I don't drink, I did as a dumb teenager.

to answer some of your questions;

i think when a person decides to drink and doesn't make arrangements ahead of time for a ride and makes the decision to drive impaired that would be premeditated in my book. it was no accident and if a life was taken then it was premeditated.

my husband went to Japan on business and it is expected that you drink and get totally drunk or dishonor your host. thru an interpreter my husband explained that for him to drink would violate his personal beliefs, instead of his host being dishonored, he thought very highly of my husband for standing firm for his beliefs. so no it should never stand in anyone's way of getting ahead in the business world.

To someone who says i need to have alcohol to have a good time then i would have to say you need to go to counseling to find out why you don't have that ability within yourself naturally. i would say the same thing to someone who needs alcohol to face life. and tell them about AA so they can begin to find a new way to face life.

i saved this one for last:
"Many people consume alcohol in the belief that it can be used as a medication to alleviate the symptoms of shyness, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, fear, worry, feelings of inferiority, stress, and other emotional conditions. Are these people right or wrong?"
again for emotional problems and other mental illnesses these people need to face these things with a counselor.

that said, i have to confess that i have been very tempted lately to drink some wine to take the edge off the physical pain i am in because i can't take pain medication due to allergies to it. i have been in the bed hurting so bad at times that it feels like end stage labor and all i can do is cry and hold very still as each movement brings about searing pain. the physical pain has been so bad i have almost passed out twice. i have been desperate so, yes more than one i have 'thought' about going and getting some wine and drinking just enough to take the edge off, but as to date i have not done this. and i probably won't.

oh my, what a topic - my group is all about abstinence from alcohol - we are a group of recovered and recovering alcoholics.

For me, alcohol no longer has a hold over me - I neither fear it nor desire it and I am quite happy to be among people who enjoy it and can drink socially.

These are my personal opinions in response to your questions - vehicular homicide is an area of law that I am not familiar with and, as I do not live in the USA, I don't feel technically able to answer that question. My gut reaction in a moral sense is that someone under the influence of alcohol, alcoholic or not, is still responsible for their behaviour and actions. For example, if the drink drive limit by law is broken, the person concerned is accountable for that in addition to other charges.

Alcohol has no place as a medication as it is a depressant and a poison and many have a genetic predisposition to addiction. No-one ever wakes up one morning and decides to become an alcoholic but somewhere a line is crossed and then that person can never drink safely again. There are many ways to address psychological problems that are practical or spiritual and not based in mind altering substances.

People will abstain from alcohol through religious beliefs, from fear of losing control or from knowing they have a genetic predisposition to addiction or simply because they don't like the taste! I have not drunk alcohol for some time and it does not affect my integration with the world, in fact it enhances it. The only people who are worried about what you drink, I find from experience, are those who drink too much themselves.

I admire people who don't need alcohol to have a good time - they are usually well-balanced people with confidence and often have a lot of spiritual faith. To those who feel they need a drink to function I would say they are on very dangerous ground.

Explaining alcohol to a child, well I was brought up in a strict home and taught to drink like a lady but it still didn't prevent me becoming alcoholic - members of my wider family are alcoholic and it is a bit of a lottery about who will be affected in this way. Alcoholism is across the board of humanity, irrespective of social standing, intelligence and moral fibre. To any child I would say that it is a mind altering drug that some people can drink without adverse effect, it is socially acceptable and lowers inhibitions but I would explain the dangers of it too.

I don't drink, I did as a dumb teenager.

to answer some of your questions;

i think when a person decides to drink and doesn't make arrangements ahead of time for a ride and makes the decision to drive impaired that would be premeditated in my book. it was no accident and if a life was taken then it was premeditated.

my husband went to Japan on business and it is expected that you drink and get totally drunk or dishonor your host. thru an interpreter my husband explained that for him to drink would violate his personal beliefs, instead of his host being dishonored, he thought very highly of my husband for standing firm for his beliefs. so no it should never stand in anyone's way of getting ahead in the business world.

