Someone wrote a column in our local paper depicting that alcohol is like a piece of gum when comparing drugs and alcohol. Is he nuts? I think alcoholism is just as serious as using drugs, heck I think alcohol is a drug...Help me here, whats are your opinions?

Alcohol can be no worse than a piece of gum, but not to someone who has a predisposition to addiction. Some people can have one drink or even half a drink and no more. Others can have one drink and then not stop. It's all relative. Research shows that there are some people who have certain brain chemistry who will become addicted to alcohol, or drugs, or sex, or gambling, or whatever.

Unfortunately, there's no test to tell if you could become addicted. It's trial and error, and most of the time, the trial lasts long enough for one to become addicted if they have a tendency to do so.

Alcohol is a drug that can affect every organ in the our bodies over time. It's also a depressant.

Alcohol or drugs = problem to some people.

Having had a drug problem in my younger years, I can attest that alcohol can become just as much a problem as drugs. The only difference I can see, is that alcohol is "legal". But even some drugs (pain medication) are legal. Doesn't mean that they are good for you. A person can get just as addicted to pain medication as they can to alcohol or illegal drugs.

Thankfully I can control myself on alcohol - about one drink a week.

And more thankfully, I was able to kick my drug habit on my own and cold turkey. And I've stayed off drugs for 24 years now with no relapses. Yippee!!!

Alcohol is a drug!

KathyC, congrats to you for kicking a habit. I know a couple boomers who could kick the drinking habit, have tried off and on, not been successful, and it still remains a problem in their relationships. Very sad. It's not only what they are doing to their bodies, it's also how it affects their loved ones.

There's a lot in print news this week about boomers being binge drinkers. Many people think it's just the kids, but they're finding out that a big percentage of boomers are downing five shots a night and not considering bingeing. There was also mention of boomer being addicted to RX drugs too.

I saw that clip about boomer binge drinkers. I think it takes
a huge faith to stop addiction. I quit smoking 25 years ago but
used hypnosis. After watching my cousin die from COPD, I thank God it was successful!

It helps to get support from people you love, organizations like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and forums like this to get support. Has anyone who quit learned they could handle life better?

I consumed alcohol when I was younger. But it made me feel sad and enhanced the blues, to the point I was nearly suicidal for
long periods of time. I have not drank hardly any alcohol for many, many years, and certainly not to excess, for probably three
decades. Life is so difficult right now, I fear if I got into
the alcohol, I'd go over the Niagara Falls without a barrel.
Again, I repeat: It has been my experience that booze just makes a person bluer! And yes. I handle life better without a kick that knocks me flat!

I developed a severe drinking problem at 55 yrs old. It took 4 yrs of support and hard work to finally regain control, now I won't consider a drink as one could be all it takes to make me sick again. You can't really ask which is worse, alcohol or drugs as they are both mind altering substances and can all be called drugs. Alcohol causes havoc and destruction just as much as 'drugs'. Perhaps because it is so readily available and socially acceptable is causes more personal and societal damage as a whole.

One more thing, alcohol is the only drug that can cause death from withdrawal if not medically handled.

I remember way back when I was in the Air Force that one could get in trouble if one was not a member of the Airman's or NCO or Officer's Club. It was even noted in our performance reports that we supported our club which meant we paid dues each month. Gosh, when I think back on that, how weird, eh? After work everyone would go to the clubs...I didn't but I had to join anyway. I'd go for the restaurant and dancing. I'm thinking it was some time well after the viet name was, someone in government finally woke up and realized the military was creating lots of alcoholics with the forced club joining demand.
I am not an alcoholic, but I did turn to alcohol to numb a lot of pain I was going through from time to time. I finally quit, got the help I needed, faced my problems and would never touch a drop. I don't miss it at all.

There are many anti-depressant drugs that warn people not to stop them "cold turkey" at the risk of death. I used to do research on this stuff. I was amazed at how many anti-depressants have that warning on them.

greene, interesting that this happened at the age of 55. I thought it an alcohol dependency usually happened long before that, but I'm sure life circumstances can trigger certain behavior. Glad to hear so many here have kicked the habit.

