A hat tip and thank you to TDA researcher Norm for spotting this story!

Stephen M. Magyarosi pulled over on a side road because he was feeling sleepy but accidently got his truck stuck on a set of railroad tracks. Not wanting to bother law enforcement or the people in nearby houses, he decided to take a nap in the nearby woods instead of asking for help. While asleep, a freight train struck his vehicle.

“I thought about it,” he said, “but I didn’t think about it enough.”

The news story doesn’t mention it, but to most of us in recovery it is obvious that the man was drunk. It’s common for our society to conveniently omits or purposely avoid mentioning the huge role alcohol plays in the majority of failures, accidents, and crimes.

Whether it is a business failed, school dropout, divorce proceedings, lost job, broken foot, mysterious disappearance or just simply having no money- in many cases the facts don’t add up because there is a missing piece to the puzzle. Alcohol.

I ran across an article online today, The Skinny on Alcoholic Beverages and Weight Loss, at U.S. News and World Report that basically suggests that moderate drinking is not associated with weight gain. It’s all about the calories anyway, one does not gain weight without consuming food and will most assuredly lose weight by not eating or drinking- no secret here. The relationship to alcoholic beverages and weight gain though has less to do with calories than it has to do with the accompanying lifestyle and decision making. Having two to four beers in an evening probably will not put on the pounds, the thirty hot wings drenched in ranch dressing at the sports bar though are another story. It’s a lot worse for substance abusers that rarely maintain a healthy weight, being either malnourished or obese depending upon the circumstances.

So what’s the real skinny on alcohol and weight gain? The key is to look for the real culprit (lifestyle), it’s sort of like the old saying- it’s not the fall that’ll kill you… it’s the sudden stop at the end.

The New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas D. Kristof asks from his Facebook page if legalizing drugs makes any sense. Predictably he has received quite a few replies to his query most of them supporting legalization. This is a tired question that many answer without even thinking from a list of “known facts”. It will reduce crime and violence, save money, and we can begin to treat substance abuse as a health issue instead of a crime- yada, yada, yada. He probably would have gotten a lot fewer responses yet a lot better content if he had instead asked these supporters if they thought our society would handle the issues of legalization as well as we deal with the already legal and regulated alcohol in our country.

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Snark on. Since alcohol ceased to be related to violent crime with the end of prohibition (DUI fatalities are acceptable losses for a good time, just ask MADD), I’m sure some would suggest that crime and violence would plummet without the activity of drug related organized crime and cartels. Others might respond by pointing out how our boys in blue never have to deal with alcohol related incidents as proof positive we could save a bundle on law enforcement no longer needed to police illegal drugs. And when it comes to getting addicted to a legal substance, well just ask any alcoholic or prescription pill addict how they are currently embraced by a society eager to assist them with this serious health issue. Snark off.

Other issues of course include what drugs would be excluded in this legalization process, will the government approve meth sales? If not, doesn’t this mean that we still need the same resources for control, search, and seizure? And still add a government regulation infrastructure- ouch! Or how about just legalizing marijuana, surely that wouldn’t be a slippery slope except that even these supporters often get confused about what exactly would be legalized and John Q public hasn’t a clue. As they point to Amsterdam in awe ask them to take a closer look, maybe explain why almost half the smoke shops in Amsterdam been closed over the last 5 years?

If drug legalization begins to get serious consideration, then I would hope that serious journalists like Kristof put its supporters under a lot tougher scrutiny.

Promoted to the front page from the user blogs, you can click here to find past blogs by Toby12321. Denial, along with lying and selfishness, is part of the unholy trinity of alcoholism. Not only in just drinking, denial about our actions and true self can persist for many years in recovery and can be difficult to distinguish from the truth. Thanks for sharing Toby!

I just finished watching the TV Program “Intervention”. It is amazing how I see myself in their situation. Denial is the big one. I never had a problem with drinking. Everyone else had a problem minding their own business, I thought.

My mother, whose father was an alcoholic and died of cirrhosis of the liver, was constantly trying to get me help. I hated it. She is gone now; she died of cancer in 1992. I had been sober for 2 1/2 years when she passed.

My mother tried repeatedly to get me help. She was always nagging me and would get on my nerves. I finally agreed one Sunday to go to a rehab. My father and mother took me. It was an old hotel here in PA. We arrived and went to the office. They told me to let my bags and go to the meeting being held down the way. This was my first ever experience with AA. I stood in the back of the room. It was packed with a few hundred people. The main speaker kept telling these stories that just seemed impossible to believe. I’m thinking what a jerk. I can’t believe these people even believe some of the things he was telling us. He was talking more bull than a bar full of drunks during hunting season.

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When the meeting ended the three of us headed back to the office. When I walked in the door I immediately noticed they had searched my bags. I freaked out. I ask them who they thought they were looking in my bags. They explained why but I was in denial and said this is enough, I don’t need this place. I told my mother I would quit on my own and off we went.

