How is booze even legal?
Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Virginia
Posts: 32
The beautiful thing about living in the USA is the right of the individual to choose not to drink/smoke/over-eat. I tip my hat to those who can consume in moderation, and encourage those who cannot to seek help with their issues.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Saint Louis, MO
Posts: 285
I find that when I get a resentment about other people drinking, or get a holier than thou attitude about someone else's drink, which is really what you are talking about, it is more about me than them. It is about me wanting to drink and having the mentality of 'if I don't get to then nobody should get to.' Fairly juvenile really. As others have said, not everyone in the world is alcoholic, even those who drink alcohol to excess may not be. Demonizing the disease is one thing, but demonizing the drink itself is not productive in the least, especially not to people who need our help.
1 bite&all resistance crumbles
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: IRELAND
Posts: 2,208
Ag no man!
What right have we - this tiny minority that is allergic - to stop hundreds of millions of people enjoying alcohol - in moderation - just because we can't and don't and most of us never wanted to!
Please the problem isn't alcohol - it's our reaction to it and refusal to accept that we are powerless over it. Alcohol is not the problem.
How pointless to blame alcohol?
I am delighted that alcohol showed me that I was spiritually mentally and often physically ill as a result of my refusal to surrender. The past almost 4 years have been the best of my life. What a gift it has been to me.
Cathy31
x
What right have we - this tiny minority that is allergic - to stop hundreds of millions of people enjoying alcohol - in moderation - just because we can't and don't and most of us never wanted to!
Please the problem isn't alcohol - it's our reaction to it and refusal to accept that we are powerless over it. Alcohol is not the problem.
How pointless to blame alcohol?
I am delighted that alcohol showed me that I was spiritually mentally and often physically ill as a result of my refusal to surrender. The past almost 4 years have been the best of my life. What a gift it has been to me.
Cathy31
x
Rockstar
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wales, UK
Posts: 634
With people who do not suffer alcoholism there can be a benefit from a glass of wine so thats fair enough, but smoking is legal too and there is absolutely NO health benefits from cigarettes whatsoever. And before anyone says it soothes nerves, thats a myth. In fact smoking aggravates the nervous system.
Point is there are are dangerous legal stuff. To each his own
Point is there are are dangerous legal stuff. To each his own
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 50
Originally Posted by hughs dad 
I was at a meeting last night and there were about 30 of us there. I listened to all of the stories of heart ache, tragedy, lost years, etc... and the one thing that popped into my head is how on earth is the substance even legal. Not only legal, but heavily pushed on us from a young age. I mean our society is very ingrained in alcohol. From constant adds on TV, magazines, it's placement in movies and TV shows, to the president having a beer with people in a time of crisis. All of these indicators point to all of us that alcohol will make things better, more fun, make you better looking, etc.. To me alcohol is far more influential on dumb behavior than pot. Could you imagine if you took all of the alcohol adds / spots on tv and replaced them with pot adds? Doesn't that seem just completely wrong?
The other thing is what good does booze really do? We all hear about the normal drinker. Who is that person? Everyone I know drinks to get a buzz. Now for a 25 year old woman it might mean 2 glasses of wine and she reaches the point where it took me a 5th to achieve. In other words, we're all chasing the same buzz, the longer you drink the more booze it takes to reach that buzz. I mean, we don't discuss the people who can use pot normally. There's nothing normal about pot and there is nothing normal about booze. Both are poison. If I were to smoke pot I'd need one maybe two hits and I'd be stoned out of my mind. Compare me to Snoop Dog... I bet it takes him far more pot to arrive where I can get after one hit. Does that make me normal, or do I just have a lot lower tolerance? I think you could make the same argument for booze. The normal drinker does not exist is my mind. It's all bullshiz... Everyone who drinks is knowingly / actively looking to use a mind altering drug. I hate that I am trying to quit something that is being pushed down my throat from so many different angles. I hope that with the help of AA and a higher power I can one day notice these influences less. I am on day 6.
I hate alcohol and everything it stands for...
The other thing is what good does booze really do? We all hear about the normal drinker. Who is that person? Everyone I know drinks to get a buzz. Now for a 25 year old woman it might mean 2 glasses of wine and she reaches the point where it took me a 5th to achieve. In other words, we're all chasing the same buzz, the longer you drink the more booze it takes to reach that buzz. I mean, we don't discuss the people who can use pot normally. There's nothing normal about pot and there is nothing normal about booze. Both are poison. If I were to smoke pot I'd need one maybe two hits and I'd be stoned out of my mind. Compare me to Snoop Dog... I bet it takes him far more pot to arrive where I can get after one hit. Does that make me normal, or do I just have a lot lower tolerance? I think you could make the same argument for booze. The normal drinker does not exist is my mind. It's all bullshiz... Everyone who drinks is knowingly / actively looking to use a mind altering drug. I hate that I am trying to quit something that is being pushed down my throat from so many different angles. I hope that with the help of AA and a higher power I can one day notice these influences less. I am on day 6.
I hate alcohol and everything it stands for...
