WHY YOU MUST QUIT ALCOHOL (Andrew Huberman, Jordan Peterson, Matthew Walker)

Summary

This video script challenges the societal glorification of alcohol, highlighting its damaging effects on health and the brain. It emphasizes that alcohol, a class one carcinogen, is often portrayed positively but is a poison causing cell death and cognitive impairment. The script discusses alcohol's impact on neural circuits, mood, and behavior, and how it can lead to addiction and a range of health issues, from liver disease to cancer. It also addresses misconceptions about alcohol's benefits and calls for a reevaluation of our relationship with this harmful substance.

Takeaways

• 🍷 Alcohol is often portrayed positively in media and by celebrities, but it's a toxic substance that can cause significant harm to the body.
• 🚫 If all drugs were sold in their pure form, pure alcohol would be labeled as deadly and avoided due to its toxicity.
• 🧬 Ethanol, the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, metabolizes into acetylaldehyde, a poison that damages and kills cells indiscriminately.
• 😵 Being drunk is essentially a poison-induced state that disrupts neural circuitry and cognitive functions.
• 💤 Contrary to popular belief, alcohol is not a safe sleep aid and can have long-term effects on brain development and cognitive ability.
• ⚠️ The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a class one carcinogen, highlighting its cancer-causing potential.
• 🧠 Alcohol consumption can lead to brain shrinkage and cognitive decline, especially in those who start drinking at a young age.
• 🍻 Binge drinking can cause permanent alterations in brain structure and function, affecting mood and behavior.
• 🔄 Chronic alcohol use can result in changes to neural circuits, increasing stress, diminishing mood, and creating a compulsion to drink more.
• 🌐 Alcohol affects multiple neurotransmitters and brain areas, including those responsible for memory, motor coordination, and mood regulation.
• 🍇 The potential health benefits of compounds like resveratrol in red wine are negligible compared to the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.

Q & A

How is alcohol often portrayed in society?

Alcohol is often portrayed as a positive and beneficial substance in society, especially through media such as movies and marketing campaigns, with many celebrities endorsing or launching their own alcohol brands.

What would be the reaction if pure alcohol was sold in stores?

If pure alcohol was sold in stores with a warning label about its toxicity, it is likely that people would be scared to purchase it, highlighting the mass insanity of consuming diluted versions of the same poison.

What are the biochemical effects of ethanol on the human body?

Ethanol is broken down into acetylaldehyde, a poison that damages and kills cells. This process leads to the inebriated state and disrupts neural circuits.

Why is alcohol considered different from other substances when used as a sleep aid?

Alcohol is different because it essentially tries to 'knock out' the cortex, affecting the development of brain synapses and potentially leading to reduced cognitive ability, especially in heavy or early-age drinkers.

What is the World Health Organization's classification of alcohol as a carcinogen?

The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a Class 1 carcinogen, meaning it is considered a cancer-causing agent, in the same category as benzene and tobacco smoke.

How does alcohol affect the brain's neural circuits?

Alcohol alters neural circuits by slowing down excitatory signals, speeding up inhibitory signals, and suppressing the activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex, leading to increased impulsive behavior.

What are the short-term effects of alcohol on mood and behavior?

In the short term, alcohol can make people more talkative and reduce anxiety due to its initial effects on mood circuitries. However, as more alcohol is consumed, these effects diminish, leading to a suppressed mood and impaired motor functions.

What happens to the brain when alcohol is consumed chronically?

Chronic alcohol consumption leads to changes in neural circuits, neurochemistry, and the brain-to-body stress system, resulting in increased stress, diminished mood, and a stronger desire to drink.

How does alcohol affect the gut microbiome?

Alcohol disrupts the gut microbiome by killing healthy bacteria and allowing harmful bacteria to enter the bloodstream, leading to inflammation and a negative impact on mood regulation.

What are some of the misconceptions about alcohol's health benefits?

Misconceptions include the belief that alcohol, particularly red wine due to resveratrol, has health benefits. However, the amounts needed for health promotion would likely cause other negative effects.

