Too much alcohol could make it difficult for you to safely drive a car or operate machinery, because your judgment is impaired along with your response times. In these cases, the results can be deadly. If you drink too much, you might also suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Over time, alcohol abuse causes bleeding from the intestinal tract, damage to the nerves and the brain, psychotic behavior, loss of memory and coordination, damage to the liver often resulting in cirrhosis, impotence, severe inflammation of the pancreas, and damage to bone marrow, heart, testes, ovaries, and muscles. Damage to the nerves and organs is usually irreversible.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in alcoholics.
Sudden withdrawal of alcohol from persons dependent on it will cause serious physical withdrawal symptoms. The use of illicit drugs usually causes the same general types of physiological and mental changes as alcohol, though frequently those changes are more severe and more sudden. Death or coma resulting from overdose of drugs is more frequent than from alcohol, but unlike alcohol, physical problems associated with drug use usually can be reversed once the person stops using drugs. Cocaine This is a stimulant that is most commonly inhaled as a powder. It also can be dissolved in water and injected into a vein.