Many adults enjoy having a drink from time to time. A small amount of wine - a glass or two a day - can even lower your risk of getting heart disease. But drinking too much can hurt those around you and could cost you your life.

Alcohol affects your motor skills, judgment, and self-control. Drinking and driving and drinking while you're pregnant are very dangerous. Drinking too much can cause bleeding in the stomach and esophagus (the tube from your mouth to your stomach), impotence, brain and nerve damage, and memory loss.

Some people can't stop after 1 or 2 drinks. Many alcoholics are depressed and drink to forget their problems and have a good time. Alcoholics are more likely to lose their jobs and become homeless than non-alcoholics.

What are the symptoms of alcohol abuse?

• Always drinking more than 1 or 2 drinks at a time, several times a week or every day.
• Not being able to control your drinking, even when you promise you will.
• Being arrested, getting into a fight, or missing work because of alcohol.
• Thinking you don't have a problem, even when everyone around you tells you that you do.