Why is alcohol considered more harmful than other drugs in western cultures?

Alcohol is considered more harmful than other drugs in western cultures because of its widespread use and the extensive health, social, and economic problems it causes, including addiction, violence, accidents, and various diseases.

Outlines

00:00

🍻 The Misleading Perception of Alcohol's Benefits

This paragraph discusses the societal portrayal of alcohol as a positive and beneficial substance, despite its harmful effects. It highlights the marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements that contribute to this misconception. The speaker argues that if alcohol were sold as a pure, unadulterated substance, its toxicity would be more apparent, and people would be less likely to consume it. The paragraph emphasizes that alcohol, when metabolized, turns into acetylaldehyde, a poison that kills cells indiscriminately, leading to the inebriated state. It also mentions the lack of a safe dose of alcohol and its classification as a class one carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

05:01

🧠 Alcohol's Impact on Brain Function and Structure

The second paragraph delves into the effects of alcohol on the brain, describing how it acts as a depressant on the central nervous system, impairing judgment, reflexes, and top-down inhibition. It explains how alcohol consumption can lead to increased habitual and impulsive behavior, both in the short term and with chronic use. The paragraph also touches on the biochemical processes that occur when alcohol is ingested, such as the conversion of ethanol to acetyl aldehyde and acetate, and how these substances can cross the blood-brain barrier, affecting neural circuits and leading to mood disruptions and cognitive impairments.

10:03

🚫 The Hidden Dangers of Alcohol Addiction

This paragraph explores the addictive nature of alcohol and its long-term effects on the brain and body. It describes how alcohol initially increases dopamine and serotonin, creating a temporary sense of well-being, but subsequently leads to a reduction in these neurotransmitters, resulting in a cycle of craving and consumption. The speaker discusses the damage alcohol can cause to various parts of the brain, including the hippocampus and cerebellum, and the potential for alcohol-related dementia or delirium. The paragraph also highlights the broader health implications of alcohol, such as its role as a carcinogen and its impact on the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and other negative health outcomes.

15:03

📉 The Overlooked Consequences of Alcohol Consumption

The final paragraph addresses the broader societal and health consequences of alcohol use. It dispels the myth that alcohol has cardiovascular benefits and instead points to its role as a leading cause of health problems, social issues, and economic costs. The paragraph also discusses the aggressive effects of alcohol, its impact on crime rates, and the reluctance of society to acknowledge and address the widespread damage caused by alcohol. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of finding healthier alternatives to alcohol for enjoyment and stimulation, suggesting that the energy and passion often associated with alcohol use could be redirected towards more positive and fulfilling activities.

Keywords

💡Alcohol

Alcohol, specifically ethanol, is the central subject of the video, portrayed as a pervasive and potentially harmful substance. It is defined as a psychoactive drug that can induce intoxication and is widely consumed and marketed in society. The video challenges the common portrayal of alcohol as a positive social lubricant, highlighting its damaging effects on health and behavior, as seen in the discussion of alcohol being branded and endorsed by celebrities.

💡Acetylaldehyde

Acetylaldehyde is a toxic chemical compound that results from the breakdown of ethanol in the body. It is emphasized in the video as particularly harmful, causing cell death and damage. The term is used to illustrate the biochemical process that leads to intoxication, where acetylaldehyde is the actual poison responsible for the inebriated state, as mentioned in the script when discussing the conversion of ethanol into a more harmful substance within the body.

💡Neural circuits

Neural circuits refer to the interconnected network of neurons in the brain that facilitate various cognitive functions and behaviors. The video explains how alcohol disrupts these circuits, leading to impaired judgment, reduced reflexes, and increased impulsive behavior. The script provides examples of how alcohol affects the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in thinking, planning, and impulse suppression, leading to a release of inhibited behaviors.

