Question: How much can I drink and still drive?
The rate at which alcohol is removed from the body is constant for each person and nothing can increase this rate, thus once alcohol is present in your blood stream, it will remain there until the appropriate period of time has passed, no matter what tricks you try to make yourself sober quickly.
The blood alcohol level depends greatly on your weight. In smaller people there is less body for the alcohol to be spread around, and so the levels for the same number of drinks tend to be higher. Fat does not help dilute alcohol very much, so a very obese person may have a much higher blood alcohol level than a person of the same weight who is all muscle and no fat.
Only a very rough guide to the amount of alcohol that is safe to drink can be given. Men may be able to consume three standard drinks in one hour to reach .05, and then one standard drink per hour thereafter to stay at that level. These figures should be reduced by 1/3 for women. A standard drink is 250 mL of beer, 120 mL of wine, 60 mL of port or sherry and 30 mL of any spirit.

Question: My husband is a salesman and drinks a lot with his work. I think he uses his work as an excuse to get boozed. One of his mates has had pancreatitis. Could he get it too?
The pancreas is the organ that produces your digestive juices and sits in the centre of the abdomen behind the belly button. People who drink a large amount of alcohol can damage the pancreas, causing the digestive juices to leak out into the belly. These juices then try to digest your insides, which causes severe pain. The treatment is difficult and often involves long hospital stays.
Pancreatitis is not a common disease, but is a well recognised complication of alcoholism. Anyone who drinks excess amounts of alcohol, either constantly or intermittently, is placing their health at risk in many ways.