As for behavior, one may experience many effects that give them this desired "high" or undesirable illnesses. They may experience relaxation, reduced tension, little to no inhibitions, lack of focus, slow reflexes and reaction, lack of coordination, slow brain activity, slurred speech, tiredness, mood swings, hallucinations, and impaired judgement. These effects greatly cause the person to be vulnerable of all danger with no sense of the real world outside of their intoxicated state. As a result of these behavioral effects many car accidents are caused from DUI, sexual assault victims from intoxication, and arrests by the police. The legal limit for blood alcohol concentrations is 0.08 in all 50 states. Typical effects of going over the legal limit are slowed reaction times, slurred speech, poor coordination, slowed thinking, slowed muscle contractions, vomiting, and loss of balance. Going over the legal limit greatly affects one's judgement and they are completely vulnerable as they are unable to grasp what is actually happening. Typical effects in blood alcohol concentrations are relaxation, altered moods, lowered alertness, lack of focus, and lack of inhibitions. Although not as severe as the effects of going over the legal limit people are still vulnerable to a certain extent. If one is exactly at the legal limit then they have a combination of all the effects in blood alcohol concentrations below the legal limit with the addition of poor muscle coordination, judgement, poor memory, no sense of danger, and lack of self control.

The combination of using drugs and alcohol at the same time is very dangerous and alarming. They experience the majority of all the behavioral and physical effects of alcohol intoxication, but it's worse. This "high" that people desire will tamper with one's entire nervous system, as they can react to this large amount of euphoria with panic, anxiety, or paranoia and the hallucinations they may experience could be extremely vivid and out of control, as they can experience psychotic symptoms as well. People will become extremely ill as this combination tampers with every system in the body. Although alcohol is not banned because of its popularity in social events and the income it brings to the country, the government has made laws to restrict alcohol use so the effects will not extremely damage someone's health. Such as making the legal age to drink alcohol 21 in 1984 and the legal blood alcohol concentration limit to 0.08 in 1998.

Alcoholism is a disorder in which the person consumes alcohol uncontrollably as an addiction, or depends on alcohol regularly as a compulsive behavior. The long term effects listed previously will be even greater in someone who is suffering from alcoholism and this increases their risks of death. The long terms of alcoholism results in an unhealthy addiction and the person may develop mental illnesses as a result if they cannot find help or continue to drown their problems in alcohol. In many cases of alcoholism, it is developed as the person cannot find better ways to cope than with materialistic items and heavily rely on alcohol. It may relieve them from their everyday problems, but that doesn't mean the problems go away. Once the euphoric feelings of alcohol are washed away the problems are present once again. This causes the person to drink more and more, in hopes to fix their life. 

The effects of others mostly comes from family. It could cause domestic, child, and sexual abuse within the family as the person cannot receive better judgement under the effects of intoxication. It will also result in marital conflict as one partner may divorce the other. Furthermore, there is an increased chance of financial instability if the alcoholic refuses to go to work in favor of drinking or may get fired from multiple jobs. Pregnant alcoholic women can even cause negative effects and fetal alcohol syndrome to their unborn children from the consumption of alcohol. Children in families with alcoholics often suffer from mental illnesses and disorders, and negative feelings such as hopelessness, guilt, fear, and abandonment. They may even face problems in school and could lack skills in developing healthy relationships. And without proper guidance in life from alcoholic parents these children may seek out gangs to find a sense of family and make the wrong decisions in life.