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David Sperling, the film maker of "Drunk In Public," chronicles the last 18 years of Mark David Allen's life. He created one of the best documentaries on the horrors of alcohol dependency. Mark David Allen is that teacher with David Sperling as the Director. It was the winner of the Boulder International Film Festival. In 2007, this documentary was released that has become one of the greatest videos that I have been able to find that follows an individual for 18 years as we can physically see the deterioration that alcohol has caused on this man.

It is a must see video. I use his film in my school because it allows me to discuss the different systems of the body effected by alcohol and then show my students through this visual aid what it looks like. Alcohol, being socially acceptable, distorts the perception of many people as less harmful than other drugs when in reality it is the most dangerous drug out there. It kills more people every year than all illicit drugs combined although with it being legal; a lot more people do it than heroin, meth or other illicit drugs. As education director at New Creation College, I educate my students on pharmacology and physiological affects of drugs and alcohol. Drugs, aside from alcohol, cause the greatest damage in the Central Nervous system where alcohol disrupts and destroys almost every system within our body. Alcohol is unique as a drug because it easily crosses our blood brain barrier due to its lipid solubility but also passes easily through every single organ and almost every single cell in our body because of its water solubility.

It was estimated that the average American drank 2.38 gallons of pure ethanol in 2019. The problem with these types of numbers is that they determine this by dividing the entire amount of alcohol sold in the United States by the population but not all people drink and not all drink there fair share. It is estimated that approximately 30% of American’s do not drink alcohol at all. For those that do drink it is estimated that 70% of drinkers only consume about 20% of all of the alcohol consumed in the United States. The left over 30% consume 80%. What is even more significant is that only one third of that 30%, which is only 7% of the total population drink 50% of all of the alcohol consumed in the United States.

This leads to what we classify as the later secondary medical complications of chronic alcohol use. Statistically these individuals are male, and it is also very evident in their physical appearance. They are typically thin, hyperpigmented, and a weakened overall appearance. Is unsteady with a broad-based gait known as ataxia. Many times, bruised as alcohol destroys our platelets. They will have a strong odor of alcohol, teeth missing, and horrible breath as poor hygiene is common. Clothes saturated with urine or feces since our anti-diuretic hormone within our penal gland is depressed causing us to urinate often. Breasts may appear enlarged, and testicles shrunken as alcohol will affect our endocrine or hormonal system. The face may reveal dilated capillaries and acne like lesions as well as an enlarged and bulbous nose. Palms may turn fiery red known as liver palms, skin that looks like paper money, and deteriorated finger and toe nails. Maybe a swelling of the glands in their cheeks, whites of their eyes that can reveal small blood vessels with a corkscrew shape and a yellowish jaundiced appearance. These are just some of the things you can see outwardly, but what is happening inside is even more horrific because of what is causing those outwardly signs.

Alcohol is a poison and will affect every single system within our body and it are these system that are causing what you are seeing. I haven’t even accounted for the organic brain disease as some refer to wet brain. Wernicke’ syndrome or Korsakoff’s psychosis.

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High While Clean is a platform for individuals in recovery to share their story. give hope to those suffering and a voice to those we have lost. Drug Addiction is powerful and we need to fight the stigma against substance abuse.

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