Love my Kessler whiskey and a brew or two. Used to be a huge beer drinker when I was young and was sick a lot. Found out I was allergic to hops. My doctor told me to switch to hard liquor instead. (Seriously)
So I drank whiskey and coke for most of my life. I’ve partied it up more than the average Joe and not proud of it, but never went over the edge where it became a problem.
A few years before I retired, I realized I was close to the edge, and blame it on stress, my father being ill and dying, worried about retirement and a bunch of other stuff. I saw a pattern and it was getting out of hand , where one was too many and a hundred wasn’t enough. Luckily I was able to pull in the reigns and I gave up whiskey for two years. Had one beer a day with my dinner, which I still do. Now the whiskey is for special occasions like deer camp and beer camp. I don’t have that NEED anymore and that’s a good feeling.
I can certainly see how falling off the edge can happen to folks and not an easy climb back up. There’s a big difference between LIKING to have a drink or two and HAVING to have a drink or two. I think at t first it’s a mental thing that eventually becomes a physical thing.
Slammer!!!

I’m an addict, who over does everything I like. I quit drinking on Jan 5 1991. I learned that my addictive personality can be self destructive when channeled negatively, but when channeled positively, it becomes a super power. I do music and fitness like I used to drink. One day at a time, life is good.

My step-dad was a retired preacher and he said anyone who took a drink was an alcoholic. Don't agree, but wasn't worth fussing about.

Had a friend who went from a casual drinker to an alcoholic in just a couple of years. Lost his job, became homeless, it us up for money several times and after he found out we weren't going to be his go to bank, we never saw him again. Always wondered what happened to him.

Dave and I both probably drank too much in our younger years, but it was something we could stop and not miss. After he got cancer, his drinking and mine pretty much came to an end.

Now the only thing I drink is one little glass of wine a day, no more alcohol of any kind.

Funny you bring it up Fig.

My best friend is an alcoholic big time!

8 years ago, he lost it all…his job, his wife and children, his beautiful home on 5 acres, his car, friends, family…due to the excessive drinking. It wasn’t until his body was shutting down and the doc told him he had maybe 1-2 months left to live…that he stopped.

He checked into a clinic, was gone several months, and cleaned up. Came back solid…cleaned up…great attitude…healthier…happier…got everything back, wife and kids, a different house, got his job back. It was one of the greatest success stories that I was ever witness to.

Something that he had told me was, “I’m a deadman if i ever touch another drop.”

Well…8-9 years later, and he’s right back into it. Life and the railroad got hard again…struggling…and he had a drink 6 months ago…thinking he could just have 1 and control it. He is now completely out of control drinking a bottle and a half of hard liquor a day, from sun-up to Sun-down.

He’s lost his wife and children again, his home, he’s about to get fired….i dont expect him to live much longer.

Ive had a “come to Jesus” talk with him about it all…being very tough with him…tough realistic love. But he doesnt care…..

If they dont care…it’s hard for them to come back to life. I dont know what else to do.

Bravo to all the folks that have cleaned up and stayed that a way….but it just goes to show how easily somebody can slip back into the trap. I never thought id see him like this again.

From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous:

"But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink."

I never had that monkey on my back but I was in bands with plenty of guys who did. Some of them died. I always felt sorry for them because playing in bars they could never get away from it.

In general I was the one who owned the car and did the (sober) driving.

Therefore, to this day I hardly drink.

I've seen a great many go down and never get up again. 

I was a pissy-eyed drunk for 20+ years, and hooked on painkillers and sedatives. My wife was also a pill junkie,, somehow i got enough willingness to get help, she didn’t. 12 years after we divorced she passed away, after some weak attempts at getting straight. Our kids, for some cosmic blessing, are doing great. Every time i got asked by HS at the border about a criminal past when driving semi i had to tell them 3 impaired driving charges, a firearms charge, and a drunk & disorderly charge. Talk about continually eating humble pie , but i was still glad to be able to drive truck with a clear head & conscience.
To anyone struggling with addiction issues, go get help… theres a chair waiting for you!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Texican65

Funny you bring it up Fig.

My best friend is an alcoholic big time!

8 years ago, he lost it all…his job, his wife and children, his beautiful home on 5 acres, his car, friends, family…due to the excessive drinking. It wasn’t until his body was shutting down and the doc told him he had maybe 1-2 months left to live…that he stopped.

He checked into a clinic, was gone several months, and cleaned up. Came back solid…cleaned up…great attitude…healthier…happier…got everything back, wife and kids, a different house, got his job back. It was one of the greatest success stories that I was ever witness to.

Something that he had told me was, “I’m a deadman if i ever touch another drop.”

Well…8-9 years later, and he’s right back into it. Life and the railroad got hard again…struggling…and he had a drink 6 months ago…thinking he could just have 1 and control it. He is now completely out of control drinking a bottle and a half of hard liquor a day, from sun-up to Sun-down.

He’s lost his wife and children again, his home, he’s about to get fired….i dont expect him to live much longer.

Ive had a “come to Jesus” talk with him about it all…being very tough with him…tough realistic love. But he doesnt care…..

