Would you support alcohol prohibition?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 88
Would you support alcohol prohibition?
As a recovering alkie, I think about this a lot.
Would it be easier to stay sober if alcohol were illegal and not available on every street corner, hotel, airplane, airport, and on, and on, and on? Alcohol is everywhere and it's socially accepted. Therefore, I'm always tempted.
Or, would our addiction force us to go the way of Al Capone and find any illegal way to drink and profit from drinking.
Curious what others think.
/rhn
Would it be easier to stay sober if alcohol were illegal and not available on every street corner, hotel, airplane, airport, and on, and on, and on? Alcohol is everywhere and it's socially accepted. Therefore, I'm always tempted.
Or, would our addiction force us to go the way of Al Capone and find any illegal way to drink and profit from drinking.
Curious what others think.
/rhn
Heathen
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: La La Land, USA
Posts: 2,567
It wouldn't matter.. I find a way to obtain any substance I'm actively addicted to if I want it bad enough.
My job in my life is keep myself on the right track, regardless of temptation.
There's a lot of things everywhere that are bad for us.. cigarettes, fast food..
I'm a pretty heavy believer in and proponent of personal responsibility.
My job in my life is keep myself on the right track, regardless of temptation.
There's a lot of things everywhere that are bad for us.. cigarettes, fast food..
I'm a pretty heavy believer in and proponent of personal responsibility.
RIP Sweet Suki
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: In my sanctuary, my home
Posts: 39,868
No, I wouldn't support it. This is still supposed to be a free country and people should have the right to put whatever they want into their bodies, so long as they don't harm another individual. We don't need the government telling us what to eat or drink. Personal responsibility, people.
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
No I wouldn't support it... Would I mind not seeing alcohol references everywhere, not a bit, but prohibition is ridiculous.
I would even support decriminalizing marijuana...
But that's just me... I hated pot BTW
Mark
I would even support decriminalizing marijuana...
But that's just me... I hated pot BTW
Mark
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,243
I know an alkie who had to work in the middle east where there was no alcohol available. So what to do? He made his own still and did just fine keeping himself supplied.
I personally am not for prohibition for many reasons. On the other side of the coin though I recently attended a baseball game where there were tons of young children. The largest and most prevalent advertising signs in the ball park were for beer. Of the food and drink vendors walking the stands the only ones that shouted out their wares were the beer vendors. And they seemed to come by shouting "Cold Beer" very frequently. One of them even did a robot dance routine that the kids loved.
Then you got the weekend belong to beer commercials with the scantly clad ladies. How about a clip from the local detox hosp to show how cool it really is.
I personally am not for prohibition for many reasons. On the other side of the coin though I recently attended a baseball game where there were tons of young children. The largest and most prevalent advertising signs in the ball park were for beer. Of the food and drink vendors walking the stands the only ones that shouted out their wares were the beer vendors. And they seemed to come by shouting "Cold Beer" very frequently. One of them even did a robot dance routine that the kids loved.
Then you got the weekend belong to beer commercials with the scantly clad ladies. How about a clip from the local detox hosp to show how cool it really is.
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 88
I would not support it either. I believe that the government should stay out of most things.
But I have to admit, when I know alcohol is NOT available to me (such as Sundays in Georgia where you cannot buy even beer or wine), I don't crave it.
But I have to admit, when I know alcohol is NOT available to me (such as Sundays in Georgia where you cannot buy even beer or wine), I don't crave it.
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,095
Originally Posted by rhnorment 
Would it be easier to stay sober if alcohol were illegal and not available on every street corner, hotel, airplane, airport, and on, and on, and on?
Nope. Guess not. Most people enjoy alcohol and are able to control their drinking so that it doesn't cause any problems in their life. They can experience an ease and comfort with a drink or two. Alcohol is not their problem. I am not like those people. I have a physical craving once I start drinking. And when I'm not drinking or trying to control my drinking, I have a mental obsession with it. I'm anxious and miserable without it. Alcohol is not my problem.
Alcohol was my solution. Like the BB says, I used alcohol to blot out the intolerable conciousness of my situation as best I could. My situation is alcoholism, manifested in extremes of self centeredness, self-pity, and self-seeking. Alcohol was a solution to that condition until it no longer worked as a solution.
Originally Posted by rhnorment
Alcohol is everywhere and it's socially accepted. Therefore, I'm always tempted.
"And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone, even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition."--AA Big Book, Ch. 6, 1st Ed.
Last edited by keithj; 06-16-2009 at 10:05 AM.
Not all better, getting better
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Location: The Beautiful Inner Banks of NC
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Absolutly not. It's been tried and was a massive failure. For that matter my DOC is pot and I am strongly in favor of the legalization of that drug. I believe more lives are ruined with unnessasary prison terms, arrest records, etc., than those addicted to that particular drug.
As for me personally, I absolutly can not smoke pot. It has the same effect as drinking does on most alcoholics. However that is me, I would venture to say that most people who smoke pot, do so occasionally and it is probably less harmful to most than alcohol. In Holland, where pot is semi-legal, a smaller percentage of people use it than here where it illegal. Their hard drug numbers are also lower. All we are doing is making criminals out of ordinary people. Sorry if I got a bit off topic here, but it is something I am passionate about. BTW medicinal marijuana should be a no brainer. Lord knows doctors can perscribe medicine that is far more powerful, addictive, and often no more effective.
As someone else mentioned, drugs and alcohol are neither bad or good, they just are substances. The problem is with those of us who are unable, for whatever reason, to use them in moderation. The problem is with us, not the substances.
