If I were to subtitle this article it would be: If You Still Drink Regularly With All We Now Know, You’re An Idiot Or An Addict.
My opinions on alcohol don’t win me many friends as almost to a drinker, they get angry and defensive when the topic arises, as if they are defending the honour of a cherished lover from insult. My disdain for the stupidity of those who defend it as “fun and harmless” has grown immensely over the past couple of years as I watch people destroy and enslave themselves to a substance. The facts, data, and science behind the consequences and effects of their drug use is now clearer than ever. And yes, alcohol is a highly addictive drug, and drinkers are drug users, albeit, “socially acceptable” drug users, or so they think. To drink regularly in the face of what we now know can only be classified as total ignorance or addiction, that deep down many realize, but have difficulty admitting to.
I’ve written extensively on alcohol before, here; and many other posts here reference my contempt and scorn for alcohol and the people who knowingly use it and abuse it, in 100% of the cases, to their own detriment. I can say in all humility that I have been way ahead of the curve on this topic for decades and have read more research than 99.9% of the population. The average person succumbs because they are brainwashed by “big money alcohol company” advertising and their own weakness giving in to peer pressure. As the science continues to develop, much of what I’ve written has been shown to be correct as it filters down to the mainstream, drinking population. But the insidious nature of this drug is such that no science, no data, or no rational argument will ever convince a person who is emotionally and physically attached to their booze.
Have you ever talked to a friend about their drinking habits, only to watch them get defensive? And that ends up being their reaction every single time? It’s an implicit admission that deep down they know they have a problem. I once had a friend with a drinking problem; a drinking problem that they could not see. It was not alcoholism, but like almost every regular drinker, it was an alcohol use disorder and it was obvious. They couldn’t go out and have just one or two; they always over drank.
Many started drinking in their teen years and the chemical alterations that this caused in their brains have caused them problems to this day. Their brain is now programmed by the drug to crave more. They get excited about the drinking they’ll do at the party this weekend. They make a special trip to buy the booze they want the most. They think of what drinks they’ll order that night at the bar when they go out with friends. They plan to get drunk on certain nights, days in advance. It consumes them, and their thoughts. All these things will seem perfectly normal because their brain has normalized it after years of substance use and abuse.
The overwhelming majority of drinkers go out and enjoy 1 or 2 drinks with their friends and leave it there. About 15-20% cannot handle their alcohol and their nights often end in a sad, drunken stupor. They may even say “I’m just going to have a couple drinks” but then as the drug hits them they suddenly want more and more and their ability to control themselves is lost. This is the sad reality for many, many who don’t yet fit the clinical definition of alcoholic.
Alcohol is the elixir of the weak, the social crutch for the insecure, the drug that many want and need. It is a scourge on society and a lie that many fall for. They go out with friends and think their “drinking buddies” care about their well-being as they walk together down the road of addiction, all the while hating the ones who truly care and are not afraid to confront them over their destructive life choices. A true friend doesn’t order you another drink; they are the ones who tell you you have a problem.
People are naïve, and generally obtuse and self-destructive in considering what alcohol does to them. More and more research has come out over the past 10-15 years and the data is now overwhelmingly clear how bad drinking is for us as individuals, and as a society. Let’s first define the various levels of alcohol consumption according to the NIÃAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). There are so many problem drinkers out there who think they have it under control.
Safe drinking – 0 drinks for men, 0 drinks for women. There is now no safe level of alcohol consumption. Every drink comes with deleterious effects. (No one should ever exceed 2 drinks in one sitting, and 2 drinks total in a week should be the upper limit).
Moderate drinking – 2 drinks in a day for men, or a total of 7 per week. 1 drink per day for women, or a total of 4 per week. This level of drinking comes with various levels of harm.
Heavy drinking – 5 or more drinks in a day for men (once in a month), or 15 or more per week. 4 or more drinks in a day for women (once in a month), or 8 or more drinks per week. These limits are also the limits that define “binge drinking” and “alcohol misuse,” according to the NIAAA.
You will never convince a problem drinker that they drink too much. The number one sign of addiction is the inability of the user to see they have a problem at all; they’ve always got it “under control.”
As Dr. Andrew Huberman, who runs the neurolab at Stanford says:
Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Stop Drinking If You Actually Care About Your Life
1) Alcohol Is Highly Addictive: Alcohol is the second most addictive drug after heroin and other opioids. This addiction can take many forms, from degenerative alcoholism to functional alcoholism; from a needed short term stress reliever to a drug necessary to enjoy social situations. Many suffer from alcohol use and misuse disorders that they think are normal, but are far from it. Addiction is weakness, not a disease, and the reliance on a substance always points to deeper problems. Another way to understand the potency and addictive nature of this drug is to be reminded that there are only two drugs whose withdrawal effects can kill you: alcohol and benzodiazepines. Perhaps one of the saddest developments over the past 20 years or so is the incidence of alcoholism and addiction that has exploded among women. Women are abusing alcohol at record rates and it’s no wonder they are suffering a mental health crisis that coincides with their increase in consumption. Young women are the most broken demographic group and alcohol is exacerbating these problems. They are lost and their lives lack purpose and meaning, so they turn to a “socially acceptable” drug to find acceptance.
