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Drinking to get drunk

Ug make hammer

Dawn Sky Miner
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"Social drinkers" who have a lemon lime and bitters, move along. This is not the thread for you.

Social drinkers who feel pressured to drink more than they're comfortable with, tell your story.
Everyday drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer. You're welcome here.
Self-confessed alcoholics (like me) you are most welcome here. Your advice may help others.

I was a multi-drug user for years, and alcohol was way down the list of my preferred drugs. Just above opioids to be frank. But while I still had drug-using friends I had no problem scoring weed or even better drugs. But then I abandoned my city friends and went to live on a commune where there was plenty of pot, and limited alcohol, but none of the really stimulating city drugs. When I left the commune (bored, but also not welcome) all my city contacts had dried up. A disturbing number of them dead (by suicide more than overdose, as fate would have it) and some gone straight. Then I entered into my alcoholic phase. I wanted no contact with anyone, so the only drugs I had access to were alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. The alcohol got a hold of me, drinking three or four bottles of red wine a day, and but for the internet alcohol would have killed me.

Of course I sought medical advice. But all I got was a referral to Alcoholics Anonymous, and some sleeping pills (benzos, my long experience with drugs told me right away that they were dangerously addictive). Again, nothing in my experience suggested I would take to AA and their total abstinence prescription, I was looking for something more gradual. So I found a contact and started smoking pot again. This worked to greatly reduce my alcohol consumption, but had predictable effects on my employability and prospects for making friends. After a year or two smoking more than drinking, I fell out with my one and only dealer, and was really up against it. Drinking heavily every day would kill me, I knew it in my bones. I had to find an alternative.

So about two years ago I made a resolution never to drink two days in a row. And that is still working for me. I drink about 30-40 standard drinks a week, which isn't great but isn't catastrophic either. I have a strong constitution for my age, for any age really, and at this rate I should at least make seventy.

It shits the living whiskers off me that I'm not allowed to take any drug of my choice. I know I could do better, for my physical and mental health, than still being a heavy drinker. Should I break the law? Should I doctor shop? What is the next move for a life-long drug user who has no power nor intent to give up all drugs, but is stuck with the dumbest drug there is?


Feel free to share your stories, but I'd like this to be a "safe space" thread for those who struggle with alcohol and other drugs. If you're one of the lucky people who don't need drugs, spare the condescending advice or the judgement, and just move along to some other thread. Thanks.
 
"Social drinkers" who have a lemon lime and bitters, move along. This is not the thread for you.

Social drinkers who feel pressured to drink more than they're comfortable with, tell your story.
Everyday drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer. You're welcome here.
Self-confessed alcoholics (like me) you are most welcome here. Your advice may help others.

I was a multi-drug user for years, and alcohol was way down the list of my preferred drugs. Just above opioids to be frank. But while I still had drug-using friends I had no problem scoring weed or even better drugs. But then I abandoned my city friends and went to live on a commune where there was plenty of pot, and limited alcohol, but none of the really stimulating city drugs. When I left the commune (bored, but also not welcome) all my city contacts had dried up. A disturbing number of them dead (by suicide more than overdose, as fate would have it) and some gone straight. Then I entered into my alcoholic phase. I wanted no contact with anyone, so the only drugs I had access to were alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. The alcohol got a hold of me, drinking three or four bottles of red wine a day, and but for the internet alcohol would have killed me.

Of course I sought medical advice. But all I got was a referral to Alcoholics Anonymous, and some sleeping pills (benzos, my long experience with drugs told me right away that they were dangerously addictive). Again, nothing in my experience suggested I would take to AA and their total abstinence prescription, I was looking for something more gradual. So I found a contact and started smoking pot again. This worked to greatly reduce my alcohol consumption, but had predictable effects on my employability and prospects for making friends. After a year or two smoking more than drinking, I fell out with my one and only dealer, and was really up against it. Drinking heavily every day would kill me, I knew it in my bones. I had to find an alternative.

So about two years ago I made a resolution never to drink two days in a row. And that is still working for me. I drink about 30-40 standard drinks a week, which isn't great but isn't catastrophic either. I have a strong constitution for my age, for any age really, and at this rate I should at least make seventy.

