Alcohol Hypocrisy

[George K]

@Jolly said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

True, but most alcohol consumption is not done to become drunk. Maybe marijuana use falls into the same category.

I consume alcohol pretty regularly, as you know. BUT, if I feel any sign of intoxication, I stop. I've always found it unpleasant.

Besides those, however, aren't most drugs such as street fentanyl, crack, meth or heroin, expressly done for excess?

Also, the short-term mortality from these other drugs is higher than alcohol. That's not to say that alcohol doesn't have long-term problems (liver, heart, etc), but it's rare to hear of a fatal alcohol overdose.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

BUT, if I feel any sign of intoxication, I stop.

[Mik]

Alcoholic beverages were developed due to the lack of clean water supplies in many areas. It's also a food to some degree. I think alcohol can, over a long period of time, be habit forming, but not nearly to the same extent.

[Horace]

@George-K said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

I consume alcohol pretty regularly, as you know. BUT, if I feel any sign of intoxication, I stop. I've always found it unpleasant.

That would be one swallow of hard liquor for me. I would feel the mental effects immediately. But as these things go, in order to keep feeling that, you have to keep increasing your BAC. Holding it steady does nothing.

[Klaus]

@Jolly said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

True, but most alcohol consumption is not done to become drunk.

People who are dependent on alcohol rarely show signs of being drunk. They also often don't drink to become drunk but to change the way they feel. To get rid of anxiety. Boredom. Depression. Sadness. The drunkards who sleep under the bridge are only a tiny fraction of those with alcohol problems.

I have only really paid attention to this in the last two years or so, but I think almost everyone knows a couple of people who drink "too much". The same doesn't hold for other drugs, I think.

[Klaus]

@George-K said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

I consume alcohol pretty regularly, as you know. BUT, if I feel any sign of intoxication, I stop. I've always found it unpleasant.

Maybe once a year or so (usually when I visit @jon-nyc ) I drink enough to feel seriously intoxicated. I can enjoy this while drinking with others, but as soon as I'm alone I hate the feeling. I can enjoy a nice glas of wine alone, but drinking enough to be intoxicated alone would be completely pointless for me.

[Mik]

Well, that's the crux of it right there. One can imbibe without any desire to get inebriated. The same is not true of other drugs...inebriation is the whole point.

[Klaus]

That said, these days there are good alternatives, once one gets rid of prejudices.

0% alcohol beer can be awesome, for instance.

[Mik]

My alternative is generally iced tea. Works for me. I tried a de-alcoholized wine. It was pretty bad. Some of the beers are ok, but I'd just as soon have tea.

[Klaus]

Agree about the de-alcoholized wine. It's not very good.

But the non-alcoholic beer is pretty good these days, and a good cocktail maker can make awesome "virgin" cocktails.

[Horace]

@Mik said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

Alcoholic beverages were developed due to the lack of clean water supplies in many areas. It's also a food to some degree.

Same calories per gram as carbohydrates.

[jon-nyc]

Reducing alcohol consumption is probably one of the simplest interventions people can make to improve health. I get that it’s not easy for everyone in practice.

[Mik]

Yep. We've cut way, way back on it. Moderation claims another victim.

[Renauda]

@Klaus said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

0% alcohol beer can be awesome, for instance.

Agreed. Guinness 0 is such. Actually tastes like real beer - closer to an English bitter IMO, although Phibes might not agree.

Two thirds the price of Guinness Draught, they can’t keep it on the store shelves it’s become that popular here since it came out late last year.

[Copper]

@Horace said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

That would be one swallow of hard liquor for me. I would feel the mental effects immediately.

I think that is a matter of age, and times have changed too.

In college drinking 10-20 beers in a day or long night wasn't unusual. But now a couple will put me to sleep.

And of course drinking and smoking were more acceptable back then. I tell young people that we could smoke in class while in college, and lots of people did. It is hard to believe.

[taiwan_girl]

@Jolly said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

....most alcohol consumption is not done to become drunk.

Korea (and other countries in North Asia) seems to be an exception. Most Koreans cannot "hold" liquor very well, but they drink until they are falling down.

My explanation is that society is very straight and conforming. If you are drinking, you can do goofy stuff and no one will think anything of it and it will be "accepted". Maybe accepted is not the correct word, but no one will say anything. The next morning at the office, it will be business as usual.

I was at a get together with a group of Japanese one time, and the head Japanese guy ended up falling asleep in the lap of waitress/hostess. Next morning, it was not mentioned, and things carried on as normal.

[Horace]

Here in the west, you're held to everything you do regardless of drunken status. Though I wasn't fired that time my boss called the cops on me when he thought I'd been drinking. He was on his way out anyway.

[Doctor Phibes]

@jon-nyc said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

Reducing alcohol consumption is probably one of the simplest interventions people can make to improve health. I get that it’s not easy for everyone in practice.

Every Monday I'm ready to do just that. Then Tuesday Friday comes around and the siren song of wonderful IPA's starts up again.

[Jolly]

@Copper said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

@Horace said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

That would be one swallow of hard liquor for me. I would feel the mental effects immediately.

I think that is a matter of age, and times have changed too.

In college drinking 10-20 beers in a day or long night wasn't unusual. But now a couple will put me to sleep.

And of course drinking and smoking were more acceptable back then. I tell young people that we could smoke in class while in college, and lots of people did. It is hard to believe.

I'll top that...First lab I worked in, was an assault on the senses. Floor model centrifuges so loud you needed earplugs and a constant barroom haze from the cigarettes (mostly Marlboro, Winstons and Camel w/filters).

[89th]

@jon-nyc said in Alcohol Hypocrisy:

Reducing alcohol consumption is probably one of the simplest interventions people can make to improve health. I get that it’s not easy for everyone in practice.

I sleep so much better when I haven't had anything to drink. It's common sense, but wow I feel great in the morning. The problem is usually by 9 or 10pm I'm ready for a drink to unwind after a long day of working and juggling 3 kids, and the other problem is once I've had one I very easily get a 2nd or 3rd which tastes great at the time, but then I regret it in the morning when I feel off.