Alcohol is a drug. Like many drugs, alcohol can cause addiction. What’s addiction? It is a disease that makes a person unable to stop using a drug. The drug -- like alcohol – changes the way the person’s brain works. The brain starts to feel that the person needs the drug. When that happens, the person has a very hard time quitting drug use.

People who are addicted to alcohol are called alcoholics. They think about alcohol most of the time. They constantly want to drink. This is called CRAVING.

The more months or years that alcoholics drink, the more alcohol they drink. This is true because their bodies get used to the alcohol. They don’t react to alcohol as easily. Alcoholics must drink more alcohol to feel the way they used to feel. This is called TOLERANCE .

When alcoholics take their first drinking of the day, they may decide that they will drink less than they usually do. By the end of day, though, they drink as much or more than ever. They can’t help it. This is called IMPAIRED CONTROL

Alcoholics have terrible physical feelings when they are not drinking. They have the shakes and heavy sweating. They may even see or hear things that don’t exist. This is called withdrawal. Before long, alcoholics need to be drunk in order to feel OK. Withdrawal is the sign of PHYSICAL DEPENDANCE.

Alcoholism becomes worse over time. It is PROGRESSIVE.

Most alcoholics cannot quit without help. They have the disease for the rest of their lives, even after they quit drinking. If they take even one more drink, it can send their lives back down the tubes. This means that the disease is CHRONIC.

EVEN KIDS CAN BECOME ALCOHOLICS. Kids who start drinking before age 15 are four times as likely to become alcoholics as people who do not drink until they are over 21.