Social drinking with friends and family can be a common event for North Carolina residents. But, any amount of alcohol in a person’s body can cause significant side effects. For example, an alcoholic drink can have a fast impact on the person’s mood and behavior. It may exacerbate a bad mood and cause aggressive behavior, or it may strengthen a good mood and cause a person to ignore risks and possible dangers.
Alcohol can impact a person’s coordination and ability to move as well. It can slow a person’s reflexes and response time, damage the central nervous system of the body and cause numbness in the person’s appendages.
Long-term alcohol use is linked to many detrimental health problems. It can cause infertility and cancer, liver and heart damage, birth defects for the person’s children and a host of other serious complications. The effects of alcohol begin with a single drink and it is often when individuals fail to pay attention to its effects on their bodies that they make poor choices, such as deciding to drink and drive.
Drunk driving is dangerous because alcohol is a powerful substance that can directly impact a person’s capacity to safely operate a motor vehicle. Drunk driving is prohibited in North Carolina, as it is in all states, but despite the penalties that can occur with drunk driving convictions, too many people still put themselves and others at risk when they drive after drinking. Drunk driving accidents cause thousands of injuries and even fatalities each year.