If they dont care…it’s hard for them to come back to life. I dont know what else to do.

Bravo to all the folks that have cleaned up and stayed that a way….but it just goes to show how easily somebody can slip back into the trap. I never thought id see him like this again.

---

I too feel that pain..

N rejoyce..the folks that beat it..

Many of me friends are recovered alckies...

Some still are...addicted..n thos guys are the ones that say that they are not affected by it at all...

N two of them tell me that they can not live with out it..

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

 My wife was also a pill junkie,, somehow i got enough willingness to get help, she didn’t. 12 years after we divorced she passed away, after some weak attempts at getting straight. 

---

My X did the same thing. It took her 14 years to drink and drug herself to her grave, after leaving me. She convinced herself that she didn't have a problem. One of the last things she said to me, was "you're no fun anymore". 
 

I sobered up through AA at the age of 29, and it lasted 6 months. I had heard all the stuff about monkey on your back, and once a drunk always a drunk, and if you fall off the wagon, you pick right back up where you left off, etc, etc. But didn't quite understand. On my 30th birthday I had a shot of Jim Beam. What could one shot hurt? I woke up 13 days later, with no clue what had happened. I stumbled back into AA. I finally understood. I was finally humbled enough to know for sure what I was. That was in 1991. 35 years later, I still know I can't touch a drop or I'm gone. Interestingly, I played in a bar band for 4 years, and was so repulsed by the drunks and the atmosphere, that I had no problem with it. In fact, every gig reinforced my resolve to never slip back into that life. 

Good for you Dean...
Glad you are still here among us to tell this story.. :0)

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

I was a pissy-eyed drunk for 20+ years, and hooked on painkillers and sedatives. My wife was also a pill junkie,, somehow i got enough willingness to get help, she didn’t. 12 years after we divorced she passed away, after some weak attempts at getting straight. Our kids, for some cosmic blessing, are doing great. Every time i got asked by HS at the border about a criminal past when driving semi i had to tell them 3 impaired driving charges, a firearms charge, and a drunk & disorderly charge. Talk about continually eating humble pie , but i was still glad to be able to drive truck with a clear head & conscience.
To anyone struggling with addiction issues, go get help… theres a chair waiting for you!

---

Ever so glad you beat it too...

None better to watch how to play tunes than Chucks videos... ! :0)

.

I'm torn on this topic. On one hand, I believe that people can make their own decisions and choices about what they consume (food, booze, cigarettes, drugs, etc.). On the other hand, I'm not so sure people are actually making their own decisions to consume booze.

Alcoholism is a part of my family (as I presume it is for most families). Both of my brothers consumed/consume booze in excess daily. My younger ended it with a rope. My older is wasting away and I fear not that far from the end. I suppose they both made these "choices"-- or did they?

My dad claimed to have had a problem with drinking, though I did not ever seem him drink, he having given it up before I was old enough to build memories. I did see him suck smoke into his lungs through countless cigarettes. He traded smokes for food about the time I turned 18 and eventually surpassed 300lbs. He spent the last 4 or so years of his life laying in bed, his body failed from a terrible diet, lack of exercise, and diabetes.

As such, I am terrified of addiction. I have socially drank, and drank to excess many times. After my younger brother's self caused passing, I decided that booze had no place in what I wanted to do with my life (which mostly included playing banjo and studying banjo stuff or making banjo stuff).

I don't see why booze is a saleable product. It causes death. The consumers drive and kill other people. Consumers get in fights and hurt or kill. Consumers abuse their spouses, children or partners. The chemical is an actual poison. People fall down stairs and break bones when drinking.

That said, other folks are able to have a booze or two and stop (or so they claim).

And we have seen what happens when we try to ban it.

What we could do is remove the desire. Keep it legal but ban advertising and fancy packaging. Force the industry that makes it to tell the truth about it. Have TV and film depict the realities of it.

Younger persons were starting to give it up, or at least reduce it. Then the industry figured out that if they packaged it like candy and soda, made it bright colors and used nostalgic flavors that children like, then children would start to drink again.

Tobacco figured this out with candy vapes and was able to keep teenagers sucking nicotine. Booze has done the same thing with round candy booze cans and poison filled "energy drinks".

Sober 1 year 9.5 months now.

And that means everything.

I drank and smoked cigarettes because most of my friends did.
It took me feeling sick enough to want to make changes.
I've never been to an AA meeting.
I figured it's up to me on a very personal basis to not have a drink and has nothing to do with what anybody else in the world is doing.
I sit at the same table with my friends,some of whom still drink alcohol and smoke cigarettesI have no problem playing a bar gig,either.

