Alcohol. It hurts us all The drug needs only a few minutes to fulfill its
promise.

First comes the euphoria, the taste of tranquility. You're feeling good
because your body is losing its battle with a toxin that attacks the
central nervous system.

Your inhibitions are released. You loosen up. You say things you normally
wouldn't say, do things you normally wouldn't do. Dance in public, for
example. Or pick a fight.

The world begins to look different. Better, you think, at least for a
little while. You're not sure. Judgment is impaired.

Your hearing is dulled. Your words slur. Your vision is blurred. Your motor
skills are shot. You can't walk straight when the world spins.

This is your brain on alcohol.

Alcohol is the most widely used and most commonly abused drug in the United
States. Its detrimental impact on society is far greater than that of
illegal drugs.

The federal government estimates that alcohol abuse costs more than $166
billion annually. Lost productivity, crime, health care and treatment
services figure into that total. By comparison, illegal drug abuse costs an
estimated $110 billion.

Beer, wine and liquor often are not thought of as drugs, but they are in
every sense of the word. It's society's inability to see alcohol for what
it is that's at the root of the widespread devastation caused by its abuse.

Ethyl alcohol alters blood chemistry. As soon as it's swallowed, alcohol
deviates from the normal digestive route. Some of it seeps through the
stomach walls and goes directly into the bloodstream, heading for the
brain's pleasure centers. The liver does the best it can to neutralize the
toxins. But it needs time to work. More time than drinkers usually allow.

How it affects an individual depends on the individual - his or her
genetics, age, weight, state of mind. Used in excess, alcohol damages vital
body functions.

But it's not just the chemical reaction to the alcohol that causes
problems. Some abusers develop physical and psychological dependency.
Cravings can be intense. For the alcoholic it's easier to give in to those
cravings than to experience alcohol withdrawal, one of the few types of
withdrawal that can be fatal.

But you don't have to be an alcoholic to abuse alcohol. Thousands of
non-alcoholics abuse the drug every day, often to the devastation of
themselves and everyone around them.

Non-abusers - spouses, children, parents, co-workers, taxpayers - clean up,
suffer through and pay for the mess of irresponsible drinkers. It's been
that way for centuries.

Alcohol has proliferated our social and cultural experiences since the
Pilgrim days. One version of history has it that the Mayflower landed at
Plymouth in part because the ship was running low on beer. The first
brewery on these shores was built in 1637.

Alcohol will forever have a place in our lives. Few people - drinkers or
teetotalers - want to see it banned. Few want to take another crack at the
failed national experiment that was Prohibition.

Used in moderation, alcohol can be good for us. It's known to have
medicinal benefits, and our fast-paced, wound-tight culture believes in its
social value.

We use it to help celebrate everything from weddings to a World Series
championship. Wine plays a part in religious events. Alcohol fuels our
holiday cheer.

Beyond special occasions, Americans use alcohol as a reward for a hard
day's work. Weekends are made for it. Alcohol makes the party complete, the
meal perfect.

But there's a down side. Alcohol is, after all, a depressant. It's a
loner's best friend. The stuff to drown sorrows in. The crutch. An
anesthetic. Poison. It's what can turn anger into rage.

A statewide survey of alcohol and drug use found that nine of 10 adults in
Arizona have used alcohol in their lifetime and that 72 percent had used it
in the last 18 months. Alcohol use in Arizona exceeds the national average
in both categories.

(This was a telephone survey of households that excluded populations on
Indian reservations and in prisons.)

It's unclear why so many Arizonans use alcohol, but such widespread drug
use is bound to create problems. Wherever there is use, there is the
potential for abuse.

Based on the 1996 survey results, the Arizona Department of Health Services
estimates that nearly 10 percent of Arizona adults between the ages of 18
and 64 have a current alcohol problem, based on symptoms described by the
American Psychiatric Association.

This figure is probably low because it's based on how survey respondents
described their own behavior.

Regardless of the figure, that's a lot of Arizonans with a problem. It's a
handful of the folks at the soccer game. Ten people out of the 100 at
church on Sunday.

Hard to believe? Not really. Look around you.

Look at the number of people arrested for drunken driving (1.4 million in
the United States each year). Look even closer at the number of
alcohol-related crashes and fatalities (on average nationally there is one
alcohol-related fatality every half-hour). Arizona is the fourth-worst
state in drunken-driving crashes.

Look beyond traffic statistics.

Consider the prominent role that alcohol plays in instances of domestic
violence, rape and child abuse.

In Arizona's state prison system, 37.5 percent of the inmates have a
history of heavy alcohol or drug use.

Watch the steady stream of bloody messes arriving by land and air at
emergency trauma centers. In 1997, about 45 percent of all patients sent to
the St. Joseph's Hospital trauma center in Phoenix had drugs or alcohol
(and often both) in their system.

It goes on and on.

We allow it to go on with our ambivalence about a potentially dangerous
substance and our reticence to confront the abuser.

The public drunk is not the face of the typical alcohol abuser. face.
Alcohol abuse pervades all socioeconomic, age, race, gender and education
classifications. The abuser essentially looks the same as a non-abuser.

An abuser is the homemaker trying to be happy, the corporate president
pressing for greater profits, the low-income worker who can only afford
about a six-pack's worth of stress reduction, a high school student.

We have seen in Arizona that a drunk who's driving a Rolls Royce causes the
same devastation as a drunk who's driving a beat-up Chevy. The alcoholic
lawyer passed out at his desk has the same medical need for detox as the
homeless person lying in the gutter.

Today, just days away from Thanksgiving and the start of a long holiday
party season, we begin a series of sober reflections on the dangers of
alcohol abuse. We at The Arizona Republic are all for a good time, and
responsible drinking can be a part of that good time. But it is at this
time of year that people are tempted to drink more than what's normal and
wise.

Over the next few weeks, we hope to encourage discussions about responsible
drinking and alcohol abuse so that you and your loved ones might live
longer and healthier lives.

At least 200,000 people in Arizona's general population are believed to
have alcohol problems. Those problems, personal though they may seem,
ultimately affect us all. There's plenty of need for honest talk and direct
action.