Harm Reduction How Bad Is Alcohol...... Really?

[Slow_Mobius]

It just depends how you define moderation, and alcohol can cause serious issues in certain individuals as well. I'll avoid the semantics game though

 

[ShroomySatori]

Alcohol is the drug that has done my body by far the most harm, no contest. It was typical college binging too, nothing out of the ordinary really. I am a heroin addict (sniffer) for 5 years and opiate use has barely touched my body in comparison to booze and I didnt even drink every day, I use an opiate/opioid at most times of the day. I've found ways around opiate constipation and low testerone and feel great - there was no way around the liver toxicity / general physical toxicity from binge drinking. It's not just the liver either. I feel like it gave me very noticeable brain damage while I was binge drinking.

It's also totally the "date-rape drug" - it has the most miserable impact on society out of any drug in my view, as it seems to make many people semi-unconscious, arrogant, obnoxious, and irresponsible. Drunk drivers cause innocent deaths all the time. There are so many problems that go far beyond its physicslly toxic nature as a solvent (you piss your nutrients away if I'm not mistaken). I find it immature that this wreckless behaviour of overconsumption is encouraged by a lot of people, so I keep away from most parties and enjoy my opiates privately. I feel awkward in a room full of people who are heavily drinking. I hate how it's pushed on me and I have to present some fucking excuse or the drinker is offended.

I'm also addicted to benzos but the day I had my first xanax was the day I had my last sip of alcohol. My health has drastically improved. I fuck around with a little coke too but I will NOT touch alcohol. I will not so much as have an alcohol-infused chocolate. Nothing has ever made me lose control of myself like that and even black out! It is straight poison in my view and much worse than most people realize (especially people who "don't do drugs" but get wasted all the time). It's also disgusting that it's promoted on tv while some users of other drugs rot in prison cells. I won't drink it because it stands against everything I believe in, if that shit is legal well then every drug may as well

 

[roxi2873]

Being an opiate addict for years and going on crack binges for days at times, it's amazing that alcohol is the only drug that gave me a irreversible problem. I used to binge on weekends with friends long before I got into other drugs. One day I got blackout drunk and fell into a dresser leading with my chin and got knocked out instantly. I was probably suffering from alcohol poisoning as well because I had drank so much hard liquor. Long story short, the next day I was hungover so bad I didn't actually recover for 4 days. Also, I started noticing a jerking/twitching thing whenever I was awake but at its worst trying to go to sleep at night. I researched it and I believe they're called myclonic jerks. Usually happens when someone is trying to fall asleep but mine is all the time. Ever since that day I've been shaky, twitchy as hell, and sometimes have a feeling of being tased for a millisecond causing my body to jolt. Also, I screwed up my neck really bad when I fell chin first into my dresser. My neck still bothers me at times and all this happened 10 years ago on my 21st birthday.

 

[JackARoe]

If anyone noticed alcohol is used to kill things in different forms. Ethanol will also kill whatever it touches. Nervous systems, liver, germs, families, jobs, etc.... I have never seen a drug stronger than alcohol. A $14 bottle of tequila will take down a lumberjack. I am not sure that $14 of any other drug could do that. Set a bottle of alcohol in a basement and 500 years from now it will be sitting there just the same ready to do the same thing all that time later. Almost like evil lurking. I think alcohol does way more harm than good.

The only pro I can think of twas a type of limited use I had years ago. Coming home from a hot day at work and slamming an ice cold quality beer is as good as it gets even though I don't drink anymore. Or hiking all day on acid and slamming a nice beer 10 hours later. Sounds pretty glamorous.

Alcohol summed up is bad news. Look at all it kills.

 

[Gorillaboy21]

I have been an alcoholic for 7 years (currently 5 months sober) as someone has also experiences addictions to heroin, amphetamines, cocaine and benzo's I can say FOR SURE that Alcohol is by far the worst. In all areas: your appearance, personal hygiene, functionality, physical health, mental health etc.

Having experienced WD from pretty much anything you can be addicted to over the years - Alcohol is deff the worst thing to WDfrom (including opiates). I have had over a dozen grand mal seizures due to alcohol withdrawal.. I also have had a TIA. Alcohol withdrawal can kill. My best friend and I went cold turkey on it once. We stayed together, suffering through withdrawals together in a large hotel bed. The second day I woke up to find him dead on the bathroom floor. Apparently he got up in the night to use the bathroom and he just seizured and died.

I have cut myself BADLY while intoxicated. Attempted suicide, ruined relationships and friendships, mentally devasteded my family - all things due to acute intoxication.

3 years ago I had extreme vomiting (couldn't even drink) and severe abdominal pain. I was hospitalized in intensive care and diagosed with "Acute Pancreatitis, complicted by alcohol withdrawal". I was in hospital for 3 months, lost over 30lbs (I was a skinny 120lb at 5'7 before the 30lb loss so I was skeletal. No grow man should ever weigh 90lbs).
My pancreas was almost destroyed causing me to become an insulin-dependant diabetic. My parents were told when I was in the ICU that my chances of survival were 20%.

Due to withdrawal seizures I have broken 7 bones, cracked all of my ribs several times. As a result I have a fractured spine, severe sciatica and two prolapsed discs.

I also have permenant damage to my shortterm memory and word recall (a type of dementia).

Two years ago I became homeless. I sold my body in exchange for alcohol, was raped twice, and gang-raped, and assaulted.
My life was like something out of Requiem for a Dream.

So, taking all of the above into account, YES alcohol deffinitely that bad.

Unlike many I have a happy ending (I hope) as i got sober 5 months ago and my parents let me move in with them. I'm addicted to prescription drugs worse than before but otherwise I am getting my life back on track.

Damn this touched me bro

 

[burn out]

A $14 bottle of tequila will take down a lumberjack. I am not sure that $14 of any other drug could do that.

Yeah, alcohol is really one of the strongest drugs. I have to struggle to think of stronger drugs, but for the sake of it $14 worth of GHB could certainly take down a lumberjack. Drugs like DXM and ketamine can also do it. And Psychedelics are as strong as alcohol in terms of how much they alter mind and behavior, though the type of alteration is very different.