Alcoholism is not about how much you drink or how often you drink: it's about why you drink. For some, alcohol turns them into a different person, and they LIKE that person, because that person has no fear or self doubt or insecurity. That drunk person also has no pains or worries, so, the draw is this: have a drink and leave behind this world where you hurt and worry and feel insecure and maybe even useless, and enter a world where you are brave and strong and everyone loves you (even when they very much do not.)
Many can give up drinking, for awhile, until a life situation overwhelms them and always in the back of their mind is the thought that they don't have to feel this bad today, just one little drink and all will be better. But all does not get better and that thought does not stay at the back of the mind anymore. It is almost all that they can think about, yet again.
But, if they don't die first, they may come out of it. My father, after wrecking our family and his fortune and after forty years or so of pure hell, just put it down one day and said "no more." And that was that. I've never figured it out the how or why of it, but he did. And I have read reports that some herioin addicts do the same. If they can manange to not die or be imprisoned than some of them after years of addiction will simply quit it, and be able to quit it.

Joel posted---"keep it legal but ban advertising and fancy packaging"

That is the same situation that I would like to see with cannabis and would take it further to only allow home cultivation but not retail sales. And the reason is marketing and advertising and salemanship, a field that I know a thing about and also know that most people vastly underestimate the effectiveness of these techniques. They are GOOD at it! They are very good at affecting how you think about products, whether you are aware of it or not. Persuasion is powerful and I do not want professionals influencing people, especially young people, about intoxicants of any type.

I couldn't drink, as it made me sick, even beer. The man that ran my roofing company for 25 years was an alcoholic and the hardest worker I ever knew. Without him my business would have folded. He was a Vietnam vet.

When I came down with porphyria which were clear blisters appearing under the skin of my arms and hands ,breaking and draining and turning into open sores for a couple weeks after,I learned that all I had to do to heal up was quit drinking beer.
I found my life to be better without the open sores so it makes staying off the sauce quite an easy decision.

My doctor at the time also impressed on me the feelings of doctors that resisted installing a liver in a boozer.

No matter how you stay sober it boils down to you alone deciding to have nothing to do with drinking booze.
For me it is extremely simple to know that this problem is best solved by inaction.
I'm one of the worst procrastinators I know.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joel Hooks

I'm torn on this topic. On one hand, I believe that people can make their own decisions and choices about what they consume (food, booze, cigarettes, drugs, etc.). On the other hand, I'm not so sure people are actually making their own decisions to consume booze.

Alcoholism is a part of my family (as I presume it is for most families). Both of my brothers consumed/consume booze in excess daily. My younger ended it with a rope. My older is wasting away and I fear not that far from the end. I suppose they both made these "choices"-- or did they?

My dad claimed to have had a problem with drinking, though I did not ever seem him drink, he having given it up before I was old enough to build memories. I did see him suck smoke into his lungs through countless cigarettes. He traded smokes for food about the time I turned 18 and eventually surpassed 300lbs. He spent the last 4 or so years of his life laying in bed, his body failed from a terrible diet, lack of exercise, and diabetes.

As such, I am terrified of addiction. I have socially drank, and drank to excess many times. After my younger brother's self caused passing, I decided that booze had no place in what I wanted to do with my life (which mostly included playing banjo and studying banjo stuff or making banjo stuff).

I don't see why booze is a saleable product. It causes death. The consumers drive and kill other people. Consumers get in fights and hurt or kill. Consumers abuse their spouses, children or partners. The chemical is an actual poison. People fall down stairs and break bones when drinking.

That said, other folks are able to have a booze or two and stop (or so they claim).

And we have seen what happens when we try to ban it.

What we could do is remove the desire. Keep it legal but ban advertising and fancy packaging. Force the industry that makes it to tell the truth about it. Have TV and film depict the realities of it.

Younger persons were starting to give it up, or at least reduce it. Then the industry figured out that if they packaged it like candy and soda, made it bright colors and used nostalgic flavors that children like, then children would start to drink again.

Tobacco figured this out with candy vapes and was able to keep teenagers sucking nicotine. Booze has done the same thing with round candy booze cans and poison filled "energy drinks".

---

Thanks fer posting your thoughts on the subject..

Many valid things in it..

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo bill-e

Joel posted---"keep it legal but ban advertising and fancy packaging"

That is the same situation that I would like to see with cannabis and would take it further to only allow home cultivation but not retail sales. And the reason is marketing and advertising and salemanship, a field that I know a thing about and also know that most people vastly underestimate the effectiveness of these techniques. They are GOOD at it! They are very good at affecting how you think about products, whether you are aware of it or not. Persuasion is powerful and I do not want professionals influencing people, especially young people, about intoxicants of any type.

---

Yes.  I work in MA, the cannabis sellers are overtly marketing to children.  They make their products colorful, look like candy, taste like candy, include cartoon characters and pop culture references, and generally seem like what children might want. 

I am mostly indifferent on the consumption by adults, but sucking smoke into lungs is a terrible idea.  The candy, soda, and baked goods that include cannabis is a really bad thing. 

quote:

---

Originally posted by RonR

I couldn't drink, as it made me sick, even beer. The man that ran my roofing company for 25 years was an alcoholic and the hardest worker I ever knew. Without him my business would have folded. He was a Vietnam vet.

---

Some of the best human beings i have befriended..fit that mold..

If it weren't for pot I might still be drinking.

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

If it weren't for pot I might still be drinking.

---

Hate to say it but that makes sense..

If I were still drinking I'd probably be dead.