Kathy, I know a woman who is bagin backed of an anti-depressant a half a pill at a time and it's taken months. She was taking two pills. This must be the safe and right thing to do because she feels well.

alcohol can cause death from withdrawal, cesures etc, but so can cocaine, and heroine, diazepam, antidepressant anti psychotics, painkilloers.

i think chatty what perhaps the writer of the article was trying to convey was just taking physical damage alone alcohol can take some time to destroy liver etc. heroine cocaine are also physically addictive (as alcohol can also be physically addictive) but just by physical means heroine, speed and say cocaine will alter brain and bodie functions more quickly and the time of using untill death from just physical means will be much much shorter.

in reality any drug can couse accidental death, accidental overdose or accidental in trying to drive, walk in front of a car, fall asleep smoking etc. I think cannibise is one of drugs that is very hard to physically overdose on as the amount relativly substantial before bodie can not cope with the drug in its system and dies.

i think we all agree that addiction and death from addiction to any drug is horrendous (i include alcohol as a drug)look up ethanol, and you see its a poison to the bodie, the rest is all colourings and flavours but all alcohol comes from the one source.

so rate of death and damage is always quicker with narcotic drugs, alcohole can be as harmless as gum but the same can never be said for heroine or cocaine etc..

so he's right but unless he's explained it properly he's just not doing a very good job as a writer

hope mine and others answers helped for you

dee
i am glade the military wised up or raf, we are raf sorry.

dose you country destinquishes between air sea and land armed forces? I know what an insult it is to get it wrong here and I am just trying not to insult you lol.

i still blowen away by your job and when you done it

Ah Celtic...you do my heart good darlin'. You make me smile all the time. You could not insult me if you tried.

I'm not 100% about the military history but the Air Force broke off from the Army Air Corp and now we have the ARMY and the AIR FORCE as separate branches of the military. The Army is more ground forces and the Air Force's mission is to fly and fight...their mission is in the air.
The Navy, of course, is sea mission and the Marines is ground mission. I know there's a lot more to the missions than this but this is the basics, I think.

I am blushing that you're blown away by my being in the service...it was fun while it happened. I really don't have any bad experiences except for the jerks who sexually harrassed me...and other women. In the 1970's we had a thing called "Social Actions" which really wasn't anything more than a place to make complains...not that anything really happened after we compalined. But, things have gotten better, thank goodness, for women serving now and if not they have lots better avenues in which to address problems.

There are programs for people facing alcohol addition in the military, I think, which is good.

we have same distinctions here with diff forces along same lines only no marines in the uk, i always though they were navy kinda salour based but not sure what type of salouring they did, watching to many american forces programes/movies is how i got my info of course, very true is hollywood lol. think my mistake came about marines turning into seals (special oppts??) but looked like army based stuff.

anyway my g/d was raf air based too, quite a cultural diff between them, so he biased me towards air forces being best.

i laughing at though of "social actions" in the 70's i think world over no one got any joy outa any kinda complant, no one had an idea about sexule harasment, physical or verbal or any real notion of human rightes, well not in uk and not in 70's or earloie 80's hmmmm much more enlightened times now but not enlightened enough in some areas. ah well we'll all get thir wearever the thir actulie is.

the thing that stopped me joining up was my mum, who lifted me by the ear away from joining on carrers day at school or i would have joined thir and then, sighned on the line.

It was the idea of exercise and adventure i loved and hope of flying helicopters!!! excitement about assault courses. I was very fit (swimming running martial arts and weight lifting, circuits was what i done in teens alone)


goodness good to know vets can still blush lol

It must be the hardest thing on this earth to suddenly find oneself in the line of fire in a war zone. These kids some of them are still wet behind the ears. Seeing what they see, the smells and hearing the cries of wounded fellow soldiers would cause anyone, even seasoned vets to drink or do drugs. We must help them in anyway we can to overcome these horrors when they come home. We need to be understanding and patient. The young kids we sent away are not the same ones that return. They have been forced to grow up under the most brutal of circumstances.