To someone who says i need to have alcohol to have a good time then i would have to say you need to go to counseling to find out why you don't have that ability within yourself naturally. i would say the same thing to someone who needs alcohol to face life. and tell them about AA so they can begin to find a new way to face life.

i saved this one for last:
"Many people consume alcohol in the belief that it can be used as a medication to alleviate the symptoms of shyness, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, fear, worry, feelings of inferiority, stress, and other emotional conditions. Are these people right or wrong?"
again for emotional problems and other mental illnesses these people need to face these things with a counselor.

that said, i have to confess that i have been very tempted lately to drink some wine to take the edge off the physical pain i am in because i can't take pain medication due to allergies to it. i have been in the bed hurting so bad at times that it feels like end stage labor and all i can do is cry and hold very still as each movement brings about searing pain. the physical pain has been so bad i have almost passed out twice. i have been desperate so, yes more than once i have 'thought' about going and getting some wine and drinking just enough to take the edge off, but as to date i have not done this. and i probably won't.

I don't drink. I stopped over 23 years ago. There is nothing
wrong with a glass of wine here and there. But too many people
especially younger people don't know when to stop.

Several years ago I was in a terrible car accident. It was a
Hit and Run accident. The other person hit me right in the
drivers site than he took off. I was unable to move. My car hit a
tree and the car was literally wrapped around the tree....
The person who did this was never found.

I am strictly against people who drink and drive.Too many people
lose their life! God was watching over me and He saved my life!

Drinking to medicate yourself is not the answer. It's only helping
temporarily and than the big crash! People need to get
professional help like counseling or therapy to get back on their
feet and to get their life under control.

I am in pain almost every day because of another tragedy in
late 2005...I am still in therapy today and I am taking medication.
for my severe pain. I don't really like to take the medication
because I don't like to take narcotic pain medications. I already
reduced a lot of my pain medication. My family and my friends
helping me a lot and support me through hard times. I love
them so much and I am so grateful. I don't need alcohol
to have a good time.

well I used to drink quite a bit.. but NEVER got behind the wheel while drinking.. it has all come to a stop .. when I did see a friend .. who was visiting at my House and how she behaved und influence.. (just dont want to go into details.. ) and guess what.. you can have a great time without drinking.. now I still every once in a while will drink a glass of wine for a special occation or maybe even a beer .. but that is all.. that only happens very rarly.. :)

Not a good drinker. The few times I tried made me sick sick and I was hugging the porclian god.
just wish smoking made me as sick lol
hugs
sally

I worked as the volunteer editor of a newsletter for an alcohol and drug recovery center several years ago. I left after a few months upon coming to the conclusion that the people I was helping were beyond redemption. They were the kind of folk who spend their entire lives going from one treatment center to another, perhaps stopping along the way somewhere to be homeless or placed in a mental institution or prison for a time. They used their claim of alcohol and drug dependency to get them sympathy and material gain at society's expense. They had never held jobs or contributed to society in any way, believing that other people owed them a living; all they wanted to do was to spend their lives being cared for, consuming the resources of their insurance companies, families, and tax payers through government programs. They were not only free-loaders, but having destroyed their own lives, many of them engaged in constant actions designed to destroy the lives of any other person they came into contact with - even me. I gave them my time and effort, and tried to understand them, being someone who does not have a drinking problem. I came to the realization that if I continued to be in their presence, they would continue to attack me and the good that I did, so I bid them farewell before they could destroy me completely.

In my research for the newsletter, I came across many items related to alcohol misuse, including the following; please feel free to share it with other people on the Daily Strength Website.


An Effective Solvent

It will remove stains from designer clothes.
It will also remove the clothes from your back.
If by chance it is used in sufficient quantity,
Alcohol will remove furniture from the table,
Lining from the stomach,
Vision from the eyes,
And judgement from the mind.
Alcohol will also remove good reputations,
Good jobs, good friends, happiness from children's hearts,
Sanity, freedom, spouses, relationships,
Man's ability to adjust and live with his fellow man,
And even life itself.
As a remover of things, alcohol has no equal.

