Alcohol is branded with a licit status meaning it is legal although a major issue with this status is that misuse of this substance can cause harm to other individuals and has many negative consequences for society including increased physical violence, car incidents and work-related problems (Klingemann & Gmel, 2001). World Health Organisation suggests that around 2 billion people in the world consume alcohol with around 76.3 million of them being diagnosed with alcohol disorders (WHO, 2011b). These effects when misusing alcohol impact on the whole of society including the attention and resources of criminal justice system and health care institutions to aid in support (Gmel & Rehm, 2003). The social impact of alcohol consumption is significant as in the UK it has been estimated to cost £1.5 billion to the healthcare services, £6.4 billion to workplace costs and £7.3 billion in public disorder in 2004, later on to this the European Union found that in 2010 the social costs of alcohol-related problems was around £115.4 billion (UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2004). These financial issues of alcohol are straining the limited resources the UK government possess and could be used towards the already collapsing healthcare system where government funding is sacrificed due to the excessive amounts of money spent on alcohol related issues.
Alcohol consumption’s largest social concern is drink driving as it was found over 10,000 deaths each year are due to drunk drivers with approximately 31% of car incidents being due to alcohol-impaired driving (NHTSA, 2010). According further to NHTSA (2010) found that 35% of car incidents involved individuals who have a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher. Alcohol can affect drivers’ cognitive ability, attention span, reaction time and judgement even when consumption is low it still significantly affects the individuals driving ability. Nash (1962) established that drivers become more distracted whilst under the influence of alcohol when they were asked to complete certain tasks. Alcohol can cause major car incidents due to the individuals affected judgement of distance and perception as well as their ability to process various information at the same time. In addition to Nash’s research it was found that alcohol impacts on reaction times, visual awareness and logical reasoning’s which could all impact on the driver when under the influence which is what causes the high percentage of drunken car incidents due to overall lack of control on their bodily responses (Williamson, Feyer, Mattick, Friswell & Finaly-Brown, 2001).
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Further to the effect on the road alcohol Misuse can impact majorly on individuals’ workplaces as it can cause reduced productivity and unforeseen absences due to alcohol related sicknesses, therefore impacting significantly on the employees’ cost (Klingemann & Gmel, 2001). Through various studies there has been found a high association between misuse of alcohol and unemployment as well as individuals who lose their job have increased intake of alcohol (Gallant, 1993). In terms of the relation between work accidents and alcohol consumption it was found in Australia that employees in industrial worksites were 2.7 more times likely to have an injury-related absence than those workers who did not misuse alcohol (Webb, 1994). On average in a year it was found that around 10 million working days were lost due to alcohol-related issues and around 25% of workplace incidents were also directly linked to alcohol misuse. Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit (2003) found that annually it is estimated that alcohol misuse costs workplaces up to 6.4 billion. Therefore, alcohol having a licit status can have many negative impacts around individuals’ workplaces and to their fellow employees in terms of incident rates.
While alcohol misuse consumption can negatively impact on workplaces and driving the family of the individual impact significantly due to many relying on that individual. Consumption of alcohol during maternity can result in children developing foetal alcohol syndrome and further impact on the child’s environment in social and economic terms (Gmel & Rehm, 2003). Parental alcohol misuse can also impair on the care and support they can give for their family causing issues for functioning of the household. In addition to this alcohol consumption can have major influential costs on the family such as the amount of resource and impact negatively on their financial status (Room & Jernigan, 2000). Furthermore, to alcohol consumption effect on children is them being neglected due to not providing food for them or giving them sufficient enough care and support. Many parents who are constantly intoxicated may provide alcohol to children as a substitute for food, additionally it means the children are do not socialize, attend school or turn to delinquent activities (Molamu & Macdonald, 1996). The licit status obviously can cause major negative impacts on the family of individuals in terms of them misusing it or consuming higher volumes than recommended causing neglection or even to the extreme poverty in the household. Poverty and alcohol consumption are another major risk for individuals’ families as besides money spent they spend on alcohol they additionally face further economic issues such as unemployment, medical expenses for illnesses and incidents, finally decreased eligibility for loan applications (Baklein & Samarasinghe, 2001).
