Alcohol Treatment in Airdrie, Alberta
Airdrie is a city with a population of 38,091 in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is part of Calgary’s Census Metropolitan Area and a member of the Calgary Regional Partnership due to its proximity to Calgary.
Some of Airdrie’s attractions are the Nose Creek Valley Museum, the Bert Church Live Theatre, the Iron Horse Park which has a lot of miniature trains, the Airdrie Festival of Lights and the Airdrie Pro Rodeo.
Teenagers and Alcohol
The rise of teenage alcohol abuse is alarming, not only in Alberta but also in other provinces and countries. A recent study from the Alberta Youth Experience survey, conducted by the AADAC, showed that half of the students (50.9%) were non-drinkers, meaning that they did not have alcohol in the past 12 months prior to the survey. However, that means that 49.1% of the students from grade 7 to 12 have had alcohol before.
The majority said in the survey that they did not drink harmfully and knew of their limits. The higher the grade, however, the more they drank in Airdrie.
Some Numbers
Of the students, 51.9% have tried alcohol and nearly half indicated that they have consumed alcohol in the last 12 months. By gender 48% of the males and 50% of the females consumed alcohol a year before the survey. The amount of lifetime (has ever consumed alcohol) and current drinkers (drank 12 months prior to survey) increased with the grades, from roughly 17% of the grade 7 students drinking regularly or have drank alcohol once to 77.3% who drank in their lifetime and 75.1% who drank alcohol in the past 12 months for grade 12 students.
The lowest amount of drinking was in Edmonton with 37.4%, then Calgary with 45.4%. Due to Airdrie’s proximity to Calgary one could consider the city of Airdrie within that percentage.
Alarming is the fact that the amount of students who engaged in binge drinking within the past 12 months was as high as 79.5%.
Binge Drinking
Binge drinking is, per modern definition, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in a short timeframe to the extent of becoming drunk as fast as possible. The health hazards of binge drinking can lead to deficits of the memory, impaired speaking or other extreme cases such as a bladder rupture, septic blood poisoning or alcohol poisoning which can lead to death. Indirect causes of death can be reckless driving, injuries from falling from large heights or fighting whilst drunk.
In Canada the amount of binge drinking can be compared with binge drinking in the U.S.A. The definition of binge drinking varied, as some defined it from 4-5 drinks or more in all the nights one goes to drink within a month. Amongst university students the amount of drinkers within a 12 month timeframe who conceded to engaging in binge drinking was 35%. Whereas Canadian students are more likely to drink at all, U.S. students drank more heavily. There is accessibility to some good alcohol treatment in Alberta.
Health Risks
Men usually engage in binge drinking more than women and do so more frequently as well. A Canadian Campus Survey reveals that men were more likely to binge drink than women. This was measured by the likeliness of the students to drink five or more drinks. 70% of the men would drink more than five, whereas only 56% of the women conceded to drinking that much alcohol. Those who would drink eight or more drinks were 46% (men) versus 25% (women).
In Alberta, men are even twice as likely to engage in binge drinking as women once or more times in a month, according to the Canadian Community Health Survey, and are 3 times more likely to engage in binge drinking once or more per week. The health risks for women who engage in binge drinking, aside of physical health damage, is larger than that for men. Heavy alcohol abuse is also associated with sexual assault or even date rape with many women.
This ultimately might even lead to an unwanted pregnancy. 10.3% of Alberta women who were pregnant at the time of the survey engaged at binge drinking at the time and less than 1% engage in binge drinking more than once per week, although they were pregnant!
These statistics are not only relevant for Airdrie but all of Alberta and Canada. The risks of binge drinking are definitely not outweighed by the, most probably, short-lived fun when going to such parties.
Alcoholic.ca Helpline can help if you are in need of alcohol detox and drug rehab in Airdrie, Alberta.
