Alcoholism

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This week we take a look at alcohol in the real world and what alcohol there might be in the world of The Tribe.

DRINKING AGE

The legal age for drinking alcohol varies from country to country.

  • Australians can purchase and drink alcohol at the age of 18 years.
  • Canadians have to wait until they’re 18 years old.
  • The French also have to be 18 years old but can drink wine with meals if they are accompanied by a parent or other adult.
  • Germans have to be 16 years old to purchase and drink alcohol
  • Italians do not have an age limit!
  • The legal age in Japan to purchase and drink alcohol is 20.
  • Those in Mexico can buy the booze and drink it when they’re 18 years old.
  • The UK? Parents can buy alcohol for their child to drink with a meal, 16 year olds are allowed to buy their own wine with a meal but must be 18 years old before they can legally purchase or drink alcohol anywhere else.
  • In the USA people have to wait until they are 21 years of age before they can get involved with alcohol.

    • WHAT IS ALCOHOL?

    Alcohol is a chemical compound whose formula is C2H5OH.

    It comes from fermented fruit and vegetables combined with water, yeast and sugar. This mixture produces carbon dioxide and alcohol

    When the mixture reaches 15% alcohol content, the alcohol begins to kill off the yeast. Any drink that has a higher percentage than 15% has had extra alcohol added to it through the distillation method.

     

     

  • Beers are generally 5%
  • Spirits are mostly 40%
  • Wines are usually 12%
  • Fortified wines (like sherry) are around 18%

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    A standard alcoholic drink has around 70 calories.

    THE WAY ALCOHOL WORKS IN THE BODY

    Alcohol starts to flow to every part of the body minutes after drinking it. The liver processes the alcohol at the rate of 1 standard drink per hour. Any more alcohol consumed will result in that drunken feeling.

    The alcohol races through the stomach if there is any food in it. The alcohol then hits the small intestine and gets picked up and distributed to the whole body by the blood. The back up of alcohol slows down the reaction of the brain quite quickly.

    WOMEN AND ALCOHOL

    Women are generally affected more quickly by alcohol for a number of reasons: –

  • Women usually have a lower proportion of body water than men do.
  • Women tend to have lower body weight than men.
  • Women’s bodies’ process alcohol at a slower rate than men’s do.
  • There is a tendency for some women who are taking the contraceptive pill to get drunk more easily.
  • A lot of women feel drunk faster just before their monthly period.

    • THE HISTORY OF ALCOHOL

    Alcohol has been around for a long, long time and bread and beer were the staple diet for many centuries.

    It is estimated that wine (made from grapes) has been around for at least 10,000 years and that mead (honey and spiced wine) was present even before that.

    Distilled spirits date back to around 800BC in Japan and to the twelfth century in Europe.

    Several different grains and fruits are used for spirits and beers such as

  • Rice
  • Molasses
  • Honey
  • Millet
  • Barley
  • Grape
  • Corn
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Agave
  • Maize
  • May
  • Cassava
  • Persimmon

    • Prehistoric nomads reputedly made Beer before they learnt to make bread. Beer was used in Assyria, Egypt, China and Babylon. In the Bible, it is said that Noah had beer amongst his supplies for the Ark.

    Egyptian texts from 1600 BC contain at least 100 prescriptions using beer. In 55BC Romans introduced beer into Northern Europe.

    The great explorer Christopher Columbus discovered Indians making beer from black birch syrup and corn in the 1490’s.

    Queen Elizabeth 1 of England used to drink strong ale for her breakfast.

    Crab claws, oyster shells and other such items were used as flavourings in ancient times.

    The figure of king Gambrinus was the unofficial patron saint of beer and many breweries displayed his statue in the 19th Century.

    TRIBAL LIFE

    There are some bottles of alcohol left that would have been hoarded, especially by Lex! And there are just enough for some bars to maintain a business of sorts. It seems like some tribes would start to make their own alcohol and might even use this as a way of trading.

    It would be difficult to regulate who drinks this alcohol and it is doubtful there would be any age restrictions. Hopefully these tribal kids would use some common sense and make sure that young children stay away from it.

    LEX

    Lex was the one who was most affected by alcohol in The Tribe. Suffering from depression and high emotions, Lex turned to the demon drink. He had many rough times as a result of the alcohol and many of the Mall rats suffered from Lex’s fragility during this time. After being kicked out of the mall for his disruptive behaviour, Lex realised that he was acting like an idiot and managed to get his act together. There have been other times that he and some of the tribal gang have had brushes with alcohol but nobody else suffered as much as he did or got hooked on it.

    We will have to wait and see if Lex manages to stay clean or if the lure of the liquor proves to be too much for him.