It shits the living whiskers off me that I'm not allowed to take any drug of my choice. I know I could do better, for my physical and mental health, than still being a heavy drinker. Should I break the law? Should I doctor shop? What is the next move for a life-long drug user who has no power nor intent to give up all drugs, but is stuck with the dumbest drug there is?
If what you want is pot to help with your drinking, it's being legalized all over the place.

Feel free to share your stories, but I'd like this to be a "safe space" thread for those who struggle with alcohol and other drugs. If you're one of the lucky people who don't need drugs, spare the condescending advice or the judgement, and just move along to some other thread. Thanks.
Me? I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Gave up alcohol completely. One, two or three drinks do nothing but give me a headache. If I started drinking I kept right on drinking. So now I don't start. Went to a shrink who told me I'd just been been self-medicating. She put me on SSRIs and I'm not even tempted by alcohol anymore. I'll toke a joint if someone passed it to me socially but pot never crosses my mind anymore.
 
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If what you want is pot to help with your drinking, it's being legalized all over the place.

Not in my place, unfortunately. Be wary here: you should not advise me to travel inter-state to buy, because that would be advocacy of a crime.

I have considered it, but frankly it's more dangerous than buying from an illegal dealer who I could locate rather easily. I simply don't want to break any more laws, I'm done with that. It morally compromises me, when I rely on "it's the law" to oppose what I believe to be bad things. The only good way to break a law, is to change it.

And anyway, being a heavy smoker is just a different way of shortening your life, to being a heavy drinker. Pot is terrible for one's memory, and a life is made of memories.
 
Me? I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Gave up alcohol completely. One, two or three drinks do nothing but give me a headache. If I started drinking I kept right on drinking. So now I don't start. Went to a shrink who told me I'd just been been self-medicating. She put me on SSRIs and I'm not even tempted by alcohol anymore. I'll toke a joint if someone passed it to me socially but pot never crosses my mind anymore.

This deserves a second reply. My sister who shares half my genes swears by SSRI but with my record of bipolar disorder no shrink will prescribe them for me. Perhaps I should get over my scruples about "doctor shopping" since it's not actually illegal?

I'm on Sodium Valproate which I practically had to beg for, to get off Lithium. And a lower dose of Lithium still. Also Olanzapine which I'm actually OK with: it's a bit like a low dose of pot day and night. I'm not at all happy with my regimen but if I go off it someone reports me for florid mania (ie, being too happy for no apparent reason) so short of packing a big camper with tinned food and heading out to the hills ... but there I go with the crazy talk.

Your short comment has actually been helpful. I should not be content with the shrink the government assigned me for free. I should spend some money and find one who will serve me better.
 
This deserves a second reply. My sister who shares half my genes swears by SSRI but with my record of bipolar disorder no shrink will prescribe them for me. Perhaps I should get over my scruples about "doctor shopping" since it's not actually illegal?

I'm on Sodium Valproate which I practically had to beg for, to get off Lithium. And a lower dose of Lithium still. Also Olanzapine which I'm actually OK with: it's a bit like a low dose of pot day and night. I'm not at all happy with my regimen but if I go off it someone reports me for florid mania (ie, being too happy for no apparent reason) so short of packing a big camper with tinned food and heading out to the hills ... but there I go with the crazy talk.

Your short comment has actually been helpful. I should not be content with the shrink the government assigned me for free. I should spend some money and find one who will serve me better.
My meds work for 6 months to a year then they have to switch 'em up. It's a process, Everybody's different is what I keep hearing from the shrinks.
 
My meds work for 6 months to a year then they have to switch 'em up. It's a process, Everybody's different is what I keep hearing from the shrinks.

Very interesting. I feel that way about Lithium. I liked it for the first year or so, it didn't seem too constraining. But then my "animal spirits" broke through and I had to resort to willpower not to do crazy shit and get put back in the hospital. The next year I more and more noticed the negative physical health effect. Now I just plain hate it.
 
"Social drinkers" who have a lemon lime and bitters, move along. This is not the thread for you.

Social drinkers who feel pressured to drink more than they're comfortable with, tell your story.
Everyday drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer. You're welcome here.
Self-confessed alcoholics (like me) you are most welcome here. Your advice may help others.

