ASAP: Drink moderately when consuming alcohol
By Todd Pruden, Sentinel Editor
April 15, 2021
Spring and warmer weather are upon us and it is important to remain vigilant with regard to safety. However, responsible alcohol consumption is a more prevalent safety concern when it comes to barbecues and other outdoor recreation.
April is National Alcohol Awareness Month, which means it’s a good time to emphasize the effects of alcohol and to promote healthy attitudes and behaviors regarding drinking.
“One of the main things with (ASAP), we just want to bring awareness to a lot of our Soldiers because we do realize that one of the main abused substances a Soldier uses is first and foremost, alcohol,” Carl Smith, a prevention coordinator with Army Substance Abuse Program, said. “I mean, how many times have you heard that in a safety briefing? Like … don’t drink, don’t drive. If you drink, have a plan and don’t drink to excess and only do what you can afford. I’m sure we’ve all heard that before.”
April is also Month of the Military Child among many other observances. Smith explained how one may correlate with the other. He also discussed the difference between normal circumstances and the ongoing pandemic.
“Well, I think CNBC did a great little stint on that near March 21st, I want to say it was, and they even explained that during the pandemic there’s been an over 20% increase of children even drinking during the pandemic because they’ve been home alone or even going after some pills sometimes found in medicine cabinets when mom and dad’s not there,” Smith said. “And we know that being in the military is a very stressful job, and there are a lot of times we’re not always home for our kids during the day because we’re doing our jobs protecting the country. So that’s something that we want to also bring awareness to. When we leave these kids home to stay at home, do their schoolwork, do a few chores, we’re also leaving alcohol. And that can be a very dangerous mixture because their brain’s not really developed yet.”
However, Smith said drinking in moderation is not an unhealthy thing for adults. He said drinking no more than one per hour, but no more than two drinks per day is acceptable.
“According to the stats, and according to the research that we even teach in our ASAP class, one, two beers daily is just fine,” he said.
Smith gave an opposite example of that, which he calls binge drinking. Those are people who can’t stop and continue to drink more and more. For those people who cannot just have one or two drinks per day should seek help.
“When you eat a Pringles chip you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to have one.’ You have two, you have three. You don’t think how many calories or cholesterol you’re taking in. Same thing with steak,” he said. “Going out to eat, you plan to have one plate when you go to a buffet … but then you have more and same thing goes with alcohol. This is what we’re trying to bring awareness to.”
If you, or someone you know is drinking in excess, ASAP is there to help and can assist those to proper counseling.
Besides drug and alcohol prevention, ASAP also has an employment assistance program. All the services offered through ASAP are open to Soldiers, spouses, Department of the Army civilians and retirees.
“If they think they may have drug or alcohol or they want to be assessed,” Smith added, “they can also go through our (Employee Assistance) Program.”