The effects of DUI (drinking under the influence of alcohol) or DWI (drinking while intoxicated or drinking while impaired) to your life are awful. Foremost, you endanger, if not terminate your own life. You could sacrifice on your own if no one but you were hurt during the accident but what if there were many others? It could be a bigger burden on your conscience.

But the effects of DUI do not end here. After physically recovering from an accident, you then have to face the many other consequences of your offense. For one, you lose your license. The court will order you to attend certain classes and psychological trainings, and to render community service. Worse, you might get imprisoned depending on the severity of your case.

Financial hurdles also come into the picture. You have to pay fines and fees for the court, for the damages you incurred to other people's lives and properties and for many other arising expenses. What's more, your car insurance might ask you for higher premiums, if they will not terminate your insurance policy. You have to bear with all of these money problems hopefully not to the point of bankruptcy.

And then there's the emotional and mental challenge. You have to condition your mind that you will be able to surpass all these trials because if not you might end up feeling unstable, anxious and singled out.

But there is a hope for a new beginning after all of these. And that hope begins with you. You need an intervention, if not a treatment. You might consider yourself not alcoholic but not being able to resist the temptation of drinking despite being aware that you still have to drive thereafter somehow puts you in the alcoholic category and implies that there is really something wrong with you.

Attending DUI classes is a way of brief intervention. This could still help offenders whose alcoholism has not progressed yet to the point that a treatment is rather needed. These classes involve teachings about the consequences of drinking and even using drugs most especially to your driving. These classes also motivate people who are not yet addicted to modify their consumption behavior before it becomes addiction.

The requirements of DUI classes vary from one state to another or even from one county to another. Length also varies on the number of offenses. First time offenders have to attend the class for three months whereas repeat offenders are required to attend for eighteen months. There are also online classes although they may be more expensive.

The time demand, expenses and other nitty-gritty of DUI classes may discourage you from attending. If attending these classes is not only required by the law, many would bet you will not attend. But come to think of it. You need these classes for you to learn and realize that alcoholism destroys not only your future but others' too in just a moment on the road. You need these classes for you to gain hope that you can still change and that you can still mend your life no matter how big or small the tragedy has been.