nomis

This is the internet, so there are no borders. There are 300 million people roughly in the US and around 120 million in the three major Commonwealth countries. If I were to wager a guess I would say that proportion is roughly the same here.

YouRmySunshine

Interesting thread. I hadn't given it much thought. I guess I was ignorant & thought we were all kinda in the same boat with the same resources.
I feel blessed to live in a city that has 15+ meetings a week.

Seiceps

I havnt seen anyone else from NZ on here yet !

Dee74

There's quite a few (not me)
you need to look harder Seiceps LOL

D

Seiceps

I didn't think I was the only one dee ! We too are a nation of drinkers. It's what I've realised. Everyone drinks. It's what everyone does. Go to dinner- drink , beach - drink, BBQ = get rat faced. We have huge ad campaigns on tv and radio here. The slogan is " it's not what we're drinking , it's how we're drinking that's the problem. We have a big drink driving issue as public transport totally naff. In fact , we are a country of drinkers and druggers. It's a rite of passage to go to Europe for a couple if years and hammer it.

bemyself

Yeah, seiceps, you've just pretty much nailed the Aussie drinking culture too! Aussies and New Zealanders are sort of 'cousins' in more than just political ways, alas.

The Aussie culture is drenched (I chose the term with intent) in drinking. Absolutely drenched.

TigerLili

There are around 300 meetings a week in my Australian city. Today there are 52 meetings listed in the local meetings guide. I could get to about 20 of them within 20 minutes drive of my home.

Seiceps

Hey bms , you're right drenched is a good word. And I think aa may be more prevalent or the goto choice in the us Bc it is much more religious country than nz and oz and there is the connotation of religion with aa. We are a bunch of heathens down here !
Aa will never sit well with me as I'm not into the disease model. I may be naive and I am just starting out but to me cancer is a disease. Drinking is a choice. Who knows I may change my mind.
I think here and oz and uk we drink a lot younger. We were all drinking every weekend from about 16 onwards. I don't remember it being hard to get hold of.
Most people will be waking up hungover today across the country, except me !!!!!

bemyself

Melbourne's pretty well served with (AA) meetings too, though it can vary suburb to suburb. What IS a bit frustrating is a real scarcity of non-12 Step f2f meetings, such as SMART, Women for Sobriety (known here as New Life Programme). The last time I looked, too - quite some months ago - there are no LifeRing style meetings here either.

Where it gets much more difficult for ANY f2f support meetings is when you live in the country, as I did for about 20 years (with a 5 year gap in the middle of living in Adelaide). Country-based recovery / sobriety supports, with real people (i.e. as contrasted with online) are shockingly sparse, except if you happen to live in a moderately sized town, population wise.

And country people drink like fishes too, no less than their city counterparts.

TigerLili

Hi Seiceps,

I think if we look at a broader definition of disease, alcoholism falls with it. For example, from freedictionary.com:

1. A pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.

2. A condition or tendency, as of society, regarded as abnormal and harmful.

The term 'genetic defect' stands out to me as there is plenty of research that shows addiction is likely to be triggered by an accumulation of a specific protein in the brain which causes a permanent genetic change in the user. We become genetically defective, or diseased.

Just my thoughts on the matter