As for me personally, I absolutly can not smoke pot. It has the same effect as drinking does on most alcoholics. However that is me, I would venture to say that most people who smoke pot, do so occasionally and it is probably less harmful to most than alcohol. In Holland, where pot is semi-legal, a smaller percentage of people use it than here where it illegal. Their hard drug numbers are also lower. All we are doing is making criminals out of ordinary people. Sorry if I got a bit off topic here, but it is something I am passionate about. BTW medicinal marijuana should be a no brainer. Lord knows doctors can perscribe medicine that is far more powerful, addictive, and often no more effective.
As someone else mentioned, drugs and alcohol are neither bad or good, they just are substances. The problem is with those of us who are unable, for whatever reason, to use them in moderation. The problem is with us, not the substances.
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 181
Originally Posted by suki44883
No, I wouldn't support it. This is still supposed to be a free country and people should have the right to put whatever they want into their bodies, so long as they don't harm another individual. We don't need the government telling us what to eat or drink. Personal responsibility, people.
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Location: Upstate New York
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Absolutely not.
Nor do I support the idea of illegal drugs....or seatbelt/helmet laws (even though I personally do wear a seatbelt/helmet, do not do drugs and very rarely drink).....or the illegality of any of the so-called "victimless" crimes. I try hard not to waste my personal resources in the futile attempt to protect people from themselves, and it really kinda gets my goat that our government chooses to spend so much of my tax money trying to accomplish this impossible task. A task which reeks of "Institutionalzed Codependency."
I say let it all be legal then tax and/or raise the insurance premiums enough so that those who choose to buy/use/do dangerous, self-destructive things are basically paying for the risk that they pose to themselves. In the cases where they also end up posing a (direct material or physical) risk to others, that can be addressed with with a true zero tolerance justice system.
Wow...did I just write that????? I sound like a friggin' libertarian or something -- which I'm not, BTW........
freya
Nor do I support the idea of illegal drugs....or seatbelt/helmet laws (even though I personally do wear a seatbelt/helmet, do not do drugs and very rarely drink).....or the illegality of any of the so-called "victimless" crimes. I try hard not to waste my personal resources in the futile attempt to protect people from themselves, and it really kinda gets my goat that our government chooses to spend so much of my tax money trying to accomplish this impossible task. A task which reeks of "Institutionalzed Codependency."
I say let it all be legal then tax and/or raise the insurance premiums enough so that those who choose to buy/use/do dangerous, self-destructive things are basically paying for the risk that they pose to themselves. In the cases where they also end up posing a (direct material or physical) risk to others, that can be addressed with with a true zero tolerance justice system.
Wow...did I just write that????? I sound like a friggin' libertarian or something -- which I'm not, BTW........
freya
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Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 679
I think it is really easy to quickly say of course I wouldn't support prohibition. But part of saying that is that we as a country and culture have been completely conditioned to the acceptance of alcohol. We have not, for example, been conditioned to accepting heroin use. And another substance which is becoming more and more regulated is interesting to look at— tobacco. Government intervention by way of programming and taxes has severely curbed tobacco use both in this country and throughout the world. Also I am sure that the general social view towards cigarette smoking has greatly shifted in the last 40 years. This is mainly due to government intervention although certainly lobbied by anti-tobacco activists.
Now on to the question. Do I support prohibition? No, because I too believe in freedom of choice and to a certain extent don't believe it could work. You just cannot rock the status quo that much. However, I do think there is a culture of alcohol in this country that is detrimental. I think that much more education about alcoholism is needed. I really believe that it is on par with something like smoking and while I do take some issue with governments taxing people out of being able to buy cigarettes I do think a vehement public campaign in order to educate people is in order. Currently about the only thing that is on the tips of people's tongues about alcohol is drunk driving. This is certainly a major issue and needs even more attention than it gets. But as it is I feel it is looked at as a one off problem not as a symptom of a growing problem facing America and the world— alcoholism. I believe in education. I believe that I didn't get it. I remember learning a hell of a lot more about drugs and tobacco and STDs in any health class I took in school. I believe alcoholism is extremely prevalent. What are the statistics? How many people does it effect?
This is coming from someone who fully believes I could have been diagnosed with this much earlier than I was. I believe more awareness needs to be raised amongst professionals and citizens. I do believe that the government has a certain responsibility, especially if it has already taken those liberties in other public health issues such as smoking, AIDS, etc.
Now on to the question. Do I support prohibition? No, because I too believe in freedom of choice and to a certain extent don't believe it could work. You just cannot rock the status quo that much. However, I do think there is a culture of alcohol in this country that is detrimental. I think that much more education about alcoholism is needed. I really believe that it is on par with something like smoking and while I do take some issue with governments taxing people out of being able to buy cigarettes I do think a vehement public campaign in order to educate people is in order. Currently about the only thing that is on the tips of people's tongues about alcohol is drunk driving. This is certainly a major issue and needs even more attention than it gets. But as it is I feel it is looked at as a one off problem not as a symptom of a growing problem facing America and the world— alcoholism. I believe in education. I believe that I didn't get it. I remember learning a hell of a lot more about drugs and tobacco and STDs in any health class I took in school. I believe alcoholism is extremely prevalent. What are the statistics? How many people does it effect?
This is coming from someone who fully believes I could have been diagnosed with this much earlier than I was. I believe more awareness needs to be raised amongst professionals and citizens. I do believe that the government has a certain responsibility, especially if it has already taken those liberties in other public health issues such as smoking, AIDS, etc.
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