Although alcohol consumption has been found to impact negatively on individuals work performance as Ames & Janes (1992) found shift work, job workload and boredom with tasks can be an issue further to these workplace stress can actually cause individuals to have increased alcohol consumption in order to deal with the stress. Therefore, the ‘licit’ status of alcohol is not what directly causes social harm but society itself influences individual’s consumption of alcohol in terms of stress and anxiety (Ames & Janes, 1992).
Further addition to alcohol-related family issues there is also a major social issue of violence. The main problem is intimate partner violence linking to alcohol misuse, as the intake of alcohol increases the severity of domestic violence also increases (Bennett & Bland, 2008). It has further been suggested that alcohol directly inhibits individuals physical and cognitive functions causing them to have reduced self-control and unable to resolve conflict in a non-violent manner leading to domestic violence within their relationship (Gilchrist, Johnson, Takriti, Beech, Kebbell & Weston, 2003). Statistics have shown that in 2011/12 7.3% of women and 5% of men experienced domestic abuse whilst their partners were under the influence of alcohol. Additional to these statistics 60% of recorded murders that individuals committed were under the influence of alcohol, as seen that high volumes of alcohol lowers inhibitions which leads to aggression and due to their cognitive functioning declining they misread a situation which could lead to sexual assault (Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton & McAuslan, 2001). Furthermore, a meta-analysis reviewed intimate partner violence in relation to alcohol, looking at the prevalence between alcohol consumption before physical violence towards partner varies majorly between countries as in England the rate is 32% compared to 55% in the USA. This difference though could show that cultural differences influence an individual under the influence as well as the effect of alcohol on them (WHO, 2006). The licit status of alcohol means the social harm of domestic abuse is heightened due to no restrictions emplaced on the volume of consumption someone can legally consume. A study showed that reductions in the quantity of alcohol after treatment reduced the rate of intimate partner violence showing that the legalisation of alcohol can cause individuals to misuse it having a knock-on effect to increased intimate partner violence (O’Farrell, Fals-Stewart, Murphy & Murphy, 2003). To conclude the status of alcohol should be reconsidered in terms of placing restrictions on alcohol sales times in order to reduce the level of alcohol-related violence. Some countries place time frames so no alcohol after 23:00pm and limit the amount of alcohol sold to individuals which has successfully reduced the rates of crimes especially domestic violence when intoxicated (Douglas, 1998).
Although alcohol consumption is associated mainly with social harm it is mainly due to misusing alcohol whereas moderately consuming alcohol has many social benefits to individuals. Sayette (2012) found that alcohol stimulates social bonding between individuals as it increases the amount of time people spend communicating and interacting with each other causing a decrease in any negative emotions they may experience. Further to this a study involving 54 male social drinkers were observed and found that alcohol consumption heightened individual coordination of smiling behaviours and improvement of social bonding suggesting that alcohol can impact positively on individuals if alcohol consumption is taken responsibly and moderately to cause a positive social bonding environment (Kirchner, 2006). Moreover, alcohol has become a key influencer in social gatherings in terms of racing days, anniversaries and celebrations as it has been known that pubs hold a sense of friendship and warmth which the beneficial side of alcohol in society (Phillips, 1996). Moreover, the motivational model highlights how alcohol impacts positively on society as individuals will consume alcohol to reduce anxiety and alleviate the feeling of stress. As Wilson, Abrams & Lipscomb (1980) found that looking at men and levels of anxiety when consuming alcohol, stated that they were less anxious and appeared to have lower heart rates this impact effects society to as individuals consume alcohol as a psychological advantage causing no social harm.
In conclusion to the licit status of alcohol and social harm it can causes is a substantial issue as it is considered the most dangerous psychoactive substance so although moderate consumptions of alcohol are considered to increase sociability, heightened mood, relaxation and to overcome any inhibition the individual has (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2009) it does impact society in a negatively violent way. Alcohol ‘licit’ status can create immense harm to society in terms of workplace, violence, family disputes and drink driving incidents when it is misused.
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