Why don't people just stop drinking?

[PassingStranger]

Just read two crimes that were caused by alcohol.
One a speeding drunk driver, took a car and smashed Into another car on the road killing people.

Did they really think they were going to be able to negotiate the roads properly while drunk and speeding?

Another one a vile bully of a man attacked and killed his wife while he'd been drinking and she died.😱
Now two children have been left without their mum and dads in prison.
I'm sure we can all think of other crimes where drink was involved.

When are people going to stop?
Why do they need to drink all the time (sake).🙄

What a fantastic suggestion, OP. I’m surprised nobody has thought of that before.
While we’re at it, can we also reflect on why can’t World leaders stop all of the conflicts and wars currently raging, why can’t people stop being violent towards their families, why can’t kids stop carrying knives, why can’t CO2 emissions be completely removed from the atmosphere Etc.
I think you might be on to something…

Why do they need to drink all the time (sake).🙄

How do you know they were drinking sake...?

Did you know that an alcoholic quitting cold turkey is more likely to die than a heroin addict quitting cold turkey.

Not to mention that when you quit and are craving it's everywhere, TV, shops, adverts, billboards, pubs...

You don't have rows and rows of Smack in Sainsbury's.

She saw them eating noodles too.

I enjoy some alcohol but I’m not a criminal.🤨

People should just stop drinking, absolutely. People should just stop gambling as well. And smoking. And eating UPFs, putting all that strain on the NHS. And eating animals, which causes a lot of avoidable death and suffering. It would also be great if people just stopped waging war on one another, come to think of it. Why does none of this occur to anyone?

My ex was a functioning alcoholic. He generally couldn’t manage without a drink every evening but he boasted he could stop if he wanted. About every two years he would stop for a few weeks. When he wasn’t drinking he had the most horrendous withdrawal symptoms and became so nasty and verbally abusive. He also refused to do anything social as quote” I’m not standing clutching a coke all night !”. It was the lesser of the two evils for me to just drive all the time .

It's easy for me to say stop drinking alcohol because I don't drink alcohol at all. I've seen it tear families apart (including my own). My DB claims he doesn't have a problem yet he needs to have a can every day. My dad's previous wife also claims she doesn't have a drink problem yet has liver failure and cancer through alcohol and had money for addiction because it became that severe. If they could just stop they would. I know they can't. The first thing to help would be admitting they have an issue. We have tried to intervention strategies, all have failed so far.

It's the same with my neighbours, they always end up with the partner kicking off and the police called because he's ended up raising his fists. She takes him back because he's sorry. "He had too much to drink" - surely they would stay off the alcohol then? They have a small child to witnesses DV often. The police get called out but she drops the charges every time. She will die at his hands one day.

There is no more reason for people to drink alcohol than there is for people to smoke.

Both are addictive, bad for your health, zero 'benefits' and very expensive.

Both are said to 'relax' or 'calm' you when you're 'stressed' or have had a 'bad day', yet they do neither.

Smoking has had it's day, and is no longer 'socially acceptable'.

Soon, it will be alcohol that is being 'phased out' by the government and social media, it's simply a matter of time... (and it can't come soon enough for me !)

The honest answer to this is because the vast majority of people are utterly boring company without a few drinks to perk them up.

One of the worst cases I read about. An ex policeman.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/16/policeman-france-crash-passengers

I agree with you OP. Yes, some people are genuinely addicted to alcohol. However, the majority of people caught drink driving are not alcohol addicts and are simply very selfish and think that their desire to have a drink whilst still having the convenience of driving themselves home is more important than the safety of other road users. They want to drink on a night out but don’t want to either pay for a taxi, get public transport or stay sober so they can drive themselves home. There really is no excusing it.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to just quit when you are addicted to something. I have never really drunk alcohol (felt no need) but I can understand how people can get addicted

Op doesn't deserve the snarky replies. It is a legitimate question. Biologically, socially and psychologically we have many external and internal factors influencing us to drink.
I wish alcohol and recreational drugs never existed.
As others have said, you do not have to be addicted to alcohol to decide that you're going to drink drive nor do you have to be a habitual problematic drinker for your behaviour to escalate in violence.
There are addicts who never get into crime, perhaps miraculously.

Just so much ignorance and nonsense on addictions on here everyone is suddenly an expert just because they saw their uncle drink to death now they are an authority on the subject. Entire thread had me eyerolling so much.

Both examples you gave are of selfish, entitled people inflicting their behaviour and their mindset on others. It’s not because of alcohol, it’s because of their mindset

Tbh people should be supported when detoxing off smack too. If it’s fentanyl it’s even worse. People can have seizures. At least fentanyl isn’t as available here, the US is in utter shit with it.

I digress

It's really complex, but I think the drinking culture in the UK is a big part of the problem here. I have, unfortunately, known quite a few people with drinking problems and my experience is that they fall in to one of 2 categories:

1. People who want to behave in an anti-social way anyway and learn that if they are drinking when they do this lots of people will excuse it as either an amusing anecdote, or a mistake that happened when drunk. Some of these people end up drinking more and more until they become addicted.
2. People who start off by using alcohol as a coping mechanism (eg for anxiety, depression, social anxiety, stress, to block out trauma etc) and them become addicted. The people that I have known in this category often do really stupid things when drunk but usually harm themselves more than anyone else.

Alcoholism is a really difficult addiction to overcome. As pps have said, going cold turkey can be fatal and it's incredibly difficult to avoid being around readily available alcohol. It's served at every social occasion, lots of work social/networking events revolve around drinking and people often quiz you if you say that you don't want a drink. It's quite common for people to encourage you to 'just have the one'. I've even seen alcohol served at primary school xmas fairs/plays etc. This culture also makes it very easy to minimise/excuse problematic drinking until it has gone too far. Once it does become an addiction there is a huge amount of stigma.

I think if we (as a society) want to reduce the negative impact of drinking we need to change our culture around drinking and just as importantly change our approach to mental health (including normalising seeking support for less severe issues and increasing availability and affordability of good quality support for everyone).

For context, I like a drink but do not drink and drive or abuse people (drunk or sober) and have lost friends and family to alcoholism.

We don't know the facts about the cases mentioned, but OP doesn't state that these were addicts. Why are other people so quick to assume that's the case?

Plenty of people are just stupid and irresponsible. Let's not medicalise their ghastly acts in ways that allow perpetrators to claim victim status. Most people aren't addicts - of anything. And even if you are an addict, you're still culpable for your actions.

Chances are the people committing these crimes aren't upstanding citizens when sober. If they stopped drinking their behaviour may be slightly less bad, but I find it hard to believe they would suddenly not be arrogant dickheads and not want to hurt others. I know plenty of people who enjoy a drink but would never in a million years get behind a wheel of a car even after just one drink.

It's not OP's post that is stupid and you're being insulting to the people who have lost family members and friends to the behaviour of addicts.

Every time I read a post attacking someone who makes a point about the damage of alcohol or drugs it screams deflection. Drink driving is inexcusable. Beating up your partner is inexcusable. Where does 'nuance' come into that?

anyone who causes deaths on the roads whilst drunk should receive a life sentence for murder. the sentences are far too low.

It’s really unclear what you are asking? Is it why does anyone drink? Or, why didn’t these particular people stop drinking?

I drink and don’t plan to stop as I don’t get in a car and drive when I drink, I don’t assault and/or harm people in any way. The only thing I harm is my own liver and even then I have regular liver function tests due to taking a certain medication and they have never indicated my liver is affected to date. If I’ve ever had too much to drink (and I pretty much have made sure this is only at home) I’ve just stumbled off to bed and gone to sleep. Obviously also ensuring kids were fed properly (when they were young, not as adults), and that DH was there and not affected by alcohol. But, on occasion, if logistics allowed, I was and still am happy to have a few drinks too many. No bad behaviour, not hurting anyone else, no impact on my or anyone’s life, so why not? If I choose to do that at times rather than yoga/meditation/scented candle etc then why would it be anyone else’s business?

<smacks head> doh, of course! Why has no one thought of this before!

Alcohol is a drug that costs many lives a year. You can dress it up with all the ribbons and bows of history, taxes, culture and civilisation without ever changing that sentence.