I was a multi-drug user for years, and alcohol was way down the list of my preferred drugs. Just above opioids to be frank. But while I still had drug-using friends I had no problem scoring weed or even better drugs. But then I abandoned my city friends and went to live on a commune where there was plenty of pot, and limited alcohol, but none of the really stimulating city drugs. When I left the commune (bored, but also not welcome) all my city contacts had dried up. A disturbing number of them dead (by suicide more than overdose, as fate would have it) and some gone straight. Then I entered into my alcoholic phase. I wanted no contact with anyone, so the only drugs I had access to were alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. The alcohol got a hold of me, drinking three or four bottles of red wine a day, and but for the internet alcohol would have killed me.

Of course I sought medical advice. But all I got was a referral to Alcoholics Anonymous, and some sleeping pills (benzos, my long experience with drugs told me right away that they were dangerously addictive). Again, nothing in my experience suggested I would take to AA and their total abstinence prescription, I was looking for something more gradual. So I found a contact and started smoking pot again. This worked to greatly reduce my alcohol consumption, but had predictable effects on my employability and prospects for making friends. After a year or two smoking more than drinking, I fell out with my one and only dealer, and was really up against it. Drinking heavily every day would kill me, I knew it in my bones. I had to find an alternative.

So about two years ago I made a resolution never to drink two days in a row. And that is still working for me. I drink about 30-40 standard drinks a week, which isn't great but isn't catastrophic either. I have a strong constitution for my age, for any age really, and at this rate I should at least make seventy.

It shits the living whiskers off me that I'm not allowed to take any drug of my choice. I know I could do better, for my physical and mental health, than still being a heavy drinker. Should I break the law? Should I doctor shop? What is the next move for a life-long drug user who has no power nor intent to give up all drugs, but is stuck with the dumbest drug there is?


Feel free to share your stories, but I'd like this to be a "safe space" thread for those who struggle with alcohol and other drugs. If you're one of the lucky people who don't need drugs, spare the condescending advice or the judgement, and just move along to some other thread. Thanks.
I used to drink a lot. As someone else mentioned, I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I just quit. Now ill maybe have a (singular) good scotch 1-3 times a year.
 
I used to drink a lot. As someone else mentioned, I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I just quit. Now ill maybe have a (singular) good scotch 1-3 times a year.

The last year of my (very) heavy drinking career isn't clear in my memory. I do remember being bloody useless for six hours after getting up, which matches "sick and tired" fairly well except I guess I still had reserves of good health. I always ate a good diet and did exercise (obligatory exercise mostly) which may have saved me from the typical malnutrition of serious alcoholics. As you probably know, alcohol substitutes for carbohydrates so in sufficient quantity it suppresses appetite completely.
 
Up until about 8 years ago that was the point of drinking for me, the taste is not great and being drunk depending on level can be a good feeling.

Now getting drunk is not something I want to do, hang overs are not fun, and having one or two drinks are not fun, and can be expensive for no benefit
 
I drink once a month or so but when I do I make it count. **** all yall that says liquor or beer tastes good, it doesn't. I drink it for one reason to get tore up.
 
Yee haw!
I drink once a month or so but when I do I make it count. **** all yall that says liquor or beer tastes good, it doesn't. I drink it for one reason to get tore up.
 
I was blessed in part and cursed in part with a high tolerance pretty much from the moment I started drinking.

My parents would occasionally give me a glass or half glass of wine when I was in high school. At first, just on occasion dinners (say, Passover or Thanksgiving). Later in HS, they'd sometimes pour a glass during normal dinners. And I'd think "this really does taste good but why is everyone making a big deal out of drinking? It's not doing anything.

But then, towards the end, parties started happening. You know, parties with booze. And I found that if instead I worked my way through half a bottle of vodka, ta-da!, alcohol does something. I was wild in all sorts of ways in my following youth.



But now? Trouble is my tolerance has only declined a bit, irrespective of drinking. Doesn't matter. I can take a break for a month and still, there's the tolerance. Which means that to be healthy, I really do have to drink for just the taste. A glass or two of wine? Tasty, but no alcohol effect.

And this creates a constant annoyance when coupled with the fact that I actually do enjoy the subjective effect quite a bit. Meanwhile, my wife has a glass and she's happy. Two and she's even starting to get loopy. I find it annoying to have to exercise extra self-control.

The blessing should be obvious: I never had to worry that if I have a martini or two at some professional gathering, I'm going to make an ass of myself. You wouldn't be able to tell I'd had anything. But I think that on balance, I'd rather have a low tolerance. Then I could enjoy the taste, enjoy the sensation, and still be sticking within that optimal consumption zone (for health). womp-womp for me.

