According to the definition Alcohol Abuse is a disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. Also called alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence.
Alcohol dependence is a gradual process which can take from a few years to several decades to become a problem, with some very vulnerable people addiction can come in a question of months. The first thing a person will have to do is to admit they are an alcoholic and are willing to get help with their dependency. A person cannot directly or indirectly change an alcoholic’s behavior, by manipulating or threatening the person will only drive them deeper into isolation and heavy drinking. When approaching a problem such as alcohol abuse a person should bypass certain stores that sell liquor. A person who is considered to be an alcoholic would have avoided purchasing anything that will tempt a person to drink. Even though avoiding places that sell alcoholic beverages and purchasing bottles or cans of it, is almost impossible to do since there are so many places that sell alcohol but making attempts to avoid places would be a major step in the right direction in and a second would be to get professional help with a group such as Alcoholic Anonymous to be able to talk to openly and honestly about their dependency of alcohol. By using the four of the five elements of the economic way of thinking one would have to sacrifice. The opportunity cost element incorporates the notion of scarcity, when an alcoholic purchases an alcoholic beverages that person could be sacrificing something else like purchasing food for their family or paying a utility billing and having family members go without dinner or having the electric turned off or no heat when it cold. When eliminating the responsibilities for one’s family and going to purchase alcohol to satisfy their own dependency is using the opportunity cost of sacrificing one thing to get something else. Another example would be using the marginal principle, which is defined as an additional cost resulting from a small increase in some activity. By using the marginal cost example a person is using additional money to purchase liquor for their own consumption and the activity is drinking the alcohol that they are purchasing more and more, one a day, weekly or monthly bases. When using diminishing returns a person will increase the amount of alcohol as they become more and more addicted to alcohol and the consumption of it which in turn diminishes the household income. Using the voluntary exchange, an exchange between two people makes both people better off. The alcoholic purchases the alcohol and gives his or her money to store that they are purchasing from to satisfy their craving for their drink and by doing this the store sells its products and makes a profit from those sales. Even though it may not be a great example of using voluntary exchanges it technically is the win-win situation between both parties.
By analyzing how prescription drugs affect the demand and supply of other products and services in this country, prescription drugs is such a large market and costly one. By receiving a prescription from a local doctor a person thinks that it will be less expensive than buying an over the counter drug. A person will not be buying as much aspirin or Tylenol if a person’s doctor prescribes Vicodin for pain, or