ABSTRACT
Alcohol harms the user via three general mechanisms: intoxicating effects, which produce acute problems such as injury; relatively immediate toxic effects such as alcohol poisoning; and chronic disease effects, including addiction, a variety of cancers, and gastrointestinal problems (Rehm, Room, Monteiro et al., 2003). Consumption of alcohol can also harm persons other than the user, via drink driving, assault, fetal alcohol syndrome, and a variety of other second-hand effects (Langley, Kypri, & Stephenson, 2003). The social patterning and extent of alcohol-related harm depend on the pattern and context of consumption, and there is enormous cultural variation in the interpretation of what constitutes problem drinking and in the terminology used to describe it (Heath, 1998).
