Alcohol

[swords]

when i drink i often forget my age

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by ivi0nk3y

Of course that is a point of view. I'm sure people who don't like having drunk people messing up their neighbourhood, urinating against the wall in public, puking up in their front gardens and sing vaguely coherent songs in a barbershop quartet whilst stumbling home, have a different say on the matter
Then again, those are the more trivial problems associated with drinking excessively. Opinions get stronger as the problems become progressively worse.

Are you saying drinking equals being drunk, and that being drunk always results in violent and/or rude behaviour? Because all my friends can drink and they are exactly the same, except my friend Daniel who loses the ability to walk properly, but in return laughs a bit more (only a wee bit more though).

So, yes, I disgress still; drinking is not always a problem. When drinking is a problem, it's a drinking problem.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Alastor

Are you saying drinking equals being drunk, and that being drunk always results in violent and/or rude behaviour? Because all my friends can drink and they are exactly the same, except my friend Daniel who loses the ability to walk properly, but in return laughs a bit more (only a wee bit more though).

So, yes, I disgress still; drinking is not always a problem. When drinking is a problem, it's a drinking problem.

Reread your own post. When you start putting "always" in there you are answering your own question.

If your friend Daniel drinks to the point that he can't walk properly, that is drinking too much.

[ivi0nk3y]

Originally Posted by Alastor

Are you saying drinking equals being drunk, and that being drunk always results in violent and/or rude behaviour? Because all my friends can drink and they are exactly the same, except my friend Daniel who loses the ability to walk properly, but in return laughs a bit more (only a wee bit more though).

So, yes, I disgress still; drinking is not always a problem. When drinking is a problem, it's a drinking problem.

That is just word play. There is no such logic involved with the act of drinking, seeing as it is a form of "fun".
Basically, you are putting yourself at risk of being drunk when you drink. It is also difficult to know what your limits are once you have a certain amount of alcohol inside you, making it more likely to be drunk.
If you wanna be logical about it, don't drink at all. That way there is less risk of all the problems associated with "drinking".
Afterall, it's known as "drink driving" not "drunk driving". That's because even some alcohol inside you can impair your judgement. You aint gotta be drunk for your driving skills to go awry.
Sure some people are better at knowing their limits and so on, however in my opinion the amount of people who know their limits to people who don't, has decreased. Also, even if you are fine with drinking socially and don't get drunk, what's to say somewhere down your life you won't have an emotional problem which will turn you to drinking and turn you into an alcoholic.
It isn't as far fetched as it sounds.
Seeing as drinking is such a problem now, (and it was inevitable due to the nature of marketing and so on associated with it) there are more cases of "problems" associated with drinking.
Its quite daft to throw situations like gambling, drinking, safe casual sex practices and so on at the public and expect them all to know their limits.
Its like over baking your turkey. Eventually, unless you pull the bird out from in front of the flame, you're going to get a burnt lump of charcoal.

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by MMM

Reread your own post. When you start putting "always" in there you are answering your own question.

If your friend Daniel drinks to the point that he can't walk properly, that is drinking too much.

Those were rhetorical questions

We're not sure why, but a couple of beers makes him like that. We know he can drink too much for his own good, but aside fromhim, no one else is having an actual problem caused or enlargened by drinking. Which was my main point: drinking alcoholic beverages does not automatically equal a problem.

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by ivi0nk3y

That is just word play. There is no such logic involved with the act of drinking, seeing as it is a form of "fun".
Basically, you are putting yourself at risk of being drunk when you drink. It is also difficult to know what your limits are once you have a certain amount of alcohol inside you, making it more likely to be drunk.
If you wanna be logical about it, don't drink at all. That way there is less risk of all the problems associated with "drinking".
Afterall, it's known as "drink driving" not "drunk driving". That's because even some alcohol inside you can impair your judgement. You aint gotta be drunk for your driving skills to go awry.
Sure some people are better at knowing their limits and so on, however in my opinion the amount of people who know their limits to people who don't, has decreased. Also, even if you are fine with drinking socially and don't get drunk, what's to say somewhere down your life you won't have an emotional problem which will turn you to drinking and turn you into an alcoholic.
It isn't as far fetched as it sounds.
Seeing as drinking is such a problem now, (and it was inevitable due to the nature of marketing and so on associated with it) there are more cases of "problems" associated with drinking.
Its quite daft to throw situations like gambling, drinking, safe casual sex practices and so on at the public and expect them all to know their limits.
Its like over baking your turkey. Eventually, unless you pull the bird out from in front of the flame, you're going to get a burnt lump of charcoal.

You're still implying that it's a problem to drink, no matter what, and in that case I'll need to bring up candy, chips, hamburgers, pizza, french fries - heck, any kind of unnatural and/or forms of fast food.

