...This is the wrong venue for an article on alcohol abuse: All here are pretty perfect really…(He says with witty sarcasm)!!

The biggest problem with Alcohol is that the grog industry puts 5 million dollars a year into the "legal industry" to fund the defence of Alcoholics that are charged with criminal offences in attempt to cover up the behaviour of these people, they also give a similar amount to the major political parties who are failing in their duty to the general public and are not doing enough to cure this disease, they are turning a blind eye.
The excuse I am often given by politicians is it(the grog industry)gives a lot of "employment". Oh yeah for Police,doctors,nurses and undertakers, all of it a disgraceful waste of taxpayers money.

Wow
The most intelligent and moving article I have read here. I am a recovering alcoholic and have been going to AA meetings since 1991. It was not until I was forced to accept that drinking was part and parcel of my loneliness and depression (which I already had), and not the fault of other people, that I was able to reach out for help. My heart goes out to the author, and those mentioned in the article. It is a very deep and enormous problem. The people you see in parks drinking from a brown paper bag are actually the ones who have made it that far and are still alive. Most have killed themselves, and others, long before they get to that stage. I wished I could do more to help. Believe me, if you ask yourself if you have a drinking problem, the question IS the answer.

Regretably it will never be possible to remove all risk, Even where we try to do that, other risks can arise.

I rarely drink alcohol. It is just not on where you are trying to maintain an active lifestyle. It is a pity though because there are many wines I like and there are health effects, if only it were not for the alcohol present.

Wouldn't it be nice if families could drink wine together than was very low or no alcohol? That burning fullness of alcohol actually spoils most wines and other alcoholic drinks. Who wants the lady opposite to be off to dream world early in the main course because the red could run an Eighties Mercedes?

Rather than the usual restrictions and bans, the government should be reducing its excise significantly, not just as a token, on wines that are substantially below the usual level of alcohol. We need statesmen in parliament to do that though and they seem to be in very short supply.

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced," wrote James Baldwin in The Fire Next Time.

There's nothing sadder than reading about a 'co-dependent' person enslaved to an alcoholic (or drug addict or gambler or smoker, name your addiction). Love sometimes has to let go of the suicider-in-slow-motion
otherwise they both fall off the cliff together. That's not love, that's utter victimisation.

Sometimes one has to be cruel to be kind, and being an alcoholic's crutch is utterly pathetic and insane: if you really love your husband,
then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

SHRODE:

...Yep..true, but (one) point of the article, was to indicate the inexorable connection of the alcoholic abuser and their co-dependents.
As with all addictions, the prime motivation of the addict is to sustain the addiction: This is best facilitated by enslaving the means of supply, usually the little lady in their life, (I have noticed).
Read the article again (I suggest), to clarify the point.

...And a further reason for my unpopularity in life, is speaking the truth; advice I give to young women is: "Birds of a feather flock together".
If you wish not to be saddled for life to a "Piss-Head", avoid places where they congregate, such as pubs and clubs for example.

If one takes no attention to balance, you have no one to blame but yourself. The youth seek peace at the bottem of a bottle.....people can't be that stupid...can they?

Planet3

Shouldn't that be called a burden from the others ? If only we get those do-gooders taking up the task of looking after the no-hopers then that would solve the problem. Simple !

Only the intoxicated believe in their own rationality, so maybe the "Blind should lead the blind" and look after THEIR own, Individual.

"Blind should lead the blind"
diver dan,
isn't that what's happening in the middle eastern countries ?

Individual:

#...Blind leading the blind (In the Middle East)...#!!

...Not likely. That would be “Washington” Leading with the right fist of dictatorship. Didn't quite work in Egypt; not yet…The rage of the Muslim Brotherhood is correctly directed at the Military, who fell to the wrong side..(for Washington).

...But getting back to the evils of alcohol: There is the rising of a marked “Peoples Revolt” against alcohol and its Industrial takeover of society. The writing is on the wall, as it was for the Tobacco Industry, now languishing from the effects of ever decreasing numbers of “Users” (Users, as akin to illegal drug users), of its addictive product...As with smoking, purchasing and using the addictive product of Alcohol, needs tighter and tighter controls, until the discomfort of using it achieves a reduction over time of users, as it did with smokers.

diver dan,
ok, I'll re-phrase it to the silly leading the silly. If we want to stamp out drug use be it alcohol or any other than we need to weed out many other even more sinister behaviour such as mass sport, particularly violent & senseless devoid of skill sports such as football. Why, because it all is interlinked with mentality & as far as underdeveloped mentality goes Australia is at the fore front. I don't like to rub it in but it is an undeniable fact. Just look at moron-lemming behaviour at a football match. These are people we ask to vote !!
Look at drug users, our so-called authorities waste more money on them then on decent citizens requiring a shot in the arm so to speak. They had the right idea with the old Leper Stations where they all lived in special areas, away from others. There's way too much pussy-footing going on.