2) Alcohol Is A Major Cause Of Death & Disease: According to the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, alcohol is the seventh leading cause of death and disease globally. “When you omit deaths from tuberculosis, car accidents, and suicide, alcohol moves further up the list even though it plays a major part in the latter two.” The shocking conclusion of the study stated this:
“The level of alcohol consumption that minimized harm across health outcomes was zero (95% UI 0-0-0-8) standard drinks per week. Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for global disease burden and causes substantial health loss. We found that the risk of all-cause mortality, and of cancers specifically, rises with increasing levels of consumption, and the level of consumption that minimizes health loss is zero.“
I’ve covered the diseases that alcohol is linked to in the past, but this list serves as a good reminder of the ruination it causes. Another recent study confirmed that alcohol was the third leading cause of preventable death behind smoking and obesity. It is directly linked to cancer and many other diseases. And we know that 1 in 5 deaths of adults, that’s 20%, from age 20 to 49, is from excessive drinking. Alcohol will kill you early; this is now indisputable. “Alcohol has been a level-one carcinogen for as long as we’ve been listing carcinogens…It’s on par with things like smoking, UV light, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus or HPV.”
The 3 leading causes of preventable death are smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption. But by certain metrics I would argue that drinking alcohol is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself in that the effect it has on mental health is far worse than the first two. I had someone once remark to me, that “I feel fine mentally after drinking so it doesn’t really effect me.” This person no longer knows what their optimal mental health even feels like anymore because the unending level of depressant that is in their system from drinking. Anything a regular drinker tells you about their consumption habits is most likely incorrect, for they try to hide it from watchful eyes as the spiral downwards begins.
3) Alcohol Weakens the Immune System, Gut Biome, and Skin: Alcohol is a diuretic and dehydrates your body, including the skin – and this happens every time you drink. When you drink, the dehydrating effect of alcohol means your skin loses fluid and nutrients that are vital for healthy-looking skin. This can make your skin look wrinkled, dull and grey, or bloated and puffy. It dries out and prematurely ages your skin. If you drink, your skin will never be as healthy looking as it should.
The gut is sometimes called the body’s “second brain” as it is responsible for so much of its proper functioning. Alcohol damages the stomach lining and gut; killing the good bacteria in our stomachs. Alcohol begins to break down the lining of the stomach and the gut which allows the ethanol (toxin) to enter the body and cause further damage and disease. If you have nagging stomach issues, alcohol is likely the culprit.
Our immune system is responsible for fighting off viruses, bacteria, and disease. Alcohol weakens our immune systems and opens the drinker up to many adverse health conditions. Alcohol consumption does not have to be chronic to have negative health consequences. In fact, research shows that acute binge drinking more negatively affects the immune system than perviously thought.
I recall a conversation I had with another friend. They had just returned from an overseas trip and were in the middle of a course of antibiotics to help with an illness that they had caught. They went away to a nice country for a week, saw the sites and enjoyed themselves. But every night they went out to a bar and drank excessively till two or three in the morning. It was both sad and hilarious to hear them defend their abuse of alcohol and not think it had any effect on their health.
4) Alcohol Is Destructive Of Mental Health: Alcohol is a depressant and causes mental health issues for many drinkers. Just 25 minutes after a drink, a person reaches peak euphoria, after which the depressant feelings start to impact the user which begins the “night out’s” cycle of drink after drink to retain the original level of euphoria and ward off the onsetting depressive feelings of the come down. The depressive effects last for almost 7 full days afterward before it leaves the system; hardly a rational trade off, but no one who drinks excessively can be said to be rational.
Alcohol is a self-soothing mechanism (anxiety, fear, self-loathing, etc) and the drinker is unaware that it actually magnifies these feelings in the long term, and generally makes them worse. Many drink to help with these issues, when in fact, alcohol makes them worse.
5) Alcohol Is A Thief of Joy: This to my mind is one of the more shocking effects alcohol has on the brain. It chemically alters the brain and desensitizes our dopamine receptors and adrenal glands to real stimuli and pleasures. The alcohol-altered brain can never truly feel or never truly experience the fullness of natural pleasures and joys in life, when they are NOT drinking, for their perceptions have been altered and dulled. They cannot experience the fullness of joyful events when they are NOT drinking because of how their drinking has changed their brain chemistry.
