A few anecdotes, some medical advice and a few statistics which make one think

* The black American Jesse Owens won 4 golden medals (notably the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the broad jump) at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He was asked one day if he ever used alcohol. "All the time", he answered. - "Really ?... Then, what do you drink ?" "I never drink alcohol, but I use it to rub down before the start of each race"!

* Health Safety Sobriety

* One can become alcoholic without ever having been drunk.

* A large number of young deliquents were brough up by alcoholic mothers or fathers.

* The future belongs to sober people.

* The best way to fight alcoholism is to abstain from alcohol oneself.

* A mother must not drink alcohol while pregnant or breastfeeding.

* Alcohol is worse for women than for men. Women have lower levels of tolerance to alcohol than men. Some tribes have a wise custom, the fruit of centuries-old experience, forbidding women to drink alcoholic drinks.

* Have another drink ? No, thanks, I am driving.

* When you are with a friend, do not force him to drink alcohol, do not insist. Respect those who do not drink.

* We drink to the health of others; let us think about our health, too.

* Alcoholism, a curse discovered by man, can be overcome by man's will alone.

* If we need alcohol to relax and to enjoy ourselves, how can we imagine that our children will not start drinking at a very early age ?

* Louis Veuillot (French writer 1813 - 1883) wrote: "Drunkenness has never brought anyone victory, but, rather, defeat. It has never prevented any accidents but often caused them. Drinking has led thousands of human creatures to misery, but not one to fortune; it has ruined the health of thousands of people but improved no one's; it has shortened thousands of lives but lengthened not one; it has lost thousands of souls, but never saved a single one. Women do not become better when they take up drinking; how many have grown worse. No son who took to drinking has ever grown more loving towards his parents; how many became the source of their parents' shame and sorrow ?"

* According to WHO, chronic alcoholism affects 6 % of the world population.

Which one of those two drinkers is not "a man" ? .The one which is drinking soda, which is calm and in good health ? Or the one who is drinking beer, is quick-tempered, unsteady on his feet, overcome by drink, unable to hold his glass upright ?

*One study gives the following statistics for France in 1979:

38 % of the drivers responsible for traffic accidents had more than 0.8 grammes of alcohol in their blood.
41 % of the deaths caused by traffic accidents were directly related to the effects of alcohol.
15 % of work accidents, 60 % of murders, 65 % of rapes, 45 % of arsons occurring in France in that year were due to alcohol.

* A piece of advice for drivers: Do not drink any alcohol or in any case make sure that the level of alcohol in your blood is lower than 0.3. g/l before setting out. Consult the preceding table which indicates the amount of alcohol in the blood an hour after drinking various alcoholic drinks.

* Either drink or drive, one has to choose!

* 16,322 persons died of cirrhosis of the liver in France in 1977; 90 % of the cases were due to an excessive consumption of alcohol.

* 8 % of the Canada's adult population are alcoholics and 40 % of hospital admissions result from alcohol abuse.

* 25 to 45 % of the men hospitalized in internal medicine departments in France are alcoholics.

* The liver eliminates about 0.1. to 0.15 g of alcohol per liter of blood in an hour. So, if one goes to bed at midnight with 1.8 g/1 alcohol in the blood and sleeps seven hours, at 7 o'clock in the morning the level of alcohol will still be 0.8 to 1.1 g of alcohol per liter of blood. Neither a copious breakfast nor a cold shower will change anything and driving safely to work is not possible.

* If a 65-kg man drinks 1.5 to 2 liters of 10- proof beer in one hour, the level of alcohol in his blood will reach a maximum of about 1.3 g/1 after one hour if he drinks on an empty stomach and about 0.8 g/l after 2 hours if he drinks during a meal.

If this man drinks the same quantity of beer in 6 hours, the level of alcohol in his blood will not exceed 0.2. g/l.

* In a home where alcohol is king, the man is a brute, the woman is a martyr and the children are the victims.

* He who does not drink is more precise, resistant and rapid in his movements.