💡Synapses

Synapses are the junctions between neurons where nerve impulses are transmitted. The video discusses how alcohol affects the development of synapses in the brain, particularly in those who consume alcohol at an early age, leading to reduced cognitive abilities and smaller brain size. This concept is integral to understanding the long-term effects of alcohol on brain development and function.

💡Class one carcinogen

The term 'class one carcinogen' is used by the World Health Organization to categorize substances that are known to be cancer-causing agents. In the video, alcohol is identified as a class one carcinogen, equated with substances like benzene and tobacco smoke. This highlights the video's message about the potential long-term health risks associated with alcohol consumption.

💡Gut microbiome

The gut microbiome consists of trillions of microorganisms residing in the gut that play a crucial role in immune system support and mood regulation. The video explains how alcohol disrupts this delicate ecosystem by killing healthy bacteria and causing 'leaky gut,' which allows bad bacteria to enter the bloodstream and contribute to inflammation and increased desire to drink more alcohol.

💡Inflammatory cytokines

Inflammatory cytokines are signaling molecules that are part of the immune response and can cause inflammation in the body. The video describes how alcohol metabolism in the liver leads to the release of these pro-inflammatory molecules, contributing to the disruption of the gut microbiome and exacerbating inflammation in the brain and body, thereby affecting neural circuits and increasing alcohol consumption.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with reward, pleasure, and the regulation of mood. The video discusses the short-lived increase in dopamine and serotonin caused by alcohol, which is followed by a long-term reduction in these neurotransmitters, leading to a cycle of drinking to restore the initial pleasurable state. This mechanism is central to understanding alcohol's addictive potential.

💡Binge drinking

Binge drinking is characterized by the consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a short period, leading to intoxication. The video mentions that binge drinking can cause permanent alterations in the brain's structure and function, contributing to brain degeneration and highlighting the severe consequences of this pattern of alcohol consumption.

💡Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a compound found in red wine that some studies suggest may have health benefits. However, the video challenges this notion by stating that the amount of red wine one would need to consume to gain health benefits from resveratrol would likely cause more harm than good, emphasizing the video's overall message that alcohol consumption, even in the context of potential health benefits, is detrimental.

Highlights

Alcohol is portrayed positively in media, movies, and celebrity endorsements, influencing public perception.

Pure alcohol is toxic and lethal in its undiluted form, highlighting the danger of consuming even diluted versions.

Ethanol in alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, a highly toxic substance that kills cells indiscriminately.

Being drunk is a result of a poison-induced disruption in neural circuits, leading to impaired judgment and reflexes.

Alcohol affects the development of synapses in the brain, leading to smaller brains and reduced cognitive ability in heavy drinkers.

Alcohol is classified as a class one carcinogen by the World Health Organization, the same category as benzene and tobacco smoke.

Chronic alcohol consumption leads to increased stress, diminished mood, and changes in neural circuitry that promote further drinking.

Alcohol disrupts gut microbiota, leading to inflammation and a cycle of increased alcohol consumption and further health deterioration.

Even low to moderate alcohol consumption can cause brain degeneration, including thinning of the neocortex.

Alcohol-related dementia and cirrhosis are severe health issues linked to prolonged alcohol abuse.

Alcohol acts on proteins in every body system, making it a widely destructive substance.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no safe dose of alcohol; even small amounts can have negative health impacts.

Alcohol-induced aggression contributes significantly to crime rates, with many violent crimes involving alcohol.

Alcohol's perceived benefits, such as resveratrol in red wine, are outweighed by its harmful effects.

Addiction to alcohol narrows the range of activities that bring pleasure, often leading to a decline in overall life satisfaction and health.

