A sobering reminder from Noah Sweat

[Dave Rishar]

Live free or die...unless alcohol is involved? Now that's an unusual position.

As for prohibition, it didn't work last time. Things are different now, but the prohibition against illegal drugs is also not working. I don't think that it would be effective.

 

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[trdking]

Prohibition laws don't work. People will do what they want. It is unfortunate that Some people become addicted some to alcohol, some to ciggies, some to porn and the list goes on. Banning anything will not stop them.
Cash, look up Victory Outreach. They have a Chapter in New Hampshire. They are free and they have incredible results. I have a family member that graduated from their program and no longer drinks for 4 years now. This is the best way to combat addiction not banning the source of addiction. Tequila is bad for me so I don't drink it. My sisters husbands dad would drink after shave if he couldn't get a drink. We found him dead under a tree in the local park surrounded by beer cans. His choice he would not seek help. That in America is his right.
And yes OddJob Getting Shot Really freakin hurts, but not as bad as the gout. I would rather be shot again than have that again!

 

[trdking]

Now this is what I'm talkin' about!
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Jon

God invented Whisky to keep the Irish from taking over the World!

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Hahaha good one! There may be some truth to that.

I love a cold beer or three but gave up anything harder in my 20's. I went to rehab as a junior in high school (16 yrs old) and had 5 years clean before I took another drink but I'd lost my taste for anything hard.
It hasn't ever been difficult for me to stop after a beer or two and I haven't had any probs with it, which is nice since I like beer!

Once I realized my problems were deriving from my partying and constant drinking it was pretty easy to change that, plus I was a kid and it wasnt ingrained as deeply as say, a 50 year old alcoholic. I was pretty lucky in that aspect and hadn't ruined my life yet but still had my own problems to deal with and I did. Made honor role my senior year and left for basic training once I turned 18 and was good to go.
Ft Benning was a strange place for an 18 year old soldier that doesn't drink haha.

 

[Duckshot]

Hahaha good one! There may be some truth to that.

I love a cold beer or three but gave up anything harder in my 20's. I went to rehab as a junior in high school (16 yrs old) and had 5 years clean before I took another drink but I'd lost my taste for anything hard.
It hasn't ever been difficult for me to stop after a beer or two and I haven't had any probs with it, which is nice since I like beer!

Once I realized my problems were deriving from my partying and constant drinking it was pretty easy to change that, plus I was a kid and it wasnt ingrained as deeply as say, a 50 year old alcoholic. I was pretty lucky in that aspect and hadn't ruined my life yet but still had my own problems to deal with and I did. Made honor role my senior year and left for basic training once I turned 18 and was good to go.
Ft Benning was a strange place for an 18 year old soldier that doesn't drink haha.

Not every problem drinker has it so easy.

No doubt about it, whiskey is always risky.

But whiskey is not evil. It ain't good either.

It just is.

 

[xcopperstax]

Alcohol and tobacco are the biggest killers in the country. Prohibition didn't work. What they should do is raise the taxes on all those items and put all the money to treatment and education for the people who become victims of it. You wanted to be cool and smoke but now you have cancer?... Well you can get free treatment due to the collective stupidity of all the other people doing the same thing. They study this stuff they know the numbers. They know roughly how many people will die or become addicted but they can't solve the problem. They should come up with taxes that proportionately cover the free care these people will need. Make people pay to harm themselves. It's probably a simplistic view but the current system let's more than half a million people die per year. Lobbyists should be illegal there's a thing known as voting that should cover that. I realize I have it easy because I don't drink and won't ever drink but I think people should have the personal freedom to put what they want in their bodies. You can't save people from themselves... but they could receive better care on the way down.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

It's not things like whiskey that are evil. No tangible thing is evil. Just don't drive shined up, don't pack a firearm juiced up, and be kind to others, 'cause after all, We all gotta drink with each other.