* One reasons and calculates less well after drinking beer.

* Having character means knowing one's limits, being able to say "no" or stop in time.

* A sober man lives better, an alcoholic dies young.

* If you drive, don't drink, if you drink, don't drive!

* "The son of the vine is a sultan, the son of the grape is a satan" (Arab proverb). The son of the vine = the grape. The son of the grape = wine.

* An Arab fable:

"The palm tree had just been planted. Satan saw it and watered it with the blood of a monkey, then withdrew. The tree put forth flowers.

Satan came back and watered it with the blood of a lion. Finally, when its fruit was ripe, Satan appeared a last time and watered it with the blood of a pig. That is why palm wine took on the natures of these three animals. When the vapours of palm wine start to go to a man's head, he jumps and leaps about like a monkey. Once he is drunk he becomes fearsome like a lion before falling down and wallowing in the mud like a pig".

* Advertising which puts alcohol and sport side by side has no respect for human beings.

* At first as thin as a silk thread, a habit eventually becomes as strong as a steel cable.

* We should not judge our neighbour, but try to understand him,

* To abstain from drinking on the job is like fastening one's seat belt.

* alcoholics are not incurable.

* Neither alcohol nor other drugs can bring lasting solutions to human problems.

* Drinkers often try to escape their problems by means of alcohol.

However, alcohol only increases the number and seriousness of their problems.

* An alcoholic is an ill person who does not know he is ill and whose illness is unrecognised by others.

* According to a survey done in France in 1977, alcoholics take 15 times more leaves for illness exceeding 3 weeks than non-alcoholics. An alcoholic runs a 5 times higher risk of dying between the ages of 35 and 55 than a sober man or woman.

* Any boy or girl will soon hate their family if parents are always nervous and overexcited from wine or alcohol, where the slightest conversation ends up in quarreling, where their parents hit them at the slightest pretext.

* Many young people naively think they are protected from the ravages of alcohol... precisely because of their youth.

* Alcohol causes more ravages than any other type of drug abuse. It is more harmful than any other drug.

* "Liqueurs, strong beers and wine are bad for any children of mine".

* Slavery is no longer tolerable today, yet alcohol makes you a devoted slave.

* A short story:

One day Mary said to her husband:

"Peter, you are ruining yourself with drinking"! But Peter replied in amazement:

"You're exaggerating! I drink only a few glasses of beer or palm wine each day... I'm hardly ever drunk"!
Without a word the woman took a completely dry sponge and put it on a plate. Every day she poured a few drops of water on it. After a fortnight the sponge was swollen and wet, because it had little by little become filled with water. Then Mary called her husband:

"Look carefully, Peter! Do you see the sponge ? Well, it looks like your body: the sponge has absorbed the water, while your body has soaked up alcohol".

Peter understood the lesson. He kissed his wife and promised not to drink again, and he kept his promise.

* With the first glass the man drinks the wine. With the second glass the wine drinks wine. With the third glass the wine drinks the man.

* Health education should not seem to moralize, deprive man of his own freedom and joy of living. It must strike man's mind, conscience and heart.

* Alcohol is a poison that even kills the yeast which produces it.

* alcohol is a caustic liquid; it kills the body's tissues; try to pour a few drops on a wound to see the result!

* Just one glass of beer drastically increases the odds of an accident. "Don't drink if you drive".

* Just one glass of beer drastically reduces the playing abilities of a football player.

* A few glasses of beer will reduce real sexual ability.

* drinking three glasses of beer a day will in one out of two cases lead to cirrhosis of the liver after a few years.

* The only thing that a chronic alcoholic cares about: "How shall I get my ration of alcohol today" ?

* Someone who wants to avoid health disorders should not drink more than a maximum of 1 liter of 12-proof beer per day.

* A hunter who has drunk will have troubles hitting his target.

* An alcoholic is a person who has lost the freedom not to drink alcohol.

* A drinker's home is a troubled home