I am just glad I was able to quit before getting sober....I quit in 87 and quit drinking in 95.....quit pot in 82 consider that I did things bassakwards...LOL

So XJ you really don't think people with eating disorders are often very similar in their addictions to drug and alcohol addicts?
Google sugar addiction. See what you come up with.
Personally I think its a really slippery slope to start criminalizing addiction, or saying that one or the other is "better" or worse.
More people die from their horrible relationship with food than with alcohol and that's .... a fact.
Are most of those food addicts? I don't know. But I do know that when I was in the throws of an eating disorder, my brain felt the *same* way it did when I was in the throws of alcoholism.

Whoa, sticky, who said anything about criminalizing addiction?

I still think there is a difference between food addiction and alcohol and nicotine addictions. Food is required to live. Not true for alcohol or nicotine. Food is not poisonous to the body the way that alcohol and nicotine are.

This doesn't mean that people with food addiction aren't struggling or in need of recovery. It seems to me that the nature of the addiction is different. But there certainly are similarities as well.

Oh man I could tell you some horror stories on that topic Jersey, that defies book knowledge or intellectual banter as variables ...dozens face face interactions:((
Billy

variables on that topic

Did not mean that as a knock i apologize .. it just brought up far to many painful memories...exj.....so hard to keep quiet sometimes:((
Billy

XJ a person who drinks a glass of red wine or even a beer every day can be very healthy. They are drinking in moderation. Alcoholics can't do that.
A person who is addicted to sugar can't eat a handful of jelly beans.
As trite as you may think it is, people die .... Afd in fact the mortality rates for ED are horrible.
It's not the "same" as alcohol but who gives a hoot? It's addiction.

To reply 10: While smoking doesn't have the same social impact as some other drugs might how can you say that it has not caused you to hurt anyone? What about second and third hand smoke?
What about a family having to watch you fight for every breath for years before you pass? What about the financial impact of disability and healthcare cost?

Reply to #9) They do but they may be at least somewhat wrong. Being spirituality fit or the quality of one's recovery cannot possibly be unaffected by another active addiction

Reply 23. Compared to the hurt I caused with alcohol, well no comparison really. And so far my family haven't had to watch me fight for breath for years. Read my replies about my health. Plus my replies about societal impact.

Smoking is bad we all know that but to be honest nothing irritates me much more than people who are on a negative crusade with something. It generally doesn't work in stopping people do things they are told they shouldn't.

Actually the general population IS responding to pressure to stop smoking

Not to pressure I don't think but to knowledge/awareness which doesn't need to come with pressure imo.

As an ex-smoker of 10 years or so, I certainly did not stop because others expected/wanted me to.

I had never heard of whether you smoke or not being a barometer of spiritual fitness until I came to DS. I think if I started smoking again after stopping drinking I might have to question that.

Hi Donttread, one thing, one day at a time. Many people have problems giving up everything at one time. If you take the other addiction (the most deadly) out of the picture, then, in time, the other addictions may be worked on.

I know tobacco is deadly. But for the most part, it does not cause the devastating destruction to others as does alcohol. I'm sure you understand that. Just like overeating causes devastating destruction to oneself, but not so much to others.

There was never any drug, nor addiction, that caused the devastating destruction to myself or anyone else, as alcohol.

I suffered from bulimia, anorexia, codeine addiction, Xanax addiction, just name it. I was a garbage head in my early days. My only true love and addiction, was alcohol - a legal drug.

Tobacco is deadly in the long term, but it will never be as deadly as alcohol! We are not talking about nicotine here anyway. This is an alcoholism forum.