Again, Dr. Huberman sums it up this way:
It chemically alters the brain and desensitizes our dopamine receptors to real stimuli and pleasures. Think of it this way: you go out on a Friday night to party and get drunk. Your Saturday is spent dealing with your hangover. On Sunday you decide to go for a hike in the mountains. The scenery is beautiful, the experience is nice, but you are unable to experience the hike as you should because you have impaired your brain’s ability to experience the fullness of that joy when you’re NOT drinking. What a tragedy. To put this another way, you are unable to experience positive emotions to their fullest because of your alcohol consumption:
6) Alcohol Promotes Social Weakness: Alcohol creates weakness in those that use it as a social lubricant to feel more confident. It provides the illusion of confidence and makes the person reliant on the drug to feel comfort in interacting with others, rather than motivating them to become naturally better in these social circumstances and working on becoming a more socially adept person in reality. It can only provide a drug-induced, fake confidence; never the real thing. It will ensure you stay socially weak if you rely on it.
7) Alcohol Ruins Sleep: Alcohol affects your brain in such a way that both your sleep quality and sleep quantity suffer. It causes you to wake up in the night far more frequently even if you’re not concious of it, and you do not get the required amount of REM and Deep sleep your brain needs to repair your body and brain during the night as is the norm. People confuse the sedative nature of alcohol with quality of sleep; the sedation it causes is not healthy for brain and body reparations that are needed. Here is a short clip of Dr. Huberman talking to sleep expert Matt Walker on what alcohol does to our sleep:
The alcohol industry, like most, is very corrupt. Companies like Heineken and Carlsberg paid off government officials at the NIH to promote the benefits of moderate drinking when they knew there weren’t any. The study said that moderate alcohol use reduced the risk of cardio vascular disease, when we now know the exact opposite is true. A recent peer-reviewed study showed that alcohol consumption causes life-long arterial stiffening which is a cause and precursor of cardio vascular disease and stroke. Drinkers have been brainwashed and have believed a lie for decades, and bars are filled with those naive to the damage they are doing as booze producers fool people into believing their product is essential for a good time, while it kills them slowly.
Not everything is negative, however, as there are some encouraging signs on the horizon in all the data. 38% of Americans say they do not drink at all, the highest number of abstainers in a generation. While we may lament the dark path of weekly reckless drunkenness some of our friends have chosen, there are good indications that the younger generation is yearning for a better life and leaving their poor choices behind. A recent study revealed that Gen-Z are leaving alcohol in big numbers with 65% (two thirds!) reporting not having a drink in the previous 6 months and 35% that do not drink at all. The share of adults ages 18 to 34 who say they ever drink dropped from 72% in 2001-03 to 62% in 2021-23. Only about 25% of Gen-Z are regular drinkers, with 15% of those being classified as heavy drinkers. Young people, especially Gen Z, are leading this sober trend. They care more about feeling good, being healthy and productive rather than drinking alcohol. They worry about how alcohol affects their bodies and more than any other generation are concerned about the long-term consequences of poor choices when it comes to their mental and physical well-being.
In Canada, about 15.6% of the population over 12 years old engaged in heavy drinking in at least one month in the past year (5 drinks for men, 4 for women). That is quite low, thankfully, and those who think regular drunken nights in a bar is a worthwhile pursuit is a small minority of the population. The overwhelming number of Canadians are only occasional or moderate drinkers as many understand the dangers and risks. The number of heavy drinkers, those who abuse or misuse alcohol, has declined steadily since first measured in 2015. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would still knowingly put themselves in this category. It’s evidence to the overwhelming power of this drug on some people still, and is viewed as a type of self-harm, akin to cutting or eating disorders.
In 2024, more people are choosing not to drink alcohol, and sobriety is becoming a big thing. Gen-Z is becoming known as the “sober curious” generation. The trend has shifted dramatically and it is now only a minority of people who are reliant on the drug aspect of alcohol in order for them to cope with life or enjoy things that non-drinkers are able to without the social crutch. Gen-Z is moving towards more sober gatherings and leaving alcohol because of the mental and physical toll it takes and they are becoming more aware of its negative impact on their well-being. We should be encouraged by this, but there is a long way to go.
To truly understand who you are as a person you need to remove alcohol from your life, for it masks and hides who you are. Some people don’t like themselves and use alcohol to numb their feelings of despair and self-loathing. To know yourself, and to truly love yourself, removing the blinders and fog of alcohol is a must.
Watch who you befriend. Too many people surround themselves with losers whose only comfort in their free time is drinking. If 4 of your friends are drinkers, you will be the 5th. Show me your friends, and I can show you your future habits. Choose your circle of influence wisely if you want to live a good life free from the consequences of poor choices.