Transcripts

the world that we live in will have you

believe that drinking alcohol is a good

positive and beneficial thing look at

how it's portrayed in the movies look at

how it's marketed look at The Branding

of alcohol heck look at the hundreds of

celebrities that are launching their own

alcohol brands or endorsing different

kinds of alcohol we are bombarded with

information about the great things that

happen when we drink a poisonous drug

from day one of being born in the world

but here's the crazy thing if we were to

make every single drug legal and you

could go into a pharmacy or a chemist

and they had all the drugs that are

currently illegal all there available

for purchase but it was the 100 pure

substance of every single drug it wasn't

cooked with anything like that it was

just a pure drug if you walked into that

store you would have a bottle of pure

alcohol that nobody would ever buy

because there'd be a label on it saying

warning do not consume this will kill

you if you drink this entire bottle you

will die that would be the drug that

everybody would be scared to go near but

that exact same drug is the same thing

that tens of millions of people are

drinking they're just drinking the

diluted version of it it's Mass insanity

and finding conflicting information

about how great alcohol is isn't easy so

today in this video we've compiled a

list of experts who are challenging the

status quo and they're not afraid to go

against the grain and give you a

different perspective on alcohol so if

you want some motivation on getting

alcohol out of your life watch this

entire video

I hate to break it to you but the

reality is ethanol produces substantial

damage to cells and it does that because

when you ingest ethanol it's broken down

into acetylaldehyde and if you thought

ethanol was bad acetylaldehyde is

particularly bad acetyl aldehyde is

poison it will kill cells it damages and

kills cells and is indiscriminate as to

which cells it damages and kills it is

the poison the acetylaldehyde itself

that leads to the effect of being

inebriated or drunk I think most people

don't realize that that being drunk is

actually a poison-induced disruption in

the way that your neural circuits work

alcohol is often used as a sleep aid but

alcohol is quite different in that

regard alcohol is trying to essentially

knock out your cortex there is no safe

dose of alcohol because alcohol affects

the development of synapses of the brain

people who drink at an early age heavily

have been shown to have significantly

smaller brains and reduce cognitive

ability if we had to make a bad drug

legal the worst Choice was alcohol it is

one of the most destructive drugs to

various parts of your of your body and

different organisms you might want to

put down your drink to hear this no

amount of alcohol is

I should mention that alcohol is

actually considered a class one

carcinogen or cancer-causing agent by

the World Health Organization so that's

the same category as Benzene and tobacco

smoke no family in Britain which doesn't

have someone who's been damaged by

alcohol it's it's well it's a hell of a

it's a hell of a drug man

when you drink alcohol it can pass into

all the cells and tissues of your body

it has no trouble just passing right

into those cells the fact that it can

pass into so many organs and cells so

easily is really what explains its

damaging effects ethanol produces

substantial damage to cells and it does

that because when you ingest ethanol it

has to be converted into something else

because it is toxic to the body it's

broken down into acetylaldehyde and if

you thought ethanol was bad acetyl

aldehyde is particularly bad

acetylaldehyde is poison it will kill

cells it damages and kills cells and is

indiscriminate as to which cells it

damages and kills

the key thing to understand here is that

when you ingest alcohol you are yes

ingesting a poison and that poison is

converted into an even worse poison in

your body it is the poison the

acetylaldehyde itself that leads to the

effect of being inebriated or drawn I

think most people don't realize that

that being drunk is actually a

poison-induced disruption in the way

that your neural circuits were

in thinking about the biochemical

effects of alcohol and what it's doing

to the body what it's doing in all cases

it's consumed into the gut the liver

immediately starts this conversion

ethanol to acetyl aldehyde to acetate

and some amount of acetylaldehyde and

acetate are making it into the brain it

crosses the blood-brain barrier most

things thankfully can't pass across the

blood-brain barrier but alcohol because

it's water and fat soluble just cruises

right across this fence and into the

milieu the environment of the brain so

it goes into every nook and cranny in

the brain and there it has lots of

influences so it slows down the

excitatory signals it speeds up the

