Why do people drink to excess?
It's a deep issue that strikes at the way society is set up, the differences in class and wealth levels in an area.
Especially where I live, Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England, there's so many night clubs and bars. Now don't get me wrong, I like the odd drink and going out socializing with my friends and all but the sheer volume of places to go and engage in what is basically socially acceptable drug taking is mind boggling.
And lets face it: Alcohol is a drug.
That goes part of the way in explaining why people do it excess. Because drugs are addictive. It's like people who eat too fast and don't chew - they want the serotonin high that you get by overloading your taste buds with a large surface area of... flavour. But it's not like you could ever ban it as that invents a whole different set of problems. Look at what happened with prohibition in America.
Another issue about where I live is that it's not as rich as the South, people generally earn less here yet work the same amount of hours. People want a release from the droning tedium of a 9-5 and instead of relaxing by say... exercising or taking part in a hobby, they drink.
Why do they favour it over some other sort of activity?
Because drinking is such an easy option and it's something that can be glossed over by the sheer factor/volumes of companies slapping brands on bottles, flavouring the damn stuff. It's so readily available and easy to do. It's an activity ingrained at the root of non-career based activity [especially] in English society. We're brought up and spoon fed the association of release with the mere act of drinking.
The effects of alcohol too make it something for everyone. It's one of the few drugs that allow you to enhance your mood in the way you'd like. If you're down and want to be happy, drinking allows you to find happiness. If you're angry and want to exacerbate the feelings of anger alcohol allows you do that too.
Some people would say, if alcoholic drinks are drunk responsibly though it's good for loosening up. Be that as it may, you're never in control with alcohol or any drug. Say what you want - you are taking a drug to enhance your state of mind. That suggests what?
You're uptight, you can't relax?
Surely there's some way of achieving what you're after without having to drink?
By the way if I seem anti-drinking here I'm not deliberately trying to - though I do find the act of people getting *BLEEP*-faced a bit stupid to be honest. I'm a stinking hypocrite at the end of the day as I haven't quit.
On the matter of quitting though. Where I live, especially in a group of lads. If someone stops drinking people aren't so much all weird about it but you can see the gears turning in their head as if they're thinking 'not drinking, some kinda puff?' and all that.