People need to leave their booze behind permanently. Embrace the goodness and beauty in life, and leave the drunkenness, the hangovers, the poor life choices, and the mental and physical damage behind. We are given one chance in this life to be present, to feel, to live; for good or for ill. No longer should we laugh at and praise those who need to cauterize their souls or medicate their brains to all that is good about life. Drinkers should be mocked and shamed for these are powerful tools for behavioural change in society. We were able to successfully shame a generation of smokers and a movement needs to begin to shame those who drink. While there may be some encouraging signs on the horizon, I am not very hopeful that meaningful change can happen as alcohol consumption has become a lifestyle for many; a drug they love and can’t live without. Drinking is not freedom; it is bondage. Sometimes the slave, loves their master. If we truly loved the people around us caught up in this abusive self-harm, we would do all that we could to warn them. That is the tough love we owe them.
We have one life and it should be our desire that we, and those around us, flourish to the greatest extent possible. Living an aimless and meaningless life drunk in a bar every weekend will only help to exacerbate ones sense of loss of purpose as they wander aimlessly through life. You do not have to “give up” alcohol, for it is not a loss. Rather, you are gaining health, mental well-being, sharpness of mind, greater energy levels, being present and sharp in social situations, time, money, and a host of other benefits! You are not sacrificing anything in the end, but gaining so so much that will lead to a better life.
If you’ve made it this far and think nothing of your current drinking habits then only two conclusions can be reached: 1) you don’t care about your life or health, or 2) you have a drinking problem you refuse to address.
Listen to Harvard doctor and researcher Dr. Sarah Wakeman: “Every single drink you have increases your cancer risks.” There is no safe limit.
There’s an old Irish saying that goes “A man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.” Too many have let the drink take them. They never saw it coming. Don’t let it take you too.
For those that know me, they will generally know of my total opposition to alcohol consumption and its regular use as a recreational drug. For almost 40 years now I have made statements that have raised eyebrows and made people think I was crazy. It’s cost me friendships and not something I’ve ever taken lightly. I’ve probably read more about the effects of alcohol on the body and brain than 99.9% of the population. My opinions are strong and sometimes unintentionally offensive, (especially to drinkers who quickly get defensive), yet all of them are based on the science, studies, and professionals who research the most common psychoactive drug used worldwide. It’s my opinion that most people have been easily brainwashed into our drinking culture will little to no thoughts of its harmful effects, and been encouraged to partake in the adolescent “rite of passage” of alcohol experimentation at a time in their brain development when the substance is its most addictive. It’s hard to convince people of anything these days that they won’t let themselves believe; even in the face of the strongest evidence. I can only hope for those that stumble upon this post that the data presented is at least a little compelling in moving the reader to consider pouring their favourite drug down the drain for good.
I recently watched Dr. Andrew Huberman’s podcast on alcohol. Huberman is a neurobiologist and runs The Huberman Lab in the School of Medicine at Stanford University. This podcast was quite revealing and certain things he said about alcohol shocked me. He relies only on the latest data and science. For anyone interested in this issue, this is one of the best, most thorough talks I’ve ever heard on the issue and it gets quite in depth on the destructive nature of alcohol on the brain and body. It is well worth your time, and was the motivation to finally finish this post that I’ve started, what seems like, countless times.
Alcohol is a liquid. It is medically classified as a toxin. It is its’ properties as a poison that causes drunkenness; ie. the state of drunkenness is a literal poisoning of the brain when the alcohol (acetaldehyde) crosses the blood/brain barrier. The horrible aches and feelings of a hangover the next day is the process of purging the last remnants of alcohol from the body, very similar to drug withdrawal. Alcohol is a depressant, which, after its brief euphoria phase produces long lasting feelings of depression, anxiety, and mood swings; as long as 7-10 days after an evening of just 4 or more drinks. Eight ounces of pure alcohol will kill you almost immediately. Humans have learned to masquerade its taste with fruity flavours, glamourize its appearance with vibrant colours, and market it with names that make us long for one after another, all in the name of “a good time.” Every single alcohol commercial markets their product as the only essential ingredient for a fun night out on the town, when nothing could be further from the truth. The lies of both omission and commission by the alcohol industry, along with a high level of propaganda, have fooled almost everyone into believing this drug is nearly harmless.
