Surely it’s a different “kind” of ethanol that is found in alcoholic drinks?

It can’t be the same as the kind of ethanol at the gas pump.

No, it’s the same. Ethanol is ethanol.

I had no clue what I was ingesting when I was drinking alcohol.

I was a sheep—I followed the masses and never questioned it. Why? I didn’t want to know the truth. I had zero interest in knowing exactly what it was. I just wanted to keep drinking it; I liked the way it made me feel, and everyone around me drank alcohol.

I didn’t start researching what it was until I learned that I shouldn’t drink it anymore—all of a sudden I wanted to know everything I could about alcohol.

First: the active drug in alcohol is called ethanol. Ethanol gives you the high and the hangover. Alcohol is in fact a drug.

Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a slight characteristic odor. It is a psychoactive substance and is the principle active ingredient found in alcoholic drinks. It is also commonly found in car fuel, solvents for paint, laundry detergent, deodorant, and more.

Why would it be allowed to be sold everywhere if it were the same kind of ethanol as the gas pumps and dangerous to ingest? The same reason cigarettes are still allowed to be sold even though everyone has been educated now that tobacco causes cancer: money.

The alcohol industry is an economic engine, and it plays an enormous role in our economy—therefore, it controls the narrative.

In the United States alone, the alcohol beverage industry is responsible for sustaining more than four million jobs and generating almost $70 billion in annual tax revenue. The total economic impact of the industry is $363.33 billion annually; and the industry is responsible for 1.65 percent of the United States economy based on total GDP.

If drinking alcohol is so bad for you, then why does everyone drink it?

Because Big Alcohol wants you to drink more alcohol, not less. We are being brainwashed by billions of advertising dollars spent each year so that we all sing the same tune: that we need alcohol to have fun and relax and enjoy life. That wine is heart healthy! Cool people drink alcohol, sexy people drink alcohol, and successful people drink alcohol. We have also been persuaded to believe that people who do not imbibe are boring and no fun.

These billions of dollars spent far outweigh the voice of science and proven data that we have collected telling us that it is an unhealthy, dangerous drug. It is no different than Big Tobacco trying to cover up the dangers and risks of smoking cigarettes back in the 70s and 80s.
Alcohol is a Group 1 Carcinogen (same as tobacco). Alcohol increases our risk of getting seven different kinds of cancer: mouth and throat, larynx (voice box), esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, and breast.

If there is all of this scientific data, then why don’t we hear about it more? Big Alcohol doesn’t want you to hear about it. It wants you to drink more. “Mommies Need Wine” even though it increases a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer by 20 percent (drinking two to three glasses of wine a night).

Why don’t we consider alcohol a dangerous drug? Because Big Alcohol doesn’t want us to. Is it highly addictive? Yes. American Centers for Addiction places alcohol at number three, right behind cocaine and heroin. Alcohol is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet.

I drank green smoothies with almond milk, went to yoga, and took vitamins and supplements like spirulina, creatine, and B12 complex. I ate cauliflower pizza crusts and lots of kale and avoided diet soda. I didn’t smoke and I protected myself from the sun.

And I drank liquid poison in a pretty glass. All. The. Time.