April is Alcohol Awareness Month
by Lisa Frederiksen
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a wealth of information to help you celebrate April – Alcohol Awareness Month. To give you a sample, please find the following copy from their website:
When many people think of alcohol abusers, they picture teenagers sneaking drinks before high school football games or at unsupervised parties. However, alcohol abuse is prevalent within many demographic groups in the United States. People who abuse alcohol can be:
| Warning Signs of Alcohol Abuse If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you may have a problem with alcohol:
Source: How to Cut Down on Your Drinking April 7th is National Alcohol Screening Day, find a screening site near you |
- College students who binge drink at local bars.
- Pregnant women who drink and put their babies at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome.
- Professionals who drink after a long day of work.
- Senior citizens who drink out of loneliness.
In 2003, almost 23 percent (54 million) of Americans participated in binge drinking within 30 days prior to taking SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) . That same year, approximately 21.6 million adults abused alcohol or were alcohol dependent.
To recognize the serious problem of alcohol abuse, April is designated “Alcohol Awareness Month.”
I’d like to also call your attention to another excellent publication. This one is published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and is titled, “Addiction: Drugs, Brains and Behavior – The Science of Addiction.”
As the title implies, this one presents the science of addiction, which is a very compelling way to address this disease — one that removes the stigma of addiction as a shameful lack of willpower.
Please pass this along and encourage others to do what they can to raise awareness about alcohol.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hi, great info Lisa!
The Second Road will showcase a recovery story everyday during the month of April, for AA Month.
They want to applaud those living in recovery while helping to bring awareness to addiction and to also make people aware of the strong community of support that exists.
TSR wants to salute the people who are battling alcoholism; as a child, a parent, a spouse, sibling, or as an addict. Be it 22 years or 2 days, they want to hear from the people making the decision to start a new path—to take the second road. TSR hopes this showcase will inspire not only those who are living in desperation, wrestling with the will to get sober, but also inspire those already working a program.
Community, support and inspiration are necessary on the road to recovery. If we can heighten the awareness of this disease, hopefully we can lower the amount of people living in pain.
If you would like to make your voice heard, please submit your story to alix@thesecondroad.org.
TSR will feature more than one story a day, granted they receive enough submissions. If anyone would like to videotape their story, TSR will also showcase it on their YouTube page, with the other recovery speakers, at http://www.youtube.com/user/thesecondroad.