I’m going to withdraw from the sniffing episode, but I’d like to give my view on alcohol free drinks. Since Saturday, I hadn’t had an AF drink in a year and a half, and I’ve no urge to have any more. There is some, albeit limited, research out there saying AF drinks may lead to relapses in some people. However, for me, they did exactly the opposite. In my first year of sobriety, like many I had cravings galore and any storm in a teacup moment made me want a drink. I even bought some on holiday to Asia back then, and sadly I got the news that my dad had died. So there I was, about six months sober in a hot tropical country with that news. If I hadn’t had my AF supply, I’d have 100% had a real beer (or two) and probably still be drinking today.
As I say, I’ve lost interest in AF drinks, and I’m not condoning them here, but I won’t accept them being demonised in a one size fits all approach. They saved me from relapsing in year one on several occasions and are by far the lesser evil.