AlericB

Agree. It is sad that others suffer more than we do for our past actions.

Agree/agreed.

I must have been unclear because that's not what I meant to say. I agree that drinking is always for pleasure and if it is drinking that harms others or yourself then IMO it becomes wrong - the action becomes absolutely wrong in itself. However the person drinking is only morally accountable if they know that what they are doing is wrong. If the Beast has taken possession of the personal pronoun "I" and you are all Beast, you are seeing things, looking out at things through the Beast's eyes, not your own. And the Beast has no moral agency - it is merely a blob of brain matter. It is only once you make a Big Plan that "I" will never drink again and claim your identity back that you will see the Beast for what it is, as something that is not you. It is then you become a moral agent, responsible for whether you change your mind or not about never drinking again.

I would say that while we were not morally responsible when we were addicted we nevertheless did wrong by hurting others and by not being the person we should have been and we are not innocent of that.

I think it's more important anyway to focus on moving on. We should say sorry to those we have hurt, ask for their forgiveness and forgive ourselves. Forgiveness is not about forgetting, but about moving on. Self-forgiveness does not have to mean that we are going to gravitate towards drinking again as has been suggested above. It is a necessary part of healing.