What is alcohol?
Alcohol is a drug that slows down the brain and nervous system. It is the most widely used drug in Australia.

Drinking a small amount is not harmful for most people, but regular drinking of a lot of alcohol can cause health, personal and social problems.

Effects
What alcohol does to you depends on:
• how much you drink
• how quickly you drink it
• your size and weight
• whether you are male or female
• how good your general health is
• how healthy your liver is
• where you drink
• whether you drink alone
• whether you use alcohol with other drugs.

Immediate effects
Alcohol slows down the messages sent between the brain and the rest of the body.

This can make you:
• relax, feel good
• do or say things you normally wouldn’t
• feel dizzy, have bad balance
• have trouble controlling how you move (bad coordination)
• react slowly
• get angry
• vomit
• have blurred vision (not see clearly)
• slur your words (not speak clearly).

Drinking a lot in a short time can cause:
• a hangover
• headaches
• nausea or vomiting
• shakiness
• passing out
• stopping breathing (rare).

Because alcohol affects sight and coordination, drinking often cause accidents – especially car crashes and drownings.

Long-term effects
Drinking a lot of alcohol regularly over time is likely to cause physical, emotional or social problems.
Damage to some body organs can be permanent.

Problems can include:
• poor diet
• stomach problems
• frequent infections
• skin problems
• liver and brain damage
• damage to reproductive organs
• memory loss/confusion
• heart and blood disorders
• depression
• relationship problems
• work problems
• money or legal troubles.

Mixing alcohol with other drugs

Using alcohol at the same time as any other drug can be dangerous. This includes drinking alcohol while using medicines from the chemist or doctor. One drug can make the negative effects of the other even worse. Alcohol can also stop medicines from working properly.

Mixing alcohol with other drugs that slow down the body (eg sleeping pills, heroin, marijuana) can:
• make it harder to think clearly
• make it harder to properly control how you move
• stop your breathing and cause death.