Well, I for one completely agree with you. I think society does push alcohol on people from the time they are old enough to watch tv or go to a sporting event. There is a lot of money in doing that. I also think it is WRONG. Alcohol is a dangerous drug, plain and simple! It is absolutely no different than any of the illegal street drugs- IMO. I know many recovering addicts whose stories are remarkably similar to us alcoholics. The difference is alcohol is ingrained so much in society that it is accepted. You don't hear about the casual drug user, but they are out there... I've known people who have done every drug you can name as recreation in their youth, but just outgrown it and stopped when they got married or had kids. I also, know some who still do them once in a while and have never had any kind of problems resulting from it. I'm not saying that it should be considered ok to do drugs... drugs are all dangerous (alcohol & cigarettes included). I'm just saying that I don't think they are actually worse than alcohol. They are ALL addictive drugs, the way society treats them doesn't change that. I don't actually hate alcohol anymore, but I do think society as a whole needs to wake up and realize it isn't safe and it isn't just bad people who develop a problem with it. I personally believe I was addicted to alcohol the first time I got drunk (at 10 years old)... I spent the rest of my life trying to feel that feeling. I don't think I had a normal reaction to it then, and I don't think I can ever drink it like a normal person. It just effects me different. It wasn't that I drank irresponsibly and became an alcoholic IMO... I think I was an alcoholic, so I drank irresponsibly. Please, understand I am NOT making excuses! I take take full responsibility for all the terrible things I did while drinking and will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to the people I love. I'm just saying that I don't believe I became an alcoholic after years of drinking too much. I think it was there right from the beginning and just got worse.
Sorry, for the rant... I feel pretty strongly about this, I guess -LOL. Anyway, it's just my opinion. I know the big book says not to hate drinking as an institution, but I'm just not sure I agree. If no one ever questions the way things are... nothing ever changes. And I feel pretty strongly that ANY drug use should not be considered harmless or safe.
Congrats on your sober time. I have a little over a year and it really does get better, hang in there! :-)
Don't resist, allow
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: South East of England
Posts: 1,521
Originally Posted by exquisitered
It wasn't that I drank irresponsibly and became an alcoholic IMO... I think I was an alcoholic, so I drank irresponsibly. Please, understand I am NOT making excuses! I take take full responsibility for all the terrible things I did while drinking and will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to the people I love.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indianapolis
Posts: 161
exquisitered you and I see it the same way. It's not that I feel victimized or I'm jeulous of regualr drinkers. I just have a son and he already knows about being drunk, beer, wine, etc... This isn't from me, I don't drink in front of him and certainly don't discuss different types of booze with him. He just picks them up from commercials or watching people at games and what not.
For me, the only way I've ever really enjoyed booze is by getting drunk. When I was younger I did a better job of controlling it (drinking say 5 beers - then stopping) but I still caught a buzz. Now, that's impossible. I don't have 5 beers. I honeslty wouldn't even start drinking if I didn't have any hard booze in the house. Beer was great to drink between shots. I do understand the "allergy" part of the disease. When I start it's like an area of my brain that was dark become imeediately lit up. And it CRAVES AND SCREAMS to stay on - and the only way to stay "on" is by having booze. Well, I've only been sober 8 days but I have learned that it's much easier to leave the lights off than it is to keep the room lit... might be a bad analogy, but it makes sense to me.
best of luck!
For me, the only way I've ever really enjoyed booze is by getting drunk. When I was younger I did a better job of controlling it (drinking say 5 beers - then stopping) but I still caught a buzz. Now, that's impossible. I don't have 5 beers. I honeslty wouldn't even start drinking if I didn't have any hard booze in the house. Beer was great to drink between shots. I do understand the "allergy" part of the disease. When I start it's like an area of my brain that was dark become imeediately lit up. And it CRAVES AND SCREAMS to stay on - and the only way to stay "on" is by having booze. Well, I've only been sober 8 days but I have learned that it's much easier to leave the lights off than it is to keep the room lit... might be a bad analogy, but it makes sense to me.
best of luck!
Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 201
Totally understand what your saying Hugh. The reason alcohol is legal is because its so rooted in our culture. It’s a powerful drug that if was invented today I’m certain would be classed as an illegal drug.
I agree with posters that prohibition didn’t work and isn’t workable, but, in my country alcohol is a massive problem which everybody whether drinkers or not have to pay for, so I believe something needs to be done. Whether being victims of crime, bad health caused by booze etc etc. The cost to the taxpayers, insurance payers etc is immense
I don’t believe there is much in the way of a cure, remedy whatever for alcoholism other than hitting rock bottom and will power. I think, like most things in life, prevention is the best solution.
In our country people need to respect alcohol more, we need to change our relationship with alcohol. Getting pi***d is part of our culture and that’s wrong. I drank myself into alcoholism and I wouldn’t like to see other people go down the same path I did.
I agree with posters that prohibition didn’t work and isn’t workable, but, in my country alcohol is a massive problem which everybody whether drinkers or not have to pay for, so I believe something needs to be done. Whether being victims of crime, bad health caused by booze etc etc. The cost to the taxpayers, insurance payers etc is immense
I don’t believe there is much in the way of a cure, remedy whatever for alcoholism other than hitting rock bottom and will power. I think, like most things in life, prevention is the best solution.
In our country people need to respect alcohol more, we need to change our relationship with alcohol. Getting pi***d is part of our culture and that’s wrong. I drank myself into alcoholism and I wouldn’t like to see other people go down the same path I did.
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