorced became a murderer. (Fisher, 1) It was later found out that alcohol
and drug addiction was the main reason behind their divorce. Likewise, many children who
suffer from their parents divorce will always wonder why their parents are always so
emotionally dramatic, and eventually try the alcohol themselves.
In conclusion, alcohol should be under extreme control, if people really want to
enjoy it for a long time. It is true that alcohol can be very distinctive and attractive way of
entertainment for many of us. But there are three major effects of drinking that should be
never ignored regardless of age, gender, and cultures. They are health issues, lack of
judgment, and hardship of acquaintances. Although having a pint of beer, or a shot of soju
with close friends sound like a good time, drinking is something that everyone should always
be cautious about.

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Works Cited
Seontae, Kim. Drunk driving crackdown and penalty: Is it valid? Korea Economy 29 April
2016: n. pag. Web. 25 May 2016.
Fisher, Shamiela. "DRUGS, ALCOHOL & PARENTS DIVORCE LED SWARTZ INTO
SATANISM AT AGE 14." EYEWITNESS News [Rivonia] 29 Apr. 2016: n. pag. Web. 25
May 2016.
Berry, Sarah. "How Much Can a Healthy Lifestyle Really Reduce Your Cancer Risk?" The
Sydney Morning Herald 24 May 2016: n. pag. Web. 25 May 2016.
Tronetti, Pamela. "Tronetti: Alcohol-related Dementia Risk Grows with Age." FLORIDA
TODAY 3 May 2016: n. pag. Print.
Samadi, David. "How to Tell If Youre at Risk for Drug and Alcohol Addiction." DAILY
NEWS [New York] 21 May 2016: n. pag. Web. 25 May 2016.