I think alcohol is not bad if we use it moderately and take control on onself, drugs is more dangerous than alcohol because it's easy to make us drug addiction.Generally speaking we must know when stop them.

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I think that when you are looking at an 'addict' they develop an addiction to alcohol or drugs (actually alcohol is just another drug), maybe whatever is around and available decides what they use. I did learn in rehab that alcohol kills many more people than drugs but death certificates say heart attack or stroke or car wreck rather than 'alcohol'. A 'non-addictive person could probably play with alcohol or drugs and put them down and walk away. The addictive person just can't.

I still believe an addiction to food is one of the more serious, addictions to control because one has to eat food to live. When I was addicted to food, as long as I didn't eat I was fine but the moment I put anything delicious into my mouth the urge to eat more and more nearly drove me crazy.

You have to and can totally obstain from booze and drugs but yet you have to eat to live, so to me food addiction is the hardest addiction to beat... Thoughts????

It was after my gastric bypass surgery at 55 that I turned to alcohol for the first time in my life. It was explained to me by several doctors that as a person predisposed to addiction I had an addiction to food, when I had surgery I could no longer satisfy that addiction so I cross-addicted to alcohol.
In rehab I shared a room with an binge eater/anorexic. She said just what you said, chatty lady, that with drugs/alcohol you can"y abstain from using but with food you had to "use" to stay alive. Also, you have to have food in your house staring you in the face day and night. I can purge my environment of all alcohol, reducing the cravings, she couldn't purge her house of food. She taught me alot about eating disorders, something I knew nothing about and had trouble understanding. (if nothing else rehab is educational)

Does anyone here drink socially only, maybe one or two. Or are you closet drinkers? I for one hate the taste of the vile stuff but a sweet wine does relax me after dinner sometimes. I get giddy as all get out however on one lousy glass. I start thinking I am Mae West! Look out men, shes loose again...

Your comment about being addictive to foods made sense to me, Chatty. That's why I need the weight watcher group. I just can't do it on my own. They have Weight watchers on line too, but visitng the group is better.
I'm just a social drinker, and if I never drank alcohol again, I wouldn't have a problem with that either.

I'm not sure how others feel about addiction but after several times in and out of rehab I have developed some thoughts that I know are at least true for me.
An addict is an addict is an addict. It can be a food addiction, drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, cigarettes or whatever. When the substance or behavior is causing negative things to happen in your life but you continue to do it anyway it is time to sit up and take notice. I'm an addict who went from food to alcohol to sobriety and fight addictive behaviors everyday. It took me awhile to grasp this concept, at first I blamed my weight on my childhood eating patterns, then the drinking on stressful life circumstances. Now I just admit to addiction and carefully monitor myself on all fronts.

Good for you Greene for seeing addiction for what it is. I believe we are all addicted to something, me I fight food addiction constantly. Others I know well can't allow a day to go by when they aren't out there running amock through the stores yelling CHARGE!!! Well not actually yelling, but spending as if they were. I know of several divorces because of it, no money coming in and too uch going out with little regard for the situation.

I think maybe the Good Lord above should have held back a bit on our "free wills." We are weak, only human and unable to trust ourselves when left alone to our good sense...

Just speaking from my experiences, it felt like the addiction took away all the 'free will' I had been given. For those 4 horrible, horrible years it felt like my will was gone and the alcohol had taken over and become the 'ruler', leaving me unable to use my free will in any healthy manner. Now I feel like I am using my free will to turn away from that life and get back to the life I had before my years of craziness,

Greene, thank you for sharing so much of your battle with addictions. While some comment, you can be sure that twice as many READ what you have to say, whether comments or made or not.

You never know when your words are exactly what someone needed to hear.

Thank you so much. You are a generous soul.

Thank you, jawjaw.