What Is The Study Of Alcohol And Drugs

Is alcohol a drug?

Alcohol is a depressant drug. This means that alcohol slows the function of the central nervous system when it enters the body. That’s why people’s perceptions, emotions, movements, vision, and hearing can be altered when they drink. Alcohol is often to referred to as the most dangerous drug because it’s so commonly abused and its dangers are often overlooked.Yes, alcohol is a drug. Perhaps it’s more dangerous because it is more accepted and less regulated. Alcohol is the source of many substance use disorders. In 2014, 16.3 million adults aged 18 or older had an alcohol use disorder. About 1.5 million adults received treatment for an alcohol use disorder at a specialized facility. Additionally, an estimated 55,000 adolescents received treatment for alcohol issues in a specialized facility. This proves that alcohol is addictive and can disrupt the lives of many.Source:Is Alcohol Considered A Drug?

Is alcohol more harmful than 'hard' drugs?

In aggregate, yes. Alcohol does more damage (is more harmful) than hard drugs. From 2010, in the dailytech.com:In the study Drug Harms in the U.K., published in what is arguably the medical community's most prestigious journal -- Lancet -- Professor Nutt outlines a convincing case for the controversial claim that alcohol is the most dangerous drug illegal or legal in the world today. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com/Study+A...On an individual level, that can shift depending on the person and what "hard drugs" they have used as compared to their own alcohol use.I part ways from Professor Nutt in the way that the above statement throws legal drugs into the analysis. This may be due in part to the time and location of the study, but when you figure in pharmaceuticals in the US, depending on how you are defining and quantifying "dangerous", they give alcohol a run for the money.It should be noted that while I don't know that the validity of this study was ever challenged, and it certainly seems valid to me, some of the opinions that Dr. Nutt expressed based on the outcomes of this study, got him terminated from his government post. Specifically related to his stance on reclassifying cannabis and ecstasy, the first more stringently and the second less.

Is over-eating similar to abuse of alcohol or other drugs?

It is similar in that it is unwanted behaviour that some people cannot overcome be their own willpower and the behaviour has genetical inheridance.

Are autistic people less likely to become addicted to drugs or alcohol?

No. They are more likely to become addicted to drugs (alcohol included).As User-10673415705594599108 states, autistic people tend to be more socially withdrawn, and as such they have fewer opportunities to come in contact with drugs. But studies show that on average people on the spectrum are no more or less likely to come in contact with drugs than neurotypicals.Furthermore, a study shows that there is a higher prevalence of substance abuse among people with autism symptoms[1]. Their study indicates that among people with autism symptoms there is 35% of alcohol-dependence compared to 20% in neurotypicals, and 39% compared to 23% had used cannabis more than ten times in their lives.Their conclusion is that there is a distinction to be made between autism symptoms and autism as a diagnosis. They postulate that a diagnosis accompanies more severe symptoms, and so statistically those who are diagnosed will be more withdrawn and not come in contact with drugs, whereas those with autism symptoms but no diagnosis may have a richer social live and thus partake in social drugs.I personally think it’s a bit of an oversimplification, but there is statistical significance to the idea that shouldn’t be ignored. As a high-functioning autistic, I have had a fairly rich social life, and I indeed came in contact with a few drugs through peers. Come to think of it, all social drugs have been introduced to me by friends, but the entheogens I sought out mostly myself. So as User-9568176017600987969 indicates, environment is probably a large component in whether certain drugs will be sought out or are even accessible.But, people with autism can be obsessive individuals who are likely prone to various addictions, including drugs, food, sex, sport, education… Some addictions are more problematic than others. It depends in part on the person and the environment whether certain addictions emerge and whether they are sustained.Footnotes[1] Autistic Symptoms Make Higher Risk for Substance Abuse

India: Should I get married to an alcoholic and drug addicted IIT girl in India?

Let's think in her perspective, what does she think:"I am a drug addict and an alcoholic. It started way back in my college days.....someone offered me that weed to smoke, that Old Monk to pass my winter nights, and it happened.The seniors chanted, " Abbe yaar, Rome wasn't built in a day. Aur thoda le ladki, aur thoda. Yeh college life kaise guzaregi in sab chizo ke vager." I gave in to those words. I gave in to the mesmerising smoke, the white magic, to those dark temptation knowing that these won't take me anywhere. But I am a human, I don't resist things that comfort me.The time has passed, but I am stuck in the same abyss. It's like a pair of strong hands, comforting at first but gagging me now. I look at those happy faces, a girl like me joyously smiling at the man of her dreams, my friend making elaborate preparations on their 5th Valentine's Day, a newlywed blushing to herself while holding her mangalsutra; and deep inside my heart breaks and weeps silently. You see me as an alcoholic drug addict IITian, but I am a girl trying to grab a normal life slipping out of my hand. I, like any other princess, want a prince. Who will come in shining armour on a white horse, hold me and say, "I will give you what you deserve. You are a princess for me, whatever you are for anyone." And if that Prince comes in my life, I will love him wholly, fearlessly. Because I know, this love won't hurt, it will embrace me. "So after reading her perspective, I think the future prince isn't a good one who post on Quora to take people's opinion on his princess' weakness before taking the leap. I think, it is SHE who shouldn't marry you, not the other way around.Peace.