Astro

They go hand-in-hand for me Martin, clean and sober means clean and sober, no exceptions.

My name is Scott, I'm an alcoholic in recovery, I can't safely take a drink or drug.

dasha

Hello Pollmaster,Sir i think you need really to be free from all mind altering vices that are
purposely done to escape reality.. so to be clean and sober of drink and drugs, unless as
others have said are necessary.. I stopped smoking 3.5 years ago, and am hooked on the
nicotine replacement lozenges.. Also caffeine, these 2 things i wouldnt class as drugs in a mind altering sense of the word.... But givin up smokes an drink i need somethin...
my tuppence of poll thought

flutter

Exactly.

nogard

for me its abstinence from all mind and mood altering drugs.

AaronK

I've learned through my many errors that if I have a drink....or even a sip of my wife's wine. In my mind my wife now thinks it ok for me to drink. This is probably not true in my wife's mind but it is in mine. Then the one drink on the weekend....to too much on the weekend...to during the week...to everyday sh!tfaced...to the good ol hair of the dog and tipsy at work. I've been down this cycle to may times and learned just to STOP!

Nicotine is the same way. You can't sneak smoking...too much of a giveaway with the smell. But dip is easy to hide. It took me a long time to quit that. I know if I have one then its going to take a long time for me to quit again. I have to many ways to hide it.

The most recent thing that I learned is the lotto. I played once and lost. I played again and one of my numbers came up....thats right....I now have numbers. I almost can't stand it if there's a drawing and I don't have a ticket. What if my numbers come up and I don't have my ticket! I caught this early and have only spent 3 dollars, but I see the steamroller coming and i'm stoping it now.

I'm sure if I tried any drugs it would happen just the same as everything else. The only good from it is I go to the gym religously....but if I fine a dealer for steroids then i'm screwed. But boy will my arms look good.

NoelleR

If I were to answer for me, my opinion, I would have to say they are synonymous.

However, if I were to answer according to AA/NA (the organisations, not the opinions of their members), I would have to say that 'clean' is an NA term used to mean free from all mind altering drugs (with the exception of nicotine and caffeine), and that 'sober'/'sobriety' are AA terms defined as freedom from alciohol (see AA's Singleness of Purpose and the pamphlet Problems Other Than Alcohol).

coffeenut

Very interesting, Taz....

I know a guy who had a nasty cocaine problem. Nasty. Went to rehab a couple of years ago. Quit doing coke. He says he's 'clean'. His family says he's 'clean'.....yet, he drinks likes like a flippin' fish.

In my mind, there is some denial (in this case) about what 'clean' is. I don't know....but it is interesting.

tyler

For me personally, clean is not doing drugs. Sober is not drinking abusively.

spryte

lol...do not put ideas in my head!

I don't about this. I have no opinion really. I'm only two months sober, but mind-altering drugs seem very attractive and very bad for me right now. I'm not seriously considering it, but the train of thought even feels...interesting / wrong...at this point in time.

Oh well. At least there's coffee. I was going to quit that too, but, c'mon...let's not get too crazy here.

NEJeeper

I think if you were a drug addict and never a drunk you could have some wine or beer with dinner maybe. But to be a drunk one cannot partake of mind altering substances to be sober.

Just because a normal person drinks a beer or two they are not a drunk. So if a recovered drug addict drinks an adult beverage I do not think it is necessarily a big deal, unless they are drinking to get drunk.

My only drugs are coffee and cigarettes. No dope or alcohol for me.

yeahgr8

I sometimes take the mickey out of the place i got sober, which is Gibraltar but this has really bought to my attention how sober my friends in NA are (i dont go, drugs was never my thing)...i can't think of one who would say it was ok to drink...go NA Gib!

Dee74

As someone who was addicted to both marijuana and alcohol, they were both devastating to me.

From this vantage point of nearly 3 years, I figure whatever I used to get out of my head on, whatever drugs I tried to escape my reality with, simply fed the 'monster' in me that almost killed me.

The actual specifics - the drugs used - didn't matter.
I was the problem.

D

Tazman53

Thanks all for sharing your opinions.

I can only speak for me, but if I did decide to start smoking dope (Which I have done in the distant past), the next logical step in my alcoholic mind is "Hey this is nice, I could probably handle a few beers every now and then and use smoking dope as way of not returning to my alcoholic drinking."

In reality I know that smoking dope is out of the question for me. I recall being stoned, I darn sure did not have the peace and serenity I have in being clean and sober.

postparty82

I know lots of AA and NA people will disagree with me BUT I believe if the "drug" is marijuana then it can help aid in sobriety. I view something harmless as weed as a possible way to step down from ones drugs of choice (mine is alcohol- vodka to be specific). As many of us know alcohol is the most destructive drug one can do as it is the only drug that harms every single part of ones body and is addictive to boot. When I first started getting sober, marijuana helped me with the feelings of withdrawal, boredom, wanting to take a drink when at a party, etc. And marijuana is harmless and non-physically addictive. I believe if marijuana is used in the right way it could be a step down from the harmful drug one is using and then very easy to quit. Its no more harmful than all the coffee and cigarettes consumed at meetings.

Fubarcdn

I agree with you postparty.
I think cigarettes are the worst drug on the planet. They have proven to be a much larger health risk than anything else and that is why I quit them decades ago.

Tazman53

postparty82 & Fubarcdn perhaps you should bring up the pot not causing any harm on the Substance Abuse - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information forum.

I know folks who feel that alcohol is not a problem either, I used to be one of them.

keithj

Curious. Is that belief based on your long term success at sobriety while smoking pot?

postparty82

All I can say it that I have PERSONALLY never done drugs harder than marijuana besides alcohol. Marijuana doesn't make me want to drink or do other drugs. I was killing my self with vodka every night and I'm not anymore. Its a case-by-case thing and in my case the first few nights of sobriety from alcohol marijuana really helped.

I know i wont be winning too many arguments with many people on this board as far as using marijuna goes... I know its still a mind altering substance, but it is the safest and healthiest one there is and something I've personally been okay with

andyaddict

Now, was it your opinion that he didn't have a right to his opinion because it did not jive with her opinion?

So, do I still have a right to my opinion even if my opinion is belaying your opinion?

Man, this is confusing...

a

sailorjohn

Fascinating, looking at the results, and only the same tiny percentage 4.44 decided that you could be 'clean' and still drink and 'sober' and still drug. Thanks for the poll Taz!