And don't have children if you're not up to taking on the responsibility and cost of raising them.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

Alcohol and tobacco are the biggest killers in the country. Prohibition didn't work. What they should do is raise the taxes on all those items and put all the money to treatment and education for the people who become victims of it. You wanted to be cool and smoke but now you have cancer?... Well you can get free treatment due to the collective stupidity of all the other people doing the same thing. They study this stuff they know the numbers. They know roughly how many people will die or become addicted but they can't solve the problem. They should come up with taxes that proportionately cover the free care these people will need. Make people pay to harm themselves. It's probably a simplistic view but the current system let's more than half a million people die per year. Lobbyists should be illegal there's a thing known as voting that should cover that. I realize I have it easy because I don't drink and won't ever drink but I think people should have the personal freedom to put what they want in their bodies. You can't save people from themselves... but they could receive better care on the way down.

Higher taxes on a bottle of whiskey or tobacco products will punish all those who drink whiskey, or use tobacco and not specifically those who become alcoholics or develope cancer.
Pure nicotine does not cause cancer.
The way to make people pay for harming themselves is let them suffer the full consequences, right? Give them as much treatment as they can afford?
Free treatment for someone comes from the pockets of those who do not require care.
Not sure how voting would get rid of lobbyists. They are the ones who politicians fear more than voters.
Does it make sense to give someone better care on their way down?
Do you think people should be allowed to put heroin in their body?
Not trying to be argumentative. Just random thoughts.
Maybe the government should confiscate all income but what is required to survive from those who work. Then there would be plenty of money to give to those who want free stuff

 

[Oddjob]

Ft Benning was a strange place for an 18 year old soldier that doesn't drink haha.

I hear you there; back in the day it was train hard and party hard.

Pretty sure Benning set the old standard that one would not make the 7 list without at least one DUI.

If your first jump was not hungover then it was just flat out odd. There was no shuffle to the door, it was more like catatonic zombie to the door.

 

[Duckshot]

And don't have children if you're not up to taking on the responsibility and cost of raising them.

Yeah.

I didn't.

What are are you trying to say?

 

[trdking]

Higher taxes on a bottle of whiskey or tobacco products will punish all those who drink whiskey, or use tobacco and not specifically those who become alcoholics or develope cancer.
Pure nicotine does not cause cancer.
The way to make people pay for harming themselves is let them suffer the full consequences, right? Give them as much treatment as they can afford?
Free treatment for someone comes from the pockets of those who do not require care.
Not sure how voting would get rid of lobbyists. They are the ones who politicians fear more than voters.
Does it make sense to give someone better care on their way down?
Do you think people should be allowed to put heroin in their body?
Not trying to be argumentative. Just random thoughts.
Maybe the government should confiscate all income but what is required to survive from those who work. Then there would be plenty of money to give to those who want free stuff

I agree 100% Raise the crap out of taxes to treat the afflicted for free! Vote now! See how fast the politicians divert all the tax money to something completely unrelated then cut the funding on the programs it was supposed to benefit because they can

 

[Duckshot]

A couple years ago my neighbor got hit over the head with a whiskey bottle. The cops came and found his wife with half a broken bottle in her hand. So one of the cops asks if she hit her husband. Her reply was, "it's not my fault, the bottle was empty!!!"

The cops knew her story checked out cause she was wasted.

They arrested the bottle for assault...

 

[Plumbata]

One cold winter day in Wyoming I decided it would be a grand idea to go buy a bottle of Bacardi 151 proof rum. It oughta get the job done faster than a 12-pack, right? Burned a bit at first shootin' it straight, but before I knew it had drank almost the whole 1/5th. I don't really remember the prior details (real mystery there), but was shaken awake late at night by my rather terrified better-half, who didn't know where I was as she was doing the rounds before going to sleep herself and went around looking for me, to discover that I had collapsed into a snow-drift and instantly passed-out some time earlier.

She got me inside and I proceeded to strip to my boxers as I felt "hot". I later learned that this is a symptom of rather severe hypothermia, and would have certainly frozen to death at 27 if my wonderful woman wasn't around to care about me. It was quite a sobering realization when I woke in the morning and could process what a complete unmitigated idiot I had been. Alcoholism killed my wonderful and brilliant best friend the year before and I was quite depressed about it, but following him to the grave was no solution.

