Can somebody explain the need to drink to me? (Alcoholism in General)

Member Name: mykp

Product:	Alcoholism in General
Date:	14/10/01 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: merry feeling, social happiness

Disadvantages: empty wallet, drunken idiot starting a fight, ilness

Okay, so this is more of an opinion of Addiction of Legal Drugs more than just alcohol, but the main brunt of my attack will be on alcohol as it is one of the most commonly used legal drugs.

I know the other legal drug is nicotine in the form of tobacco but his doesn’t create the same social problems as alcohol does. You never say anyone having a fight because of tobacco have you?

I am not a big drinker any more. I used to me and after years of waking up the following morning feeling like crap or thinking, “what the hell did I do last night” I have given up the demon drink almost completely.

Okay, that’s a hypocritical thing to say as I do drink now and again but it’s only a few glasses of red wine with a meal or a glass of Sake, which my wife’s uncle has sent me from Japan. This however is very few and far between. Maybe 5 or 6 times a year. I don’t even drink to excess when the booze is free like at a party or on holiday.

You could say I am a passive drinker. I get drunk on the atmosphere.

I don’t need to drink endless pints to prove I am a man any more. I don’t need to drink my peers under the table to prove myself. Why on earth this is the norm I will never understand. What’s so big and clever about drinking 10 or more pints, falling down or throwing up, embarrassing yourself or even worse doing something stupid which you regret the following day, or maybe for the rest of your life!

The point I am making here is that we have a society, which revolves around a drug, and be under no illusion alcohol is a drug. Which is freely available to any one, regardless of age (I know you have to be 18 to buy it, but how many kids do you see drinking in your area on Friday, Saturday nights?).

I can remember going to pubs with my brothers as young as 15. I was very tall and well built for my age and would get served no problem. I am not proud of this tho
ugh.

The consequences of drinking too much aren’t as bad as taking an overdose of heroin, but they are all the same bad.

The thing that bothers me the most about alcohol consumption is the violence around this drug. How many times have you seen fights in a pub or in the centre of your local town.

This has an adverse effect on our society, it increases the cost of living for you and me (higher policing costs means higher council tax). It also creates other forms of crime such as vandalism (well in my area it does, the only vandalism I see is after chucking out time on Friday, Saturday evenings as the p**shead’s walk past my house). There are other problems associated with the taking of alcohol such as health risks, which ultimately will lead to further cost to the general public as we have a public health system, which we all contribute to.

I know the government takes a huge slice of tax revenue from the sale of alcohol and this would mean that any sane government would never ban alcohol, which is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that the taking of other, Hard drugs is not as much as problem in society as the taking of drugs such as alcohol.

So what do I propose we do with the sale of alcohol? Well, as long as it remains a legal drug then nothing can be done, and I hope it does remain legal as I said I like a drink now and again. What can be done to moderate drinking, again nothing, there will always be a publican somewhere who will serve you a drink even of you have been refused drink else where. You can always get drink at a supermarket or corner shop and drink yourself stupid at home. Drinking is a part of our society, like it or not.

What I would like to see disappear is the need for people to drink themselves into a drunken mess before they decide they have had enough. For me not having control of my mind is a complete no, no and I always stop drinking before I get to this state. Why is
it important to be able to drink more than the next person? Why do young men and women find they need to drink themselves unconscious to prove themselves to their peers. Why do certain people need to drink pint after pint before they function normally in a social environment?

I wish I had the answer to all these questions. I wish I had some magic cure that would rid this country of its drinking problem but I don’t.

All I can say is that if you drink to excess then your going to end up with nothing more than a bad headache and an empty wallet/purse, and I know which one I would rather have.

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