to think that if you enjoy a drink, you're enjoying a drug?(alcohol)

[curlygiraffe]

Please tell me if iabu and settle a debate with a friend.

I rarely drink, I have had health issues and regular drink is not recommended. I know lots of people who 'like a glass of wine' in the evening to relax. Whilst I'm not suggesting that they necessarily have a drinking problem, I have said that the reason that people enjoy alcoholic drinks is due to the physical reaction from the alcohol (brain and body relaxes etc) and they like the taste due to past experience telling them that the relaxed feeling is coming.

If the alcohol wasn't the main 'benefit' of the drink, then why wouldn't people save money and drink grape juice or water? My friends and I are divided on this.

Surely the reason people drink alcohol is due to the physical reaction from the erugi

Oops that should say 'drug'.

Ps I don't have anything against drinking, other than the twunts who rock up in a and e wasted each week, those poor doctors

Yes of course you are right. I like the feeling of the alcohol relaxing my body after a stressful day. Just the one glass or bottle of beer is enough though for me otherwise I'm fit for nothing :)

Personally I like the slightly tipsy feeling that one or two glasses of wine give you, so I suppose I get that because alcohol is a 'drug'.

On the other hand, it's all a bit of an illusion. If you think you need a glass of wine to relax, say, you could just as easily relax with a cup of tea or a soft drink, and if you are putting your feet up with a cup of tea in order to relax then that would produce the same effect as having a glass of wine in order to relax.

So I think I'm saying you are both right.

Does it matter? Maybe it's unintentional but you sound a bit judgey about people enjoying a drink...

Yes, so?
Although you are wrong about the taste thing.

I like the taste for itself, but I don't like the tipsy feeling too much, so I rarely drink at home. A lot of people do though. You do sound a but judgey, I'm not surprised your friend is being defensive.

I like the relaxed feeling and the taste. (Unless it's amaretto) grape juice is nothing like wine.

Gosh, does alcohol really do that?
Who would have thought?
:p

Your point is...

I like the taste of gin and tonic or a decent glass of wine, not just a because I'm conditioned to think it's going to relax me.

Interesting question.

I'm fairly sure I would drink alcohol if it didn't have any physical effect on me because I genuinely enjoy the taste. But is that because it is a drug and so the taste is associated with pleasure (just like sugar, with its sugar high on the body) or just simply is a taste that I like, like chicken or avocado or olives or any of my other favourite foods.

Can I be a don't know on this one?

Er yes it's a drug and I like the taste if some and hate others. I like tea/coffee too.

Not really getting your point.

Gosh you sound smug.
Yes, I enjoy feeling mildly pissed. Sometimes I enjoy feeling very pissed.
there's a good reason so many millions of people worldwide enjoy alcohol.
oh, and a cup of tea at 8 pm on a Friday night just isn't the same!

Coffee to get me going in the morning; wine to relax me in the evening. Works fine in moderation.

I never believe anyone who says they like the taste of alcohol. To quote Jeremy from Peep Show "it's not properly delicious. Like a hot chocolate. Or a coke."

Of course people drink for the the effect of the drug. If they didn't there would be gin flavoured chewing gum.

Well, in that case so is coffee.

"If the alcohol wasn't the main 'benefit' of the drink, then why wouldn't people save money and drink grape juice or water? My friends and I are divided on this."

Because grape juice or water don't taste anything like a nice glass of wine or a gin and tonic.

Alcohol is a legal drug. Everyone knows that. I like wine, I also like tea and tonic water without the gin. I don't like feeling drunk or out of control, so when I have a glass or two of wine that is all I have. I am also mindful of staying within the recommended guidelines of no more than 14 units of alcohol a week.

If you're suggesting (by your tone) that one glass of wine is a drug like crack is a drug, I'm not surprised your friend argues the point. Of course I can't tell by your post what sort of tone you use.

Grape juice tastes absolutely nothing like wine.

To be fair though the same applies to coffee/tea/hot chocolate - they are all contain caffeine which is a drug.

You're right IMO.

I don't like the taste much - and will only drink specifically to get drunk. My drink is allot JD with a splash of ginger - and i'm a 'lightweight' - so it does the job in no time :) Cannot see the point in 'just one', as i I don't drink to relax. I can relax just fine with a cupper.

I cannot stand wine, so i don't drink when out for a meal.

I can happily go months without a drink (as i have lately - new baby) so yes, when i do drink i use it just like a drug.

I think it's a drug that we've come to associate with relaxing, the same way cigarettes were once too.

After a stressful day, I like to get a long bath, drinking hot choc or Pepsi and sit in my pjs watching a kids film. It's the routine that starts the relaxing, the drink is another addition to it.

I don't like the taste of alcohol, no matter how many different tastes I tried it was all awful. I don't judge folk who do like it, as long as they don't try the 'Go on, this is lovely, you just didn't find the 'right' drink'! Er, yeah I did, it's just Pepsi.

You know you have a physical, hormonal reaction to potato? That's why it's regularly featured as a comfort food.

Lots of foods and drinks have a stimulating or sedative effect. Most of them have a specific thing that you can point to (caffeine, sugar, alcohol - I can't remember the thing that's in potato), but not all do. Not everything we consume has the exclusive purpose of being fuel.

I think the question is; how do we define the term 'drug'. Is a drug any chemical that causes a change to the body? In which case, I'd include sugar. And all medications. Or we can say that in fact these things are chemicals and reserve the 'drugs' name for those things that everyone knows as drugs; heroine, LSD, Cocaine and so forth. Caffeine and alcohol, rightly or wrongly, are outside of that group.

I do think you're wrong about the taste thing. I hate the way alcohol makes me feel - I tend to panic when I get lightheaded. On the other hand, there are a couple of alcoholic drinks I really miss taste wise. A nice crisp, cold white wine or a G&T or a Pimms on a sunny evening. I'd love to get the taste of those without the alcohol. I substitute with lemonade or fruit juices, but they're far too sugary.

LookingThroughTheFog - soda and lime? With lots of ice and fresh mint, that was my summer drink when I was pregnant.