Is Alcohol a Psychoactive Drug?

Alcohol, known technically as ethanol, is a powerful psychoactive chemical, affecting many different functions in the central nervous system (i.e. the brain and spinal cord), such as memory, sleep and inhibition.

What is a Psychoactive?

• According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a substance is classified as a psychoactive if it affects the mind or behavior.

Alcohol is a Psychoactive

• Alcohol affects numerous components in the brain. While alcohol's exact mechanism of action is unknown, the results of consumption are obvious: loss of motor coordination, loss of inhibition, sleepiness and, in higher doses, loss of memory.

Stimulant or Depressant?

• Alcohol is often misclassified as a stimulant. Technically, it is a depressant, but can appear to be a stimulant by depressing inhibitory functions in the brain. This results in stimulant-like behavior, such as increased social interaction and boisterousness.

Theories on Alcohol's Mechanism of Action

• Alcohol acts on many different types of neuron receptors in the brain. In his paper "Alcohol Pharmacology," John Brick, Ph.D., of Intoxikon International states that the primary receptors affected by alcohol appear to be the GABA and NMDA receptors.

Long-Term Physiological Effects

• Alcohol exerts long-term effects on behavior in several different ways. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, up to 80 percent of alcoholics develop Wernicke--Korsakoff Syndrome, a result of thiamine (a B vitamin) deficiency, which in extreme cases can lead to psychosis. It is also suspected that alcohol inhibits neurogenesis---the process of new neuron generation, leading to a loss of mass in certain areas of the brain.