inhibitory signals

foreign there's a slight suppression in

the activity of neurons in the

prefrontal cortex this is an area of

your neocortex that's involved in

thinking and planning perhaps above all

in suppression of impulsive behavior and

as you shut down the prefrontal cortex

that gabaergic suppression of impulses

starts to be released so people will say

things that they want to say without so

much forethought about what they're

saying or they might do things that they

want to do without really thinking it

through quite as much or they might not

even remember thinking it through it all

one of the more important things to know

about the effects of alcohol in the

brain is areas of the brain that are

involved in flexible Behavior sort of

considering different options like I

could do a or I could do B those brain

areas basically shut down probably the

most common detriment that alcohol has

in the brain is the fact that alcohol is

a depressant to the central nervous

system so it impairs your judgment it

impairs your reflexes and your ability

to think through and top-down inhibition

is diminished that is Habitual Behavior

and impulsive behavior starts to

increase this is true in the short term

so after people have one or two maybe

three or four drinks but it's also true

that the more often that people drink

there are changes in the very circuits

that underlie habitual and impulsive

behavior for the person that drinks say

every Thursday night or goes out only on

Saturdays but every Saturday there's

evidence that there are changes in the

neural circuits of the brain that

control habitual behavior and impulsive

behavior and they are modified and

strengthened in ways that make those

people more habitual and more impulsive

outside the times in which they are

drinking and when they drink impulsive

and habitual Behavior tends to increase

even further

when we ingest alcohol the toxic effects

of alcohol disrupt those mood

circuitries at first making them

hyperactive this is why people become

really talkative people start to feel

really good after a few sips of alcohol

at least most people do then as they

congest more alcohol serotonin levels

and the activity of those circuits

really starts to drop and that's why

people feel less good and typically what

they do they go and get another drink

and they attempt to kind of restore that

feeling of well-being and mood now

typically what happens is that as people

ingest the third and fourth maybe even

the fifth drink there's an absolute zero

chance of them recovering that energized

mood right most people as they drink

more and more will now start to feel

more and more suppressed the forebrain

is now shutting down quite a lot a lot

of the motor cortical areas that control

coordinated movement and deliberate

movements start to shut down so people

start to further speech people start to

shuffle their feet people forget their

posture they'll start to lean on things

people start passing out on couches

There's a Great Depression it makes you

more extroverted and enthusiastic well

you're on the ascending limb of the

blood alcohol curve which is why you

have to keep drinking once you start

because if you plateau that goes away so

you got to keep drinking okay so that's

one thing it makes you more enthusiastic

and and more full of positive emotion

and the second thing it does is reduce

anxiety yeah and so if you are a bit

more socially anxious and you also have

that positive response to alcohol which

everyone doesn't have by the way then

it's a great drug but the problem is

it's well it's a great drug for the

moment right right there's there's

consequences

[Music]

yeah there is no safe dose of alcohol

because alcohol affects the development

of synapses of the brain people who

drink at an early age heavily have been

shown to have significantly smaller

brains and reduced cognitive ability

they can now see and not have to wait

till autopsy studies if the gray matter

the actual neurons that are the

structure of the brain shrink you know

you've probably heard oh you're killing

brain cells well you actually are a

recent study however finally addressed

the question of whether or not low to

moderate amounts of alcohol consumption

can cause brain degeneration what they

found was that even for people that were

drinking low to moderate amounts of

alcohol so one or two drinks per day

there was evidence of thinning of the

neocortex so loss of neurons in the

neocortex and other brain regions binge

drinking definitely kills brain cells it

Alters neural Communication in such a

way that it can change the structure and

the function of the brain for a long

term any time you binge drink you're

gonna alter the brain probably

permanently the plasticity can help it

recover but the more you do this the

less likely you are to be able to sort

of overcome those perturbations

[Music]