But hey... not really any such considerations with weed, especially if you typically ingest it via edibles, vaping, concentrates, etc.
 
Ah, I've thought of a quote perfect for this thread
“And always, if he had a little money, a man could get drunk. The hard edges gone, and the warmth. Then there was no loneliness, for a man could people his brain with friends, and he could find his enemies and destroy them. Sitting in a ditch, the earth grew soft under him. Failures dulled and the future was no threat. And hunger did not skulk about, but the world was soft and easy, and a man could reach the place he started for. The stars came down wonderfully close and the sky was soft. Death was a friend, and sleep was death’s brother. The old times came back – dear and warm. A girl with pretty feet, who danced one time at home – a horse – a long time ago. A horse and a saddle. And the leather was carved. When was that? Ought to find a girl to talk to. That’s nice. Might lay with her, too. But warm here. And that stars down so close, and sadness and pleasure were so close together, really the same thing. Like to stay drunk all the time. Who says it’s bad? Who dares to say it’s bad? Preachers – but they got their own kinda drunkenness. Thin, barren women, but they’re too miserable to know. Reformers – but they don’t bite deep enough into living to know. No – the stars are close and dear and I have joined the brotherhood of the worlds. And everything’s holy – everything, even me.”
(Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck, 327-328).​


An author whose prose is closer to poetry than anything else. A master among masters.
 
I usually have a beer when I get home from work at night. I sit in the kitchen and talk to HBG and nurse the beer while I wait for him to finish dinner. On the weekends, we have jam nights at the house, and lots of musicians show up, and we play til all hours of the morning. We usually drink a little, and smoke a little. Nothing major for me - just like a good buzz going.
 
I've never really liked the taste of alcohol in any form and I have never been drunk. I do not like to lose control. In college I was working full time so I might have a bottle of beer at dinner on my day off or when I studied. My heaviest drinking was 2 beers in one night.

My only use for beer or wine now is to cook or bake with. I dont even like the smell of it.
 
"Social drinkers" who have a lemon lime and bitters, move along. This is not the thread for you.

Social drinkers who feel pressured to drink more than they're comfortable with, tell your story.
Everyday drinkers who have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer. You're welcome here.
Self-confessed alcoholics (like me) you are most welcome here. Your advice may help others.

I was a multi-drug user for years, and alcohol was way down the list of my preferred drugs. Just above opioids to be frank. But while I still had drug-using friends I had no problem scoring weed or even better drugs. But then I abandoned my city friends and went to live on a commune where there was plenty of pot, and limited alcohol, but none of the really stimulating city drugs. When I left the commune (bored, but also not welcome) all my city contacts had dried up. A disturbing number of them dead (by suicide more than overdose, as fate would have it) and some gone straight. Then I entered into my alcoholic phase. I wanted no contact with anyone, so the only drugs I had access to were alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. The alcohol got a hold of me, drinking three or four bottles of red wine a day, and but for the internet alcohol would have killed me.

Of course I sought medical advice. But all I got was a referral to Alcoholics Anonymous, and some sleeping pills (benzos, my long experience with drugs told me right away that they were dangerously addictive). Again, nothing in my experience suggested I would take to AA and their total abstinence prescription, I was looking for something more gradual. So I found a contact and started smoking pot again. This worked to greatly reduce my alcohol consumption, but had predictable effects on my employability and prospects for making friends. After a year or two smoking more than drinking, I fell out with my one and only dealer, and was really up against it. Drinking heavily every day would kill me, I knew it in my bones. I had to find an alternative.
Ye

It shits the living whiskers off me that I'm not allowed to take any drug of my choice. I know I could do better, for my physical and mental health, than still being a heavy drinker. Should I break the law? Should I doctor shop? What is the next move for a life-long drug user who has no power nor intent to give up all drugs, but is stuck with the dumbest drug there is?


Feel free to share your stories, but I'd like this to be a "safe space" thread for those who struggle with alcohol and other drugs. If you're one of the lucky people who don't need drugs, spare the condescending advice or the judgement, and just move along to some other thread. Thanks.
Yep, if I'm not working or out with friends, I'm usually drinking and using mj and home. It's just something I just enjoy doing. I know it's not healthy, but it makes me feel so good!
 
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