I dislike the characterization of alcoholism as a disease. While some people are more prone to addiction than others, that does not make it a disease. To call it a disease removes the onus on the individual to manage their life and their affairs. "I can't help it. I have a disease."
Do all those fatties out there have a disease too? The ones that can't drive past a KFC or McDonalds. They know its bad for them. They kid themselves that they will stop feasting, eat healthy and exercise. Starting tomorrow of course. It too destroys their health.
I remember reading of a movie star who constantly cheated on his wife claiming he had a sex addiction. Personally I think he was just cheating on his wife.
If you drink too much too often, you may become reliant on it and it may seriously damage your life. Doesn't make it a disease though.

I like the previous poster do not believe it is a disease, it is however an addiction, described well below:

"Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, or health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others.

The word addiction is used in several different ways. One definition describes physical addiction. This is a biological state in which the body adapts to the presence of a drug so that drug no longer has the same effect; this is known as tolerance. Because of tolerance, there is a biological reaction when the drug is withdrawn. Another form of physical addiction is the phenomenon of overreaction by the brain to drugs (or to cues associated with the drugs). An alcoholic walking into a bar, for instance, will feel an extra pull to have a drink because of these cues.'

Cheers
Geoff

GoP:

...I get your point, but surely if a doctor is treating an individual for a "condition" of alcohol addiction, then "disease" pretty well describes the affliction, wouldn't you agree...?

...And further, there are many people in Australia on a disability pension due to the debilitating effects of alcoholism. Those are a couple of examples to reinforce the current acceptance of alcoholism as a disease.

...But I personally think that defining Alcoholism in medical terms is insignificant to the broader question of the damage done by the universal acceptance of alcohol in society.

Individual:

...Just this minute noticed your last post above. Addressing your suggestion of Leper colonies as an answer to addiction; well, the new Darwin jail would be the modern-day equivalent of a Leper colony. The NT are completing a new jail to the tune of $500M.

...The inmates of this particular prison will be 90% Aboriginals, incarcerated due to alcohol related crimes. A large proportion of it's function designed to rehabilitate alcoholics. Sorta fits the bill you describe: In fact, it mostly describes the inmate populations of any prison in Australia. It is the side of alcohol most people wish to ignore...Bad people alcoholics end-up in prison...not "Good" people alcoholics.

hey Diver Dan,

I tend to agree with you, I guess it relates to the point of comprehension.

I for one enjoy a drink or 5, but I also know that I have limits, I am now in my mid 40s and as such need to keep a relative tolerance to what I consume to what I can face the following morning, that and the fact that I try not to drink during the week.

Notwithstanding the above, I also understand my father was probably an alcoholic in the strictest terms, he died at 53, the result of a bad lifestyle, too much drinking and smoking.

I have an almost polarised life-style, little alcohol, eat good food and attempt to retain a slight level of exercise outside of running my self sustainable 13 and a half acres here in the west.

Give a mate a chance to visit and I can pretty much slam a bottle of bourbon but I always regret the next day.

Does this make me an alcoholic, probably, have I ever asked the question.....Do I drink too much, why yes I have.......give the pshych people an inch and they will take a mile.....vis I am doomed.

Instead I use the wifey, who tells me to get out of bed, yes it's cold, -4.8 the other morning (7am) and get the fire stoked and get breakfast on the go, no problem, does this signify an addiction or that I am an alcoholic, well I don't know.

I do know that I like a good WA Margaret River red or a decent ACT or Kiwi Sauv Blanc, whether it will kill me or the wife is yet to be determined. She does not like to drink, neither do my kids aged 7 and 9, I will continue to study and see how things pan out!

GoP:

The inalienable right of the individual to over-arch the fundamental rights of the community, is a flawed concept. Sellick discusses this view today here…http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15228..