if people are ingesting alcohol

chronically even if it's not every night

there are well recognized changes in

neural circuits they're well recognized

changes in neurochemistry within the

brain and their well-recognized changes

in the brain to body stress system that

generally point in three directions

increased stress when people are not

drinking diminished mood and feelings of

well-being when people are not drinking

and as you'll soon learn changes in the

neural circuitry that cause people to

want to drink even more in order to get

just back to Baseline where the place

that they were in terms of their stress

modulation and in terms of their

feelings of mood before they ever

started drinking in the first place this

is where alcohol is a really clever drug

alcohol is a very promiscuous drug it

gets into the brain and it changes all

the good neurotransmitters that you want

to change you know a bit of endorphins

with a serotonin a bit of Gaba you know

it's a it's a really clever drug and

gradually it eats it worms its way into

You So eventually it kind of takes over

and you get to the situation like you

know that you describe you know I've had

patients of mine who's that they just

find themselves they don't even intend

to drink they just suddenly they're

drinking they don't know how they got

there they didn't want to do it they

don't even enjoy it very much but they

can't stop it because a compulsion

so there's an increase in dopamine and

an increase in serotonin so it's kind of

an increase in well-being and increase

in mood but it's a very short-lived

increase very soon after and actually

triggered by that increase is a long and

slow reduction in dopamine and serotonin

and related molecules in circuits what

you're getting is a blip of feel good

followed by a long slow Arc of feeling

not so great which is why typically

people will drink again and again across

the night and many people make the

mistake of then going and pursuing the

dopamine evoking the dopamine releasing

activity or substance again thinking

mistakenly that it's going to bring up

their Baseline it's going to give them

that Peak again not only does it not

give them a peak their Baseline gets

lower and lower because they're

depleting dopamine more and more and

more and we've seen this over and over

again when people get addicted to

something then they're not achieving

much pleasure at all addiction is a

progressive narrowing of the things that

bring you pleasure so oftentimes what

will happen is the person only has

excitement and can achieve dopamine

release to the same extent doing that

behavior and not other behaviors and so

they start losing interest in

relationships they start losing interest

in Fitness and well-being and depletes

their life and eventually what typically

happens is they will stop getting

dopamine released from that activity as

well and then they drop into a pretty

serious depression and this can get very

severe and people commit suicide from

these sorts of patterns of activity but

alcohols has effects in lots of

different areas of the brain not just

that sort of reward area but it's also

involved in a range of other

neurotransmitters Beyond dopamine so you

know things like glutamate and Gaba and

other parts of the brain the hippocampus

which is involved in memory the

cerebellum which is the back part of

your brain that's involved in in motor

coordination and likewise when when

someone is alcohol dependent it is one

of the most destructive drugs to various

parts of your of your body and different

organ systems worst case scenarios can

be things like alcohol related Dementia

or delirium which serious brain problems

or cirrhosis would be another really

major problem you know these are things

that people become extremely ill and

need to go into a nursing home or people

just die from

because alcohol is sort of this this

very generic drug it's it's the most

widely acting substance I know of it

acts on proteins in every bottom body

system not just the brain but on the

kidneys on the liver uh you name it it

acts there and so it's a pharmacological

hand grenade because

um it indiscriminately can alter the

function of proteins in cells everywhere

in your body alcohol causes depression

it causes the opposite it doesn't

relieve anxiety it causes anxiety if the

main thing in your internal or external

world is a negative thing alcohol will

exaggerate that context people who

ingest alcohol at any amount are

inducing A disruption in the so-called

gut microbiome the trillions of little

micro bacteria that take resident in

your gut and that live inside you all

the time and help support your immune

system and that literally signal by way

of electrical signals and chemical

signals to your brain to increase the

release of things like serotonin and

dopamine and regulate your mood

generally in positive ways well alcohol

really disrupts those bacteria alcohol

kills bacteria and it is indiscriminate

with respect to which bacteria it kills

so when we ingest alcohol and it goes

into our gut it kills a lot of the

healthy gut microbiota at the same time

the metabolism of alcohol in the liver

which You Now understand that pathway

involving NAD acetyl acetyl aldehyde and

acetate that pathway is pro-inflammatory

so it's increasing the release of

inflammatory cytokines all these

pro-inflammatory molecules those are

being released you've now got disruption

