To watch the news these days, you would think that DUI’s among celebrities was in vogue. Don’t get me wrong, as long as there have been celebrities in society, there have been brushes with the law and/or drunk driving; it’s just that in today’s YouTube world of instant information, its getting harder and harder to keep these types of indiscretions from becoming headline news.

In fact so en vogue is this latest rash of DUI’s, that one could easily compile a list of recent transgressors almost exclusively out of Hollywood A-listers, leaving lesser known celebrities to find more exotic ways of getting their names into the tabloid. Here then is a list of some of the better known celebrities with DUI convictions over the past two years.

Mel Gibson: 
Known as much for his ability to party as for his magnificent movies, Mel Gibson has more than one DUI to his credit, his latest arrest coming in late July of 2006, when he was stopped for speeding and found to have an open container in his vehicle. To compound the problem, Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest, an added flair that provided the press with more than run of the mill fodder, and which left the Aussie star serving three years probation. An admitted abuser of alcohol who at times suffers from bouts of depression, Gibson’s brilliance may always be tempered with the occasional brush with the law.

Lindsey Lohan: 
Lindsay Lohan, Hollywood’s reining bad girl, attempted to correct a sliding career this year by posing nude in a magazine. It is the kind of flawed thinking often gets this ultimate party girl in trouble. Of late, this former Disney actress could pass as the proverbial poster girl for DUI’s, having the unique distinction of being busted twice for DUI within a two month period, picking up the charges in May and July of 2007. Compounding the problem, Lohan was also found possessing cocaine during each incident. Perhaps recent stays in rehab will help change the current course of this perennial bad girl.

Paris Hilton: 
A Hollywood A-lister with dubious merit, Hilton was arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence. She followed up that performance by adding charges of reckless driving, and driving with a suspended license latter on. The compilation of charges landed Hilton in jail, though she never came close to serving even half of her sentence, as the L.A. County Sheriff reassigned the Hilton to home confinement. Still, to be fair, Paris Hilton’s booking photograph is among the better ones; a dubious honor for a dubious celebrity.

Nicole Richie: 
Not to be outdone by her partner in crime (Paris Hilton), Nicole Richie’s own DUI, ended with the star of “The Simple Life,” serving 82 minutes of a 4 day jail term in 2007. This was not Nicole’s sole brush with the law, as she had previously been charged with possession of heroine and driving with a suspended license. For what it’s worth, Richie’s booking photo was also not up to the standard set by the dubious Miss Hilton.

Bill Murray: 
Bill Murray is a celebrity that made his mark on this list in his own unique fashion; the man who entertained us with his wonderful impromptu antics in Stripes, Candy Shack and Ghostbusters, is also the man who received a DUI for driving a golf cart through the streets of Stockholm Sweden. It was a story that the Hollywood funnyman later recounted in an interview on “Late Night with David Letterman,” much to the amusement of his fans.

Kiefer Sutherland: 
Add Kiefer Sutherland’s name to the growing list of celebrities with DUI conviction who have done some jail time over the last two years. Sutherland’s second DUI in three years landed the star of 24 in jail for a whopping 48 days in late 2007. Along with the time he served, Kiefer had to pay a $25,000 fine. If nothing else, Sutherland’s bad boy image is still in tact.

Alcohol begins to takes its course on the human body virtually the instant it’s ingested, however the effects are not “felt” until it reaches the brain. At this point in the process, the brain is literally infiltrated by alcohol. A membrane called the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a network of capillaries in the human brain designed to block chemicals from getting into the rest of the brain and the body. Alcohol however, gets through due to its small molecular structure (among other small molecule bad-for-you agents like nicotine and caffeine). So, the brain gets bombarded with an agent it’s not designed to be exposed to, let alone filter, and then what? Well. Here’s what:

The frontal lobes are the area of the brain responsible for judgment and impulse control, as well as social and sexual behavior, and ability to reason. When intoxicated, a person’s judgment can stray from typical rationality. Behavior is skewed so much so, that a person who is intoxicated can be found participating in activities (sexual, social, or otherwise) they would not ordinarily choose to be involved in. Loud, boisterous demeanor that is often associated with alcohol use occurs in the frontal lobe as the brain abandons its ability to reason and loses its inhibitions.

The temporal lobe, an auditory processing center in which parts of language, speech, sounds, and vision are computed, is where we begin to see the most obvious effects of alcohol on the brain. The intoxicated brain loses its command over verbal communication, slurring speech in attempted conversation. The ability of the intoxicated person to hear and comprehend his own thoughts and speech as well as those of others, becomes obstructed, changing his position in a social setting. The hippocampus is a part of the brain found in the temporal lobe. Though its exact function is not clear, it is thought that the hippocampus contributes to the creation of memories. The alcohol’s contribution to the hippocampus hinders the formation of new memories, although does not seem to have a proven effect on those already created. This explains how a college student may remember his home address from a year before, but not recall the details the next day from the night before spent heavily drinking.

These levels of brain function (or lack thereof) when intoxicated depend entirely on the concentration of alcohol in the blood. The body can get rid of a very small percentage of the alcohol through sweat, tears and breath, but this leaves the rest to be metabolized by the liver. The liver can only metabolize a certain percentage alcohol in one hour’s time, regardless of the consumption amount. This rate of metabolism directly affects the blood alcohol content (BAC), which directly affects how “drunk” the subject will get. Several factors contribute to this including gender, weight, food consumption, and age. Women, for example, have less water in their bodies than men, thus the concentration of alcohol in a woman’s blood may be more than a man who drank the same kind and number of drinks. The legal BAC limit for driving a vehicle in the United States is .08%. It is a percentage, so this scale changes from person to person.

The damaging affects alcohol inflicts on the brain - impaired judgment, blurred vision, irrational behavior - could translate into disaster when coupled with driving. Impaired judgment and poor vision slow reaction time and decision-making, both crucial components to maintaining safe vehicle operation. Irrational thinking and obnoxious behavior could result in speeding, erratic driving, and road rage. Drunk driving causes accidents that result in injuries, car damage and loss, and even death. These incidents are responsible for killing thousands per year, not to mention the costs for court fees, insurance, and medical bills of the injured.
There is considerable damage being done - to our brains, to our cars, to our people - all in the name of alcohol. The thing is, it’s 100% preventable…