-Jennifer and Kelly


Life has so much to offer us, and alcohol misuse can only spoil it.

I am Bipolar and before I was DX I used to drink alot. Knowing what I know now I see that I used it to self medicate. Yes it is a depressant and I guess my body craved it for that reason. It would bring down the manic.

Since my DX and being on the proper meds I only drink twice a month. Hubby and I go to our club on the monthly drawing night trying to win a bit of cash and then we will go again on a weekend night somewhere in the middle of the month. I no longer feel the need to drink until I'm trashed.

I have drank and drove and have 2 DUI's to prove it. This is not an excuse just an explaination: I live in a very rural area. There are no taxi's, subway, buses, etc. There is also no night time entertainment other than bars/club for 40 miles, which equates to an hour or more drive on twisty country roads. So we go to the local bars. The times I got my DUI's (1985 and 2002) I was alone. No hubby or b/f. The friends I went out with lived in the next town in the other direction. My thinking was I need to get to work tomorrow so I need to drive. Friends also needed to work the next day and had to go home. I was lucky that neither of mine caused harm to anyone else. First one I got pulled over and second one could have been bad as I passed out at the wheel and crashed into a parked car. I now limit my going out to the nearby club that I can walk to.

So I've been DX, and grown up and become more responsible.

As for telling kids. My daughter accidently got to view the effects. We were at some friends family X-mas party and one person got trashed and was falling all over the place. I never drank when I was around my daughter so she had never seen anything like that. (Had joint custody and I would go out when she was at her Dad's. She's 20 now) She wanted to know what was wrong with the person and I told her the truth. She is now very responsible.

She is usually the DD for her b/f and friends. I've told her that if she is ever somewhere and drinks and her DD leaves (her friends switch around) to call me and I'll come get her no matter where she is. Part of the reason for her being so safe is that she lost a classmate to drunk driving a few yrs back.

I guess what I saying is that there could be underlying reasons that people abuse alcohol. Sad thing is that many don't realize it or are afraid to go for help.

How ironic that this topic should come up now!. Beaumont, you were right on in the above description - especially the part about wanting sympathy. My fiance is an alcoholic. Thousands of dollars have been spent by others, including myself, to care for him. The rehab and treatments centers he has been involved with all provided him the excuse he was looking for: he has a disease, and just like cancer, he is subject to relapse, it is to be expected. He is blameless and everyone else must be understanding. In fact, we must attend counselling sessions so we can learn how to be understanding and sympathetic. Through association with him and other alcoholics who make no effort to help themselves, two things have become glaringly apparent: they are the most lazy, self-centered people on earth. There is no appreciation of anyone or anything. They feel they are entitled, by virtue of their disease, to demand that everyone else take care of them.
I have stage 4 metastatic renal cell carcinoma. I spent most of June and part of July in the hospital. Phil stayed with me two nights per week. He was drunk each time. My cancer causes him too much stress. He has to have a "bump" to deal with it. I just found out that for the past two weeks he has been calling into work and saying I was in intensive care. He had to have time off to be with me. He would leave home, be gone so I thought he was at work, then return hours later - drunk. He makes fun of me for having cancer, then uses it to suit his purposes. He is a federal employee so he has managed to keep his job so far. He always makes a point of telling me I need to help him deal with my cancer, that he just can't handle it. He is stealing money as well as medications from me. He gets mad and says I just don't understand how serious his disease is. It takes less effort for him to lie, steal and not work than to grow up and take responsibility.
We have been together on and off for five years. I will be leaving as soon as I can possibly find a way.
As for alcoholism being a disease like cancer: It's a lot more effective to decide not to have a drink than it is to decide not to have cancer.