Aquiana

I've been thinking alot about why alcohol is considered such a socially acceptable thing to do when obviously it seems as addictive and dangerous as any other drug out there. I don't know how anyone else feels but lately I've found it quite disgusting how it's set apart as an okay thing to do. I think it's kind of funny how I end up watching commercials about people drinking and having a good time with my Abf. I mean I don't see commercials with people smoking pot and having a good time on tv. Pots not right but alcohol is... am I missing some logic here? It also struck me that when watching many major sporting events, take hockey for an example, where there are definitely many young kids watching the main sponser is a brewery! So beer commercials everywhere! There's no beer commercials in the middle of Saturday morning cartoons, ( I hope) so why are they appropriate in sports? Of course it isn't shown that most good atheletes probably don't drink because they need to keep their bodies in top form. Smoking has gone under attack. You now can't smoke most places here other than your own home. Tobacco companies aren't allowed to advertise in magazines or on tv. There are alot of events they can't sponser anymore at least ones that young people watch. I just don't get it. Booze can kill you. It is highly addictive. It can ruin the A's life and the life of anyone around them....so why is it alright?

I'm not saying that it should be illegal, although sometimes I wish.... but I do wonder why we have to be bombarded with it everywhere we go. I really don't see what makes it so different from any other drug. I think some changes should be made....Any opinions?

JessicaNAJ

Aquiana - I was right where you were a few months ago. It disgusted me to see anyone drink. I getting mad at my family (dad, sisters, uncles). I didn't go to my neices birthday because I didn't want to deal with watching my sister have a good time with a beer in her hand (she has major issues). I just couldn't understand. That's when I took a hard look and realized how much the situation with my AH was really getting to me. I knew, at time, I needed to kick it in high gear and work harder on me.

It doesn't bother me anymore. Believe it or not. I actually had a conversation with my sister and I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to talk to her.

I realized how much I was letting alcohol run my life and my thoughts. That's not healthy. Not for me anyway.

I guess what I'm saying.... I understand where your coming from.

equus

I think of alcohol like a bad dog, it wags it's tail for one person and bites another. Sometimes it'll wag it's tail for months on end before it gets nasty, sometimes it bites hard early, sometimes it takes a nip and a nibble here and there until the person is used to the odd bite, grown accustomed to their new friend's temperamental side.

The problem (as I see it) is that we see many people playing with the chirpy little pup and we simply can't concieve of it as anything other than a playful soul - until we see for ourselves it's other side.

I'm not saying it's all the substance that's to blame the better skilled the handler the less likely they are to get bit!! The more cockey a person is playing with a nasty dog the more likely they are to get bit. The more timid a person is as the dog starts to control - the bigger the hole they dig!

I don't like alcohol anymore - it's a nasty dog and as skilled as I may be as a handler I simply choose to not keep company with it. It hurt the one I love - he hurt himself trusting and playing with it - he still wants to handle it, he wants to learn by his mistakes, but they remember each other and the history's not good.

Gracey

hank you for this post...........It has made me realize how much alcohol has eneveloped my life.............I didnt want to associate with anyone that even has one drink...............I hated alcohol.

I think I still do..................

This is something that I have to work on............not everyone in the world has a problem like my H...........the beer dont abuse the person the person abuses the beer.......

I have found that since my AH has been trying really hard to quit..........he has slipped at times........but he really is trying........but he is an addictive person................he cant do anything in moderation............he gets obssesive over everything he does...................if he's playing a video game he cant quit until he beats it...........he quits to sleep an go to work...........but every minute he is home that is what he is doing......right now he is trying to learn how to build a computer............every spare second is being spent on that...............

When he was a teenager smoking pot, he smoked the most
When he was at a party, he was the last one standing....

If I wasnt complaining about the alcohol...........I was complaining that he was spending too much time on the computer, or playing video games...........

I am thankful that he is spending time doing other things than drinking...........what I need to do is stop worrying so much about what he is and isnt doing........and worry about what I am doing.............I need to keep myself busy and start enjoying things that I like to do and if I am so busy it will give me less time for my obsession (HIM)

Truth

yeah gracey
everything in balance.
i just broke up with my ex a b f but i realize that if it wasn't alcohol it would be something else that he would be obsessed with
aquiana i agree with u about the alcohol thing

drgnfly30

Bring back Prohibition!!

Just kidding... I tend to agree with Aquiana. I believe that alcohol is even MORE of a problem then other drugs because it is SO available. A herion addict can't go into the corner store & pick up a fix but an A can go to the liquor store anytime (even Sundays now in my state)... Plus it's made out to be so "glamorous" & "fun" even for the kids (ie. the Budweiser frogs)

JMHO
Christine

frankly

I'm going to go out on a limb here and post my perspective. I went through the same thought process at one point. I stopped drinking anything (even though I enjoyed a drink maybe once or twice a year) I stopped hanging around people who drink. I hated alcohol because I saw it as "what made my husband do these things" I came to grips with the fact that my husband was the problem, nothing else. I mean there are so many addictions out there that destroy lives, the internet is one of them. Sex, food, shopping, gambling, drugs, football (HA) anyway you get my point. All of these things are constantly being shoved in our faces. I wanted to blame the drugs and alcohol, get rid of them and my husband would be all better right? Wrong. The illness would still be there. The illness is to blame. The illness deserves my hate. Nothing else.

B

equus

I agree that the person who drinks has a BIG part to play - massive. But alcohol is a poison, it harms many more than just addicts and the body tries desperately hard to get rid of it.

I can't see the point in acting or thinking as though it's the same as playing a video game - it isn't.

That might sound high handed but I look at the way teenagers see alcohol as a recreation that will never hurt THEM and my blood runs cold. I think it should be treated as what it is:
A poison the body can recover from in reasonable doses, a substance which is known to be both physically and psychologically addictive, a substance which impairs judgement, depresses, and at some point will probably make you throw up.

We see ad's on TV make it look so cosey - they never show young girls out there faces being taken home by creepy men or cying in the public loos of nightclubs. they never show long term addicts with circulation problems who've had limbs amputated, they never show people brought in to ER or those found dead because they passed out in the cold.

It is different from juice and our body knows that.

Gracey

I am not comparing alcohol with video games...........what I am saying which may not be coming out the right way.......he cant do things in moderation no matter what they are.

My h has an addictive personality.............

hope2bhappy

Alcohol is not a politically hot topic. If it were, you can bet the advertisements would disappear from tv, radio and billboards. That's what happened with cigarettes. All of a sudden, they were recognized as being dangerous for our health. Every local polititian in my town made his grand stand on how smokers needed to be removed from the public and segregated. Not allowed in restaurants; not allowed at airports; not allowed within 500 feet of a hospital... It's a political issue more than it is a health issue. I'm not saying that smoking is not a health hazzard -- it is. But so is drinking. You can bet the politicians won't touch this one, however. Too many of them are drinkers.

nocellphone

It's a disease of denial, and our culture is soaking in it.

***sigh***

ByAThread

It's a shame that it's not only readily available, legal and shoved in our faces by advertising, but a sad old drunk doesn't get the attention that most drug addicts do...look at all those major sports figures, performers, rappers, etc. that are glorified by being arrested/addicted to high-profile drugs. Not that I want alcoholics to get recognized, but it's just that our society seems to HONOR those "cool" drug addicts, and shove the average joe under the rug. Again...the media seems to control our lives, eh?

JennyK

Intresting...my soon to be in rehab (God and himself willing) husband said tonight. "YEAH, If only I was addicted to drugs, it would be like I was a rock star...too bad it my addiction is legal"

Legal and killing your family.

Jenny