Anything is dangerous if you take too much of it. A couple of beers, as my friends and I prefer, is not dangerous. None of us enjoy particularly stronger drinks. I know plenty of people who drink sensibly and lead wonderful lives.

[ivi0nk3y]

Originally Posted by Alastor

You're still implying that it's a problem to drink, no matter what, and in that case I'll need to bring up candy, chips, hamburgers, pizza, french fries - heck, any kind of unnatural and/or forms of fast food.

Anything is dangerous if you take too much of it. A couple of beers, as my friends and I prefer, is not dangerous. None of us enjoy particularly stronger drinks. I know plenty of people who drink sensibly and lead wonderful lives.

Fast Food is bad too, for your personal health more than anything else. It doesn't intoxicate however and cause you to harm others indirectly.
Like I said, yes you might know your limits and so might your friends but humans have emotions which over-ride such logic.
If a person who eats a burger or two in a week, suddenly has an emotional problem, (which is also quite popular nowadays in any form) they might turn to binge eating and not really think of the harm it is causing them. They won't think logically about what they are doing since it's purely emotional.
The same can be said for alcohol and it has associated problems on different levels to just eating fast foods.
Basically, it's harder to recover from.
If you check why people have become alcoholics, they've either been emotionally unstable at some point in their life and their "part-time" recreational use of alcohol has become something more, or they've just had little idea of their limits to begin with.
So, drinking alcohol might not be bad for you, or lets say even the majority of people, but what about those whose lives it does ruin?
I don't know the exact statistics but alcohol related illnesses and problems are quite high.
I guess it's just a lottery if you become one of those statistics or not

[Alastor]

And this point you're bringing up, this I totally agree with. And it seems you agree with me when I say that drinking isn't always a problem. We both agree that it can indeed be a problem, and that it surely can be a severe problem with devastating consequences.

With that said, I dislike people who drink only for the purpose of getting drunk. To me, that's drinking with the intent of harming yourself, because getting drunk is just another way of saying that the high levels of toxin you've been drinking have now affected you to the point where one would say you've been intoxicated. Like... eating too much of wrong kind of mushrooms or snorting cocaine. Sort of.

[ivi0nk3y]

Originally Posted by Alastor

And this point you're bringing up, this I totally agree with. And it seems you agree with me when I say that drinking isn't always a problem. We both agree that it can indeed be a problem, and that it surely can be a severe problem with devastating consequences.

With that said, I dislike people who drink only for the purpose of getting drunk. To me, that's drinking with the intent of harming yourself, because getting drunk is just another way of saying that the high levels of toxin you've been drinking have now affected you to the point where one would say you've been intoxicated. Like... eating too much of wrong kind of mushrooms or snorting cocaine. Sort of.

Yes, drinking isn't always a problem. It's like those people in the South of France who have a glass of wine with their meals. They don't really get drunk and so on.
But don't you think we have a responsibility towards those who do have a problem with it? I mean, not everyone is so controlled and it is an unpredictable element. Therefore, don't you think for that reason that drinking should be prohibited?
It's like the use of mobile phones. Not everyone has an accident when they talk on the phone at the same time as driving, yet it has been banned as a whole.

[MissMisa]

Originally Posted by Alastor

And this point you're bringing up, this I totally agree with. And it seems you agree with me when I say that drinking isn't always a problem. We both agree that it can indeed be a problem, and that it surely can be a severe problem with devastating consequences.

With that said, I dislike people who drink only for the purpose of getting drunk. To me, that's drinking with the intent of harming yourself, because getting drunk is just another way of saying that the high levels of toxin you've been drinking have now affected you to the point where one would say you've been intoxicated. Like... eating too much of wrong kind of mushrooms or snorting cocaine. Sort of.

Yes I agree. People my age go out and drink, just to get drunk. I don't drink to get drunk. I go to a party, people are listening to music and dancing, we order a pizza. Someone says, hey fancy a drink? I say yeah sure. I have that, and thats it. It's usually something almost harmless like a mild Alcopop or a beer - and only 1. Also, let me say here, that in the UK when you reach 16, you can have a beer or a glass of wine with a meal if you go out, and in your home you can drink from the age of 5, legally. I don't see the problem as long as you drink responsibly, and I understand a lot of people don't. Someone I was best friends with, [we are not anymore, she's moved on with a new crowd,] she's 13 and she binge drinks most nights. I really worry about her still, but if I complaing I'm boring [and I often get 'You're not my mother.] so we don't have much contact anymore. This is what worries me about drink, when people don't do it responsibly. Many people know exactly what their limits are - it's just whether they give a damn if they pass them or not.