The majority of humans are self-destructive creatures. From drugs, alcohol, sugar, processed foods, social media, porn, etc., very few can properly regulate their desires and often choose short-term destructive pleasures over their long-term well-being. There is no question there is an addiction crisis in affluent nations around the world with easy access to all these things that do us harm. Most drinkers are surprised to learn that alcohol is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. In lists of addictive drugs, alcohol ranks anywhere from second to fifth depending upon the methodology used; usually ranking only behind heroin and cocaine. People cannot believe it is considered more addictive than meth or barbiturates. For example, on the Henningfield and Benowitz scales, alcohol ranks 2nd behind heroin yet higher than cocaine for its ability to addict its users. The US based Addiction Center also ranks it 2nd. Another medical rehab center ranks it 3rd. The Pathfinder Recovery Center ranks it 4th. There is just no question that there is a strong addictive pull to alcohol, and even among casual drinkers who are not alcoholics, there is a milder draw towards it outside of their control, especially in social settings.
From the data we know that 1 in 8 adults, almost 13%, are alcoholics and it appears that between 15%-20% of the population have some sort of alcohol use disorder (AUD). (When you consider that only about 60% of adults are “drinkers”, that equates to 30-35% of all drinkers having a problematic relationship with their booze). It is estimated that 33% of all adults will suffer from an AUD at some point in their life. These are staggering numbers. Look around at your next party. If it’s a party of 20 people we know statistically that 3-5 of them have a problem with alcohol; even more if they are all drinking. Yet we have made the ingestion of this drug a “harmless” social norm. Would you do meth or cocaine with your friends and help feed that addiction? Of course not. So why do we casually participate in parties with friends where excessive drinking is not only normal but encouraged, and help to lead some of them down the path of addiction? People don’t like to hear it, but they are complicit in both their own, and their friends, drinking problems. The American Addiction Center describes the addictive effects of alcohol this way:
Alcohol acts on dopamine levels to enhance mood, like other drugs, but it also serves as a central nervous system depressant, slowing down nerve firings and the functions of the central nervous system. This results in lowered blood pressure and heart rate. It also promotes sedation and impairs motor skills and cognition. When people are under the influence of alcohol, they are likely to engage in risky behaviours as inhibitions are lowered. They may also be more talkative and sociable, and may experience mood swings and impaired decision-making and impulse-control abilities.
Alcohol abuse, especially when alcohol is consumed in heavy or binge drinking patterns, can lead to a dependency on the substance. When alcohol begins to leave the body, withdrawal symptoms can range from mild to life-threatening. When the effects of alcohol wear off, the brain may try to restore a chemical balance, causing a kind of rebound of some of the nerve firings that were suppressed by the alcohol. Anxiety, depression, insomnia, tremors, sweating, irregular heart rate, hypertension, nausea and vomiting, headaches, abdominal pain, and even psychosis and seizures are potential alcohol withdrawal symptoms. A desire to keep these symptoms to a minimum may lead to using alcohol as a form of self-medication for alcohol withdrawal and can therefore perpetuate alcohol addiction.
Heavy drinkers, even while building their tolerance to alcohol in the short-term, can have noticeable impairments to brain function years later. This explodes the notion that many falsely believe: that once a tolerance to alcohol is built up, its negative effects are no longer worrisome. Even moderate alcohol intake can reduce the brain’s ability to produce new cells by 40% and this causes long term memory problems as the production of new cells in the hippocampus is greatly reduced. Regular alcohol consumption will most certainly deteriorate brain function over time.
Binge drinking, the most common form of alcohol consumption, is associated with increased mortality and morbidity, and findings indicate that even a single alcohol binge results in increased serum endotoxin levels which in turn leads to greater levels of depression. Women had higher elevated endotoxin levels in their blood after a binge than men did, and perhaps this is one reason we see higher levels of depression in women as well. Women tend to use alcohol to self-medicate for immediate relief of anxiety and depression when in fact it exacerbates these problems they are seeking relief from, leading to a greater number of functional alcoholics who rely on its effects to cope with life. While we are on the topic of female consumption, it is worth noting that alcohol use by women is accelerating rapidly and of deep concern to health authorities here in Canada. Binge drinking by childless women has doubled. (I’ll let the reader draw their own conclusions from that). Women face greater risks in consuming alcohol than men do and female drinking is reaching troubling levels. No matter how you look at it, the news is not good.
Most people downplay their consumption and think they can easily handle their alcohol. More people would be surprised to find they are classified as heavy drinkers rather than just a casual imbiber. What constitutes a heavy drinker? Well for females, 8 or more drinks per week and 15 or more for males would make one a heavy drinker; and at an alarming risk for an AUD. The CDC has reported that 10% of all deaths between the ages of 20 and 64 are due to excessive alcohol consumption. Alcohol and excessive consumption is a far bigger societal problem than most people would guess. This article does a good job of breaking down consumption habits by decile. It’s refreshing to see that the bottom 40% of the population consume almost no alcohol at all which should be encouraging for those who drink because of peer pressure, to fit in, to be one of the “cool kids”, for social status, or any number of other reasons.