Guess what, “The seed was planted” although I wouldn’t admit it. Wait, don’t give me applause yet because I didn’t stop drinking for another 9 or 10 years after this. I went through so much denial. My wife left me with our son and that was it. I tried the rehab to get her back. Believe it or not, she came to rehab 2 weeks after I was there. I thought great, we can finally start putting our lives back together. I walked into the office where she and my counselor were and things didn’t seem quite right. She spoke first and said “I want a divorce” and there was little more said.

She left but for the next 2 weeks of the 28 days it was pure hell for me. I was helpless, sad, bewildered, and angry. Couldn’t she see that I was doing this for her? What did I just say? Yes, I was still in denial.

I was drinking within a week after leaving rehab. I went back 3 weeks later and begged them to come back. They finally agreed and there I was for another 28 days. This time when I got out I drove straight to a bar. It was another 3 years before I would get help again.

Isn’t life grand? I was afraid I would miss something by not drinking. That and the fact that I needed it. My favorite slogan, “Live to Drink and Drink to Live”! In the end it was stop or die. My denial was so bad that I went to 4 different doctors before I realized they were all right. I told them how much I drank everyday and they all told me I wouldn’t see my 41st birthday. I was also denying the diagnosis of 3 other doctors, let alone my own drinking problem.

I think the intervention program on TV is another great tool for the recovering and active alcoholics and drug addicts.

God Bless

Maryland is one of quite a few states looking at raising the excise tax on alcohol to help make up budget shortfalls during these tough economic times. By adding a nickel a drink, tiny Maryland could raise over $100 million annually. Just click on the picture above to access a super cool calculator created by The Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog, if you are interested in seeing what an alcohol tax could generate in your state.

Something I found interesting using this tool was that it also gave dates for when each state last raised its tax rates on alcohol. Most have not raised their taxes in decades, this seems odd considering how almost all other taxes seem to creep ever higher. The reason of course is that John Q Public gets very insecure when you start messing with his alcohol. Me, I rarely support higher taxes- but in today’s world of insolvent local and state governments and a nation that just quadrupled deficit spending- higher taxes seem inevitable. So I hope they go after alcohol, because then I think we’ll see a new Whiskey Rebellion. At least then I know that the public will get a little more involved in making sure our governments are making fiscally sound decisions- and if people drink a little less, well that’s just icing on the cake.

Conventional knowledge has imbued alcohol with magical properties that turn wallflowers into expressionistas and shy lonely hearts into irresistible paramours. Female columnist Hillary Freeman is no different, claiming it was sobriety that made her boring in this DailyMail article.

At social occasions, many guests avoided me, regarding anyone who was still sober enough to have a rational conversation at 11pm with deep suspicion. I was an oddball, a killjoy. And worse, I’d remember everything the next day.

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Yea, I’m savvy enough to know this is sort of tongue-in-cheek- but it’s still more or less an accepted premise proven by the millions who wouldn’t consider a social situation without a stiff drink. The truth of the matter is that alcohol rarely makes anyone “better”- it just clouds their self perception and unfortunately also their judgment. Making matter worse, just as alcoholics and addicts never develop coping skills, even moderate drinkers can fail to learn basic social skills because of the constant reliance upon their “lubricant” alcohol.

Unlike makeup, alcohol rarely just hides flaws and enhances one’s beauty- instead it often amplifies behavior and reinforces negative traits. So if you are boring sober, my advice is to bone up on some relative knowledge so that you can be engaging- don’t drink yourself silly. I’ll take a wallflower any day over an obnoxious drunk!

I get tired of the endless parade of alcohol is good for you in moderation stories in the media so even though it’s nothing to celebrate, this article from the Detroit Free Press at least shines a different light on the subject.

But the party may be over. Two major studies in the past month have linked alcohol, including red wine, to increased breast cancer risk in women… A large British study published last month found that even one small glass of wine, liquor or beer a day increased the risk of certain cancers… The risk doubled for women who consumed two drinks a day.

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Not exactly a good news story even from my point of view, but what was refreshing was the common sense advice about how to enjoy the same health benefits of alcohol without the risks of abuse, addiction, or cancer.

Bottom line: You’re only fooling yourself if you think all that red wine is making you healthy. It’s OK to enjoy it in moderation, but if you want the healthy heart benefits, eat red grapes or drink grape juice. It won’t give you that warm buzz, but it’s safer than red wine.

So to keep a healthy heart and breasts, skip the wine and eat a grape- have a safe and sober weekend all!

Anthony Miner’s night out at the Copasetic Lounge ended up anything but after his dead body was found frozen in a nearby parking lot. A known alcoholic, the troubled young man apparently died of hypothermia. My guess is he laid down to rest or just passed out in the below zero weather, too drunk to go on after nearly a nine hour stint in the bar. A sympathetic write-up was headlined by DL-Online as Duluth man who froze to death struggled with alcoholism, but in one of the worst ad placements I’ve seen in a good while they embedded in the story an advertisement for a cocktail happy hour. I’m sure it was random (my site has had less than suitable ads pop up), but once again it is anything but copasetic that the ad also features a bar room ice sculpture considering the topic of the story is a frozen alcoholic.

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My first thought was to notify the site owner of the incongruity (I did), but upon second thought I wish I hadn’t. While doing a little research on my recent post about alcohol and