Drug abuse is not a disease it is bad life decisions

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I had my share of demons. Alcohol was one of them. At my worst I would stop at a liquor store on the way home from work and buy a 15 pack of strohs. I hate strohs beer, but they were selling 15 for the same price others were selling 12 so I bought it. I would sit on the couch at home with the 15 pack between my feet. When I finished the last one it was still cold. Then I would get cleaned up and head out to the bars. That was a typical night for me. I also started smoking when I was 14 and smoked on and off for many many years. I tried all the tricks to quit both but nothing worked.

I learned that addiction is different for everyone. For me, and I feel blessed in this respect, it turns out that I will periodically stop for no explainable reason. One day I light a cigarette and it just tastes like hell. I put it out and won't touch another one for 6 months, a year, 5 years, whatever. Then one day I am driving down the road and I realize I have a cigarette in my hand. Maybe I smoke for a week, month, year, whatever, then that one day happens again and I'm done for a while. Same thing with alcohol. Sometimes I feel a real need to drink. Other times I put a 12 pack in the fridge and it sits there for 6 months. I have no idea why, but I take it as a blessing. One thing for certain, the older I get the less inclined I am to partake in the addictions at all. Its almost as if they ran their course and now I am done with them. I can buy a good bottle of scotch and know I wont slurp it down in one night. I can save it, enjoy it over time, with no grief or stress.

I really do consider myself lucky. I have friends who fight their demons every single day. I, somehow, made peace with mine.

Whether it’s a disease or not these people need help overcoming their addiction.once you get to the point where you have to do them to function it’s a sad situation to see this happen to anybody.