Look, I understand the arguments for drinking that people use, but none of them are compelling when put up against the clear risk data. Every single one amounts to opting for short-term pleasure and temporary “good feelings” at the expense of one’s mental and physical health. This is the trade-off that every single hard drug user makes as well. This is the hard reality; this is the science.
If you need a drink at the the end of a hard day; you have a drinking problem. If you need a drink to have a good time with friends; you have a drinking problem. If you can’t go out without drinking; you have a drinking problem. If you need a drink to feel normal; you have a drinking problem. If you need a drink to help you mask or alleviate emotional pain; you have a drinking problem. If you need a drink to escape the difficulties of life; you have a drinking problem. Some of these are understandable, but most are not. People use substances every day for “fun,” or to self-medicate, or to lessen anxiety, or to forget. I’m not unsympathetic to those who are hurting or trying to forget a trauma, but a substance is never the answer. Alcohol has never once solved a problem, but it has, on countless occasions, created them. It has created pain, grief, sorrow, anger, and embarrassment. The reliance on alcohol has caused so many people to unwittingly become slaves to a substance; a substance that ruins lives.
Ultimately, alcohol is used by the weak; those who need a crutch, those who can’t cope or produce on their own. They drink because their life is missing something they think they will find in the bottom of a bottle. They can’t produce happiness on their own. They can’t produce confidence on their own. They can’t produce contentment on their own. They can’t have “fun” in a sober state. So they turn to a drug to produce the feelings that they cannot, rather than do the hard work of improving themselves and that which is necessary to construct a full, fun-filled life. There are no shortcuts. Alcohol is not a shortcut. It produces the illusion of happiness, of fun, of confidence, of sexiness; only to leave those who rely on it worse off when its temporary, fleeting effects wear off. The continued reliance on a substance in order to find peace or fulfillment or happiness or whatever an empty soul is yearning to find, will ultimately render its user subservient to its addictive power.
Society at large suffers from a spiritual problem. There is a lack of meaning and purpose in the modern, aimless life, which causes it to distract itself with pleasure and consumption. A night out drinking helps to cauterize their hollow feelings. Alcohol creates these fake and transient pleasures as a way of escape from this empty reality. People have little meaning or purpose so they chase after superficial, ungratifying pleasures which leaves them unfulfilled, depressed, and lonely. They lack the tools to cope so they seek solace in a substance who’s only promise is to give them more of the emptiness and pain that they are running from. They yearn for human connection through the social use of alcohol, but fail to understand that meaningful human connections can never be built through drunkenness, and your soulmate will never be found passed out at the end of a bar at 2am. We substitute real connections for fake, substance-induced interactions for fear of being vulnerable and real. Booze gives them the safe barrier to hide behind. Drinking is drug use, and as much as people decry this description, factually and scientifically it is.
Society has a drug problem and alcohol is the most common drug of choice. 70% of Americans are on meds. 25% of people over 18 take something for their mental health. There were 300 million prescriptions for antidepressants written in 2021 in the US; many of those for people who spend their weekends drinking a depressant and wondering why they are moody and down most of their waking sober time. We need to fix this. We need to encourage people to find the joy in a sober life without wasting it in dingy bars and slowly killing themselves in the process. We need to stop drugging ourselves to death and look to seek meaning and fulfillment outside the “easy fix” of a drug that can provide neither. I understand why people drink because most people bow to peer pressure and are followers. “Drinking is a social thing” is the great justification they use to follow the crowd. We need to encourage people to be strong, to be individuals, to strive for personal strength of conviction, and to search for greater meaning for their lives. We should seek out those things that are good, beautiful, and true; and do away with those things that are destructive and unhealthy. True freedom only comes when we pursue a totally authentic and sober life, experiencing people and the world in all its beautiful reality, while putting away the childishness and immaturity of trying to create this artificially through the use of alcohol and other substances. We will be stronger for it if we do.
No matter how dark it may get, and it will get darker than anyone ever plans it to get when they are mired in a reliance on the bottle, there is always hope. Light conquers darkness. Sobriety will always, always, always, be greater than the casual or serious enslavement of alcohol.
Karl Marx once called religion the “opiate of the masses,” meaning that religion served as the “drug” to stupefy and dull the people. In our modern day, alcohol serves the same purpose, leaving people and society all the poorer and dysfunctional for it.
Post script:
1) There are few things more hilarious than watching “experts” sit around regaling one another with their thoughts on the merits of one wine over another or how their favourite “paint thinner,” otherwise known as whiskey, is better than another. Studies have shown that it is not objective, and primarily a psychological phenomenon of wanting to seem “cultured” or “sophisticated” or an expert. (Must read this, and this).
