Alcohol Use, Misuse and Abuse

Originating in prehistoric times, intoxicating beverages have lightened spirits, brought wassail to banquets, and filled cups uplifted in divine worship. But alcohol has a dark, exploitative, destructive side.

Mundane Uses

• In wine, beer, and ale, alcohol has found diverse uses, including the mollification of feuding adversaries, giving courage in battle, sealing pacts, celebrating festivals, and seducing lovers, observes Drug Rehabs, part of an organization to help people find treatment for alcohol abuse.

Liturgical Uses

• At the altar, Catholics believe Jesus materializes in consecrated bread and wine.

  Christians use wine to symbolize the blood of Jesus. Indeed, Catholics believe that wine can be transformed into Christ's blood, notes the Catholic Education Resource Center.

Misuse

• Using alcohol for any immoral purpose is misuse.

  Misuse refers to incorrect use, states Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Ed. Plying a woman with liquor in preparing to rape her would exemplify alcohol's misuse.

Abuse

• Drunk driving imperils others along with the driver.

  Alcohol abuse is a drinking pattern leading to significant and recurrent adverse consequences, according to the American Psychological Association. Such consequences can include shirking obligations at work, school, or home; getting into legal difficulties, as when driving drunk; or recurrent interpersonal problems.

Tolerance

• Like any other psychoactive drug, alcohol produces physiological tolerance.

  Alcohol abusers are likelier than other users to develop physiological tolerance for alcohol, requiring increasingly large doses to experience its effect, notes the book "Psychology, 6th Ed.," by David Myers.