Excessive alcohol consumption: its effects and social acceptance Rumors and stories such as stress makes women drink harder, divorce drives excessive use of alcohol, people drive better when they drink, and teenagers are the main group of drunk drivers, they are hurled at today's society left and right in an attempt to blame the other kid. With all the talk about alcohol use and abuse these days, people are lost between fact and fiction. All this combined with the truth leads to confusion where most of society is divided between tradition and personal beliefs. Alcohol is a destructive drug that can lead to addiction, arrest, illness and even death; all these consequences, however, have not caused radical changes in the social acceptance or consumption of alcohol. Most people know what alcohol is, but not everyone knows its history, where it comes from or how it is produced. Alcohol is a word derived from the Arabic al-kohl, a term used to describe eyeliner worn by Middle Eastern women. Subsequently the definition broadened to indicate an exotic substance (Monroe 5-6). It was used primarily among the ancients for special ceremonies, magic, and medicine, and "by about 1500 BC, Egyptian physicians included beer or wine in about 15% of their medicines"; (Monroe 8-9). Alcoholic drinks are produced through a process called fermentation using plants such as corn, rye, barley, potatoes and grapes, and are classified according to their type and proof. Some types of alcohol are beer, lager, stout, porter, malt liquor, wine, whiskey, bourbon, gin, rum, brandy, and liqueur. The term proof refers to the percentage of pure alcohol contained in a drink. While there is no international standard, in the United States each proof level is 0.5% alcohol (Fettner 275). Beer, wine and whiskey tend to be the three main categories used when comparing spirits. Most beers contain around 2-8% alcohol, which is 1 to 4 degrees. The wine, depending on whether it is natural or fortified, can contain from 8 to twenty-one% alcohol: from 8 to fourteen% for the natural and from eighteen to twenty-one% for the fortified. Whiskeys usually range from twenty to twenty-five... middle of paper... use will not be discontinued until society changes its views and beliefs about alcohol. Works Cited Monroe, Judy. Alcohol. Springfield: Enslow, 1994. Elias, Marilyn. “The facts about women and alcohol.'; USA Today January 5, 1998:1A+. Health. Ed. Eleonora Goldstein. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1999. Art. 61.Patrick, Kellie. “Alcohol is worse for young people.'; Sun-Sentinel January 15, 1998: 1B+.Health. Ed. Eleonora Goldstein. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1999. Art. 62. Perdotto, Nicole. “Teenagers drinking: how bad is it?'; Buffalo News February 15, 1998: 1B+. Health. Ed. Eleonora Goldstein. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1999. Art. 63.Wolfgan, Lori A. “Tracking Recent Progress: Advances in Alcohol Research.”;Alcohol Health and Research World September 22, 1997. Electric Library.Online. February 17, 2000.Fettner, Ann Giudici. “Alcoholic drinks.'; Compton Encyclopedia. 1996 ed.Famighetti, Robert. The World Almanac and Book of Facts. Mahwah: World AlmanacBooks, 1998. Tremblay, Sylvain, and Anna Kemeny. “Drinking and Driving: Have We Made Progress?”; Canadian Social Trends Summer 1998: 20-25. Health. Ed. Eleonora Goldstein. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1999. Art. 64.