of the gut microbiota as a consequence

the lining of the gut is disrupted and

you develop at least transiently leaky

gut that is bacteria that exists in the

gut which are bad bacteria can now pass

out of the gut into the bloodstream so

you've got bad bacteria from partially

broken down food moving out of the gut

the good bacteria in the gut have been

killed and so now you've got leaks in

the gut wool you've got the release of

this bad bacteria you've got

inflammatory cytokines and other things

being released from the liver and they

are able to get into the brain through

what's called a neuroimmune signaling

the net effect of this is actually to

disrupt the neural circuits that control

regulation of alcohol intake and the net

effect of that is increased alcohol

consumption so this is just terrible

right I mean you're taking in something

that disrupts two systems the gut

microbiota and it disrupts in two ways

it's killing the good gut microbiota and

it's allowing the bad bacteria to move

from the gut into the bloodstream you've

also got pro-inflammatory cytokines

coming from the liver and those converge

or arrive in the brain and create a

system in which the neural circuits

cause more drinking that's a bad

situation and this this is why people

who drink regularly even if it's not a

ton of alcohol what you end up with is a

situation in which you have inflammation

in multiple places in the brain and body

and the desire to drink even more and to

further exacerbate that inflammation and

the gut leakyness there was this uh

conception that alcohol had some

benefits with regards to some

cardiovascular diseases more recent

studies Now find that that is probably

not the case you know alcohol is one of

the leading Behavior related causes of

health problems and deaths and also some

social problems and economic costs I you

know ranging from things like injuries

and accidents to Cancers and actually

heart and cardiovascular disease so it

causes a wide range of of health effects

you know when it comes to health you

know less is more I should mention that

alcohol is actually considered a class

one carcinogen or cancer-causing agent

by the World Health Organization so

that's the same category as Benzene and

tobacco smoke and some studies estimate

made a drink of alcohol has about the

same cancer-causing potential as one to

two cigarettes depending on your your

sex

in the western cultures alcohol is the

most harmful drug overall because it's

the most harmful drug to society because

it's the most widely used drugs yeah the

alcohol also makes people aggressive

it's the only drug we know that actually

makes people aggressive so you see a

massive effect on crime rates because

half the people who murder someone are

drunk oh yeah and half the people who

are murdered are drunk no family in

Britain if you look at an extended

family three generations in which which

doesn't have someone who's been damaged

by alcohol through addiction through

violence traffic accidents or being a

victim because of someone else who was

drunk and violence almost every family

in Britain is affected but we don't own

up to it right kind of push it under the

carpet you know we we know there's a

problem but we don't talk about it

because well we don't know what to do

about it we're embarrassed people are

fearful of other drugs illegal drugs

because it helps deflect their attention

away from the problems of alcohol

politicians love to get hysterical about

a new drug because it means they can do

something about drugs they don't have to

be held to account over their failure to

deal with the problems of alcohol

is drinking good for me in any way for

instance many people have probably heard

that Resveratrol is good for people and

that red wine is enriched in Resveratrol

I hate to break it to you but the

reality is that if indeed Resveratrol is

good for us and there's some debate

about this some people say strongly yes

some people say no other people say

maybe the amount of red wine that one

would have to drink in order to get

enough Resveratrol in order for it to be

Health promoting is so outrageously high

that it would surely induce other

negative effects that would offset the

positive effects of Resveratrol no

consumption zero consumption consumption

of zero ounces of alcohol is going to be

better for your health than low to

moderate consumption of alcohol you do

stupid things when you're drunk you hurt

yourself you compromise your health it's

really hard on the people around you you

tend to turn into a liar and it screws

up your life yeah it's like yeah but

it's pretty fun yeah well it is but you

need something better than that and

what's better isn't being straight and

and and and not making mistakes it's

like that's all Prohibition in some

sense what's better is no you need an

adventure man you need to get out there

and have something to do yeah and and

something worth waking up for and you

need that's the substitute for the

addiction this is why I don't like

alcohol and this is why I don't like

drugs because you're you're not in

control a substance is doing that right

but it's a good thing that you have this

rage because if we can take this 97

octane fuel and we put it in the right

engine controlled oh my gosh so we need

to make sure that high octane is

controlled because high octane in the

wrong place can Global building