Does Drinking Make You Stupid?

Does drinking alcohol reduce your intelligence? We're not going that far, but alcohol does affect your brain. For instance someone who has had too much to drink experiences difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction times, and impaired memory.

Even having just a couple of drinks can impair your memory. Drinking a lot of booze on an empty stomach - so the alcohol passes quickly into your system and to your brain can cause blackouts. That is when the drunk person can't remember key details of events, or even entire events.

Long time heavy drinkers are at risk for developing serious and persistent changes in the brain. According to this report, "Damage may be a result of the direct effects of alcohol on the brain or may result indirectly, from a poor general health status or from severe liver disease."

Does alcohol make you stupid? Maybe not, but alcohol abuse is a stupid thing to do.

Return to Substance Abuse CLE  

Alcohol's Attack On Your Body

Did you know that when you have a drink, the alcohol affects every organ in your body?  If you are pregnant, alcohol can even damage your developing fetus.

Getting drunk impairs brain function and motor skills.  Heavy use of alcohol can increase your risk of certain cancers, stroke, and liver disease.  Alcoholism, which is when someone is alcohol dependent,  is a diagnosable disease characterized by a strong craving for alcohol.  An alcoholic typically continues to use alcohol despite knowing that drinking is causing them harm or personal injury.

Alcohol abuse, which can lead to alcoholism, is a pattern of drinking that results in harm to one's health, interpersonal relationships, or ability to work.

Return to Substance Abuse CLE.

Lawyer Maimed in Possible Alcohol Related Incident

Everyone knows, or should know, that alcohol is a depressant that adversely affects the drinker's judgment.  The more you drink, the worse your judgment is affected.  Acting with impaired judgment may lead to very bad consequences.  In other words, when you drink, bad things can happen to you.

A New York attorney was reminded of the these truths and, while lucky to be alive, still suffered horrible injuries resulting from her apparent alcohol impaired decisions.  The sources we have managed to read do not confirm that alcohol played a part in the sad chain of events described below, so read on with an open mind and open heart. 

We don't know how we missed the following event, which occurred in late October, and we apologize for not blogging about this earlier.  But better late than never as they say.   

A New York attorney from Manhattan returned to her apartment building - possibly after a night of drinking - only to realize that she didn't have her keys.  This presented two immediate problems.  First, she needed a key to get into the apartment building.  Second, once inside the building, she needed a key to get into her apartment.

Our unfortunate attorney solved problem number one by ringing the bell of all the residents inside the building until finally someone buzzed her in.  The fact that it was around 6:00 a.m. undoubtedly caused some annoyance to her neighbors, but perhaps one should expect these things in Manhattan apartments.

Once inside her apartment building the inebriated attorney embarked upon her plan to gain entrance to her actual apartment.  The plan involved sliding down the garbage chute to the basement, making her way into the apartment building's garden, and then climbing through one of the windows to her first floor apartment.

Tragically, the attorney neglected to plan for the trash compacting mechanism inside the chute, which she activated during her downward plunge.  It grabbed her arm, smashed it, nearly tore it off, and trapped her for about 45 minutes.      

The story is here, here, here, here and all over the rest of the internet.

Here are unrelated trash chute adventures:






Return to Substance Abuse CLE!
 

Attorney's Club Invitation Lands Client In Jail

This story does not involve an episode of alcohol addiction or even alcohol abuse - at least not by any technical definition of those terms.  Nor does it describe an incident in the United States.  But it does involve an interesting situation where an attorney and alcohol indirectly led to adverse consequences for the attorney's client. 

Saskatoon is the largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada.  It has a population of approximately 260,600 residents, or Saskatonians.  Sure the low temperature this Christmas is expected to drop to -27 degrees Fahrenheit.  But pictures of the City are beautiful making me want to visit in the summer. 

Perhaps it was the cold weather and the desire to be indoors without the need for travel that led to the following course of events.  When Saskatoon attorney, Dean Mattison, asked his client to meet with him to sign a legal document, he picked Finn's Irish Pub at the Park Town Hotel as a nice social meeting place.  There was just one problem:  His client was not allowed to be in any bars. 

His client was out on bail after being arrested on suspicion of drug-trafficking.  As a condition of his bail, he was ordered to stay away from any bars or nightclubs, abstain from alcohol and cell phone use.  He claims he reminded his attorny of that condition, but they kept their meeting anyway.  It is claimed by witnesses that once at the pub, the client even ordered a beer and used a cell phone.  The witnesses were none other than the police officers who had arrested the man earlier in the month, and were aware of the conditions of his bail.

The story is here.




Return to Substance Abuse CLE

Alcohol Abuse v. Alcoholism

Lawyers - or anyone else for that matter - with a drinking problem may fall into the category of alcohol abusers, or alcoholics.  What is the difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse? 

Alcoholism is when the person drinking is physically addicted to alcohol.  An alcoholic will continue to drink even though he or she has physical health or mental health problems; or drinking interferes with social, family, or job responsibilities.  Alcohol may control a person's life and relationships, because drinking may be all that person thinks about. 

Alcohol abuse is when a person's drinking leads to problems, but not physical addiction.  What kind of problems?  Well, someone may have too much to drink and get into a fight.  An isolated DUI may be another problem.  A person who begins to have many of these problems may be in danger of suffering from addiction.  When I was in the Marine Corps we used to keep track of a Marine's "alcohol related incidents" such as those mentioned above.  Whenever a Marine started to rack up more that two or three of these incidents that Marine would receive education in alcohol abuse prevention.   

To read more about alcoholism and alcohol abuse read here.



Return to Substance Abuse CLE.

California Attorney Arrested for DUI

A California attorney has been arrested for DUI after he ran into a parked car.

The attorney is the former city attorney for Newport Beach. The story is here. Fortunately no one was hurt. This is the second time arrest for the 53 year-old lawyer. Two years ago he was arrested for domestic violence, but no charges were filed.

California attorneys seeking help for addiction problems can find assistance through the Lawyer Assistance Program.


Return to Substance Abuse CLE

Texas Judge Arrested For Driving While Intoxicated - Again

According to KGBT-TV Channel 4 ("Action 4 News"), a Texas municipal judge from Mercedes was recently arrested for his third drunk driving incident.

The judge, Rogelio Garcia, was pulled over after state troopers caught him speeding. He failed a field sobriety test, and then refused to submit to a breath test. The troopers said he appeared highly intoxicated. Because this is his third arrest for DWI, he faces a felony DWI this time around.

Garcia was first arrested for DWI in 1984. He was convicted and got two years probation. His second arrest was in 1995. For that DWI he was convicted in 1996 and received one year probation and a $350 fine.

In the Marine Corps, one DWI is called an alcohol related incident. It is an episode of substance abuse. Three such incidents and the abuser will be screened for alcoholism. This in no way implies or suggests that the judge here is alcohol dependent. But just maybe he should reflect upon his conduct. For the rest of us, we can reflect upon what three arrests would do to our families and professional life.




Link Back to Substance Abuse CLE - Approved Online Provider of California MCLE