No more hard liquor for me, and no more nursing my nascent alcoholism and drinking lots of beer every day either, though that took some time. Got it down to a couple 6-packs a month now and am very grateful for the patience and support my love has given me. Naturally I don't like the gub'ment telling me what I can or can't do so any sort of prohibition rubs me the wrong way, but I'd like to see a bit more "personal responsibility" enter the culture instead of encouraging people to blame their choices or problems on a "disease" or some other external factor. We have much more power within ourselves than the decadent culture we live in leads us to believe.

 

[Duckshot]

Alcoholism is a disease though, it fits the defining characteristics anyway.

1) addiction is morbid, meaning that it can kill a man.

2)addiction has definite symptoms.

3)addiction is an ailment not caused by external forces, such as a concussion.

Now don't take that the wrong way. The negative consequences of the disease addiction are self-inflicted.

 

[trdking]

My good friend Growing up Roy, Had a similar situation with the 151 (Why do they make this stuff?) He was blind drunk and his parents had locked the house up for the night. He walked out to the barn and crawled into a hay stack to keep warm and passed out. In the morning they discovered that he had not crawled in all the way and his legs were out in the weather from the knees down. Frozen and black. Lost both lower legs. He was in pretty good spirits about it and most definitely never touched 151 again. Tough lesson.

 

[Red James Cash]

Why do you think there's state owned and run liquor stores on major highways even with the drinking and drivi g laws.Those in power don't give a rat's azz about you.To them you are revenue,nothing more nothing less.They want addicts,much easier to control.State run rehabs,,all you or anybody else is just a number

 

[Plumbata]

I understand how the definitional parameters of "disease" have been broadened to include items such as addiction, but many other things (which gets political and problematic, which is not my intent here) can be cut/pasted and still apply just as well:

1)Islam is morbid, meaning that it can kill a man (suicide bombing).
2)Islam has definite symptoms.
3)Islam is an ailment not caused by external forces, such as a concussion.

1)Homosexuality is morbid, meaning that it can kill a man (manifold increase in HIV exposure).
2)Homosexuality has definite symptoms.
3)Homosexuality is an ailment not caused by external forces, such as a concussion.

1)Criminality is morbid, meaning that it can kill a man.
2)Criminality has definite symptoms.
3)Criminality is an ailment not caused by external forces, such as a concussion.

1)Naive altruism is morbid, meaning that it can kill a man (miscalculation of risk).
2)Naive altruism has definite symptoms.
3)Naive altruism is an ailment not caused by external forces, such as a concussion.

See what I mean? It's like the invention of "microaggressions" and the limitless application of the descriptor because the definition is fundamentally fluid and subjective. If it can apply to everything it is useless if you value objectivity.

My general critique is how the externalization and compartmentalization of the poison fruits of one's own personal choices makes it much more difficult for that person to understand that they themselves can conquer or resolve the problem they themselves created. Many need help and ought to get it, but the general human instinct is to take the easy path and abrogate and externalize blame, and we now encourage people to point at their problem and say "woe is me, I am but a poor victim of this externalizable disease, I have no agency over it and thus can't control it. Now give me disability payments because I suffer the disease of alcoholism or obesity and can't do anything about it." I think it's the wrong way to approach the problem.

 

[Red James Cash]

After it becomes a problem,they don't have a choice but to drink.Thats the kicker.Many people think they do,but they dont.

 

[Red James Cash]

Think it can't happen to anybody.Sad mistake.Ask any kennedy

 

[Duckshot]

Maybe it isn't the best way to approach it.

But mental illness is a disease. I hang out at the tavern once in a while and know a few alcoholics. They will play the blame game no matter if they are drunk or sober. It's one of the major symptoms of addiction- denial of reality.

"My wife makes me drink"

"Does she pour booze down your throat?", I ask.

"No! She just complains all the time!!!"

"Oh. What does she complain about"

"That I drink too much!"

Its baffling.