2) An excellent report on Canadian drinking habits. This covers almost every issue, some I didn’t have the time or space to mention.
3)
Notice Dr. Huberman’s purposeful use of the word “seem”. Alcohol creates the illusion of normal, the illusion of fun, the illusion of happiness. What it creates is fake and fleeting. We know this because when its effects wear off, the person is left in a worse state than they were before.
4)
Alcohol cannot bring happiness or contentment, only addiction. It takes work to create happiness and pleasure in your life and the alcohol shortcut is always a poor trade of easy instant gratification for the long term consequences of disease and/or addiction.
1) It would appear that another study shows the link between having tattoos and mental illness in those who ink themselves. As I said here, for many (not all), it is an outside sign of inner turmoil.
2) Women are now heavier drinkers than men. Feminism has served to masculinize women. Women are now suffering greater rates of depression than ever before (around 20%) and they are entertaining themselves with a depressant (alcohol) at an ever greater rate. Their “fun” is hurting them. Modern society is breaking women.
3) The barbarians who work in abortion clinics carry out almost a satanic level of evil, including this doctor who use to cut the vocal chords of the “fetus” so she wouldn’t have to hear the baby scream. We are nearing civilizational collapse when the pro-abortion crowd is callous and unmoved by the gruesome horror they support and champion.
4) The progressive cult has enacted a new law in order to protect pedophiles. Evil never happens all at once. It creeps in slowly and decays a society over time. They’re now brazenly open about it. Never, and I mean never, believe a liberal or progressive when they talk about protecting children. The exact opposite is always true. Why do they want to normalize pedophilia? Watch. Progressives never want to protect children.
7) The Climate Change hoax is exactly that. It is a way for governments to control people and extract their resources after engineering a doomsday scenario into the minds of the population. Leftist Michael Moore took a lot of heat for exposing the hypocrisy within this movement. This documentary is well worth watching to learn about what is actually happening and being perpetuated by the climate cult.
(Leftists got the whole documentary removed because of an 8 second copyright infringement but here is a lengthy overview).
8) The US election is just 5 days away. America is broken and cannot be fixed. In the end, it matters not who wins. It has been financially ruined and will not recover. It is no longer a discussion between left and right, but viewing the other side as evil, and that they must be crushed by gaining power over them at all costs. In 5 days, America will descend into chaos taking the world with it. A house divided cannot stand; America is finished.
1) A new study highlights an illness linked to marijuana use. Stories like this will become all the more commonplace as people become more reliant on a substance that is damaging to their physical health and mental well-being. The only real freedoms our government will allow are those that will help destroy the population.
2) We are a society growing ever more dependent upon substances to cope with the difficulties of life. This study highlights how almost 60% of smokers and drinkers would not give up their vices even if it meant adding an extra 10 years to their lives. Imagine that. Giving up the most precious thing we possess: time, for cigarettes and/or alcohol. I can’t think of anything that highlights the power of addiction better than that.
3) As if we needed a study to tell us this as the carnage of the sexual revolution is visible everywhere, but the more sex partners a person has, the unhappier they are. Promiscuity, counterintuitively, leads to a lower level of happiness. People will put their short term gratification over their long term well-being almost every single time.
4) For those that followed the Brett Kavanaugh hearings earlier this year, and the unsupported accusations of a 36 year old sexual assault allegation against him, it appears that now even Christine Blasey Ford’s own father supported Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court and didn’t believe his own daughter. Ford was never credible. I have heard more believable lies from kids with cookie crumbs smeared across their face.
5) Just when you think the social engineers and trans-activists can’t appear any more ridiculous than they already are, animal handlers at a London zoo have vowed to raise the “adopted chick” of two “lesbian penguins” as “gender neutral.” Read that again. These people are ideologues and mentally ill. Our biology is hard-coded into our DNA, and despite the best efforts of the social justice movement to manufacture their monstrous and disastrous outcomes, our chromosomes dictate what we are.
6) To continue on a theme, the very nature of the social justice movement is evil at its core. They care not for people, but for power and control, and this story exemplifies how diabolical and wretched the trans movement is. There is a new show out called Drag Syndrome. Choreographer Daniel Vais has assembled six individuals with Down Syndrome, dressed them in drag, and parades them around as a freak show to enrich himself and normalize deviancy. In a normal society this would be viewed as abusive and exploitive, but in our clown world it’s “empowering” and “liberating.”
7) Why are marriage rates down? It’s a multi-faceted answer but one of the main reasons is the lack of “economically attractive” men. This is what happens in a society that pushes women out into the workforce. Feminism has not only made women unhappier, it’s also helped to create a shortage of marriageable men because studies show that women do not want to marry men that are economically beneath them.
8) And if anyone needed any more evidence as to things making women even more unhappy, this article cites a study from 2011 that said the profile of the person that was most unhappy in society was, “a 42 year old woman who was unmarried, had no children, and was a professional.” Is it any wonder that the rejection of traditional roles and mores has led women down such a bitter path of discontent?
9) The Sexual Revolution was started by men, for men, to the detriment of women. Men could now have greater access to sex with no expectation of marriage. Abortion on demand could absolve them from future financial burdens. What did women get? A greater chance of contracting STD’s and a much lesser chance of finding a stable, committed relationship. Welcome to the world of 2019. But yeah, “traditional values” are for the “losers”. This video is one of the best explanations I’ve seen on what has happened to modern relationships.
1) Why is it that the most ardent animal rights activists are also the most pro choice when it comes to abortion? There is something fundamentally wrong in a society when people value the well-being of animals over human lives.
2) I think one of my favourite things is to hear someone say, “I’m such a health nut”, or “I live a really healthy lifestyle”, or “my body is really important to me” only then to find out that they consume alcohol on a regular basis. They’ll spend all week meal planning and going to the gym only to fill their body with a toxin, and yes, alcohol is a toxin. People will never give up their substances or addictions that cause them harm. They aren’t really health nuts after all.
3) I recently read that women view 85% of the men they see on dating sites as “beneath them” whereas men view 50% of the women the same way. Clearly, women have too high an opinion of themselves when viewing potential mates. This will only lead to a future with an epidemic of crazy, single cat ladies.
4) We call everything “art” these days. From manufactured pop music and hip hop, to tattoos and graffiti. If everything is art, then nothing is. That is why there needs to be an element of time added to the definition of art. True art will stand the test of time as it is a sifter of the wheat from the chaff. People still listen to Led Zeppelin almost 50 years later while no one will remember Katy Perry or Migos in another decade. People still line up to see the works of Monet, Rembrandt and Picasso, while no one will ever remember any tattooist who could ink a butterfly or cobra. Not everything is art and we need to stop calling disposable entertainment or doodles on the skin as such.
5) There is no more vocal group against guns and for gun control than the liberals in Hollywood. But what percentage of their movies have guns in them and portray violence and death? How many of their bodyguards carry guns with them to protect these precious Celebri’tards? Do not ever listen to actors or actresses on any issue. At all. Ever. They play make believe for a living and don’t live in the real world. And on this issue, as with many others, they are moronic hypocrites.
1) Alcohol Is Highly Addictive: 
For those that know me, they will generally know of my total opposition to alcohol consumption and its regular use as a recreational drug. For almost 40 years now I have made statements that have raised eyebrows and made people think I was crazy. It’s cost me friendships and not something I’ve ever taken lightly. I’ve probably read more about the effects of alcohol on the body and brain than 99.9% of the population. My opinions are strong and sometimes unintentionally offensive, (especially to drinkers who quickly get defensive), yet all of them are based on the science, studies, and professionals who research the most common psychoactive drug used worldwide. It’s my opinion that most people have been easily brainwashed into our drinking culture will little to no thoughts of its harmful effects, and been encouraged to partake in the adolescent “rite of passage” of alcohol experimentation at a time in their brain development when the substance is its most addictive. It’s hard to convince people of anything these days that they won’t let themselves believe; even in the face of the strongest evidence. I can only hope for those that stumble upon this post that the data presented is at least a little compelling in moving the reader to consider pouring their favourite drug down the drain for good.
Alcohol is a leading 
Heavy drinkers, even while building their tolerance to alcohol in the short-term, 
Ultimately, alcohol is used by the weak; those who need a crutch, those who can’t cope or produce on their own. They drink because their life is missing something they think they will find in the bottom of a bottle. They can’t produce happiness on their own. They can’t produce confidence on their own. They can’t produce contentment on their own. They can’t have “fun” in a sober state. So they turn to a drug to produce the feelings that they cannot, rather than do the hard work of improving themselves and that which is necessary to construct a full, fun-filled life. There are no shortcuts. Alcohol is not a shortcut. It produces the illusion of happiness, of fun, of confidence, of sexiness; only to leave those who rely on it worse off when its temporary, fleeting effects wear off. The continued reliance on a substance in order to find peace or fulfillment or happiness or whatever an empty soul is yearning to find, will ultimately render its user subservient to its addictive power.
2) Women are now 
5) Just when you thought progressives couldn’t get any more depraved, 
2) We are a society growing ever more dependent upon substances to cope with the difficulties of life. This study highlights how almost 
7) Why are marriage rates down? It’s a multi-faceted answer but one of the main reasons is the