Alcohol Involved in Most Deaths, Study Reveals
Although the magnitude of alcoholism in Costa Rica is unknown, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) affirms that alcohol is the principal cause in many deaths attended to by clinics and hospitals.

Caja doctor, Omar Quesada, who is chied of Medicine at the Hospital Calderón Guardia, explained that alcohol is a spark to much of the domestic violence cases, as well as liver and pancreas diseases, cardiac problems, suicides and homicides, not to be lessen the impact on vehicular accidents and deaths.

According to the latest study by the Instituto de Alcoholismo y Farmacodependencia (IAFA), alcoholism in Costa Rica begins at an average age of 17 years and that 27% of Costa Ricans have problems with alcohol. The investigations reveals that as many as 38 out of 100 adolescents have been in contact with alcohol, some as young as 15.

And contrary to tradition, the gap between men and women is little when it comes to alcohol consumption.

Seidy Chaves, a worker at the Hospital México, says that alcohol is one responsible for most of the traffic accident cases at the hospital, with many patients sent to hospital with serious neurological damage that requires long hospital stays.

IAFA doctor, Ana Lorena Mora, warns that consuming alcohol and drugs was once seen as a "macho" thing, but now with women's liberation, they too are reaffirming that problems with alcohol is equal to both genders.