Tuesday, June 6, 2017

The True Test

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/05/new-york-judge-handcuffs/370456001/ Just because somebody is a judge doesn't mean that they cant have the same problems that the rest of us have or had. As much as I criticize the system it is basically fair and does the best they can to help people get sober. The best way to tell if somebody is an alcoholic is to do what the system does and force them to abstain. If you are a social drinker and had a bad day and ended up getting a DWI then abstaining from alcohol should not be a problem. Social drinkers can take it or leave it without losing any sleep. Alcoholics on the other hand find this to be nearly impossible without a spiritual intervention. I got sober when  I was a kid as a direct result of the system. I couldn't stop smoking weed and  drinking while I was on probation and I didn't do the community service hours very well. The system had me go to 3 meetings a week when I got out of rehab and this is what saved my life at a very early age. I ended up going to around 10 meetings a week and getting a sponsor. The first step in the twelve and twelve states that many young people come into the program after recognizing that they may be a potential alcoholic and end up getting sober and that this saves them at least 10-15 more years of carnage. This was my exact scenario however for me I stopped practicing my daily spiritual reprieve after about 15 years and it took me about 5 more to actually pick back up that first drink or drug. I couldn't cope with life on life's terms. I have an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind when left untreated. I use the same analogy to people in a sober house. If one cant stop using drugs and alcohol in an environment where one is  more then likely there because of their past addiction then this should certify ones belief that they definitely have the disease of alcoholism/drug addiction. Substance Use Disorder, Poly Substance dependence, they are all one in the same. If somebody cant stay off of any mood or mind altering substances after being coerced by the system or by loved ones and in many cases even by their own volition then this doesn't mean that they don't have any character. This illness comes at people from all different directions. The only thing I had to do was stay abstinent for probation the second time around but since I wasn't sober for me this was nearly impossible. Some alcoholics can control it when faced with adversity but I wasn't one of them. Some alcoholics can abstain for long periods of time even when faced with pressure from the courts but then binge out like wildfire and this may be the only time where they end up killing somebody in a DWI-  Some addicts know how to game the system and know when they are getting tested and know what they test for and this is how and when they get high. If you cant stay abstinent after some formal consequence and or after trying to abstain by ones own self will then this is definitely the surest indicator of certifying ones illness. A Pleasure Unwoven is the best documentary that I have seen that explains how our disease works. It shows how even a loaded weapon against ones head cant stop a true alcoholic from craving booze and wanting to drink. If that isn't power then nothing is. I have a power greater then myself, it is drugs and alcohol but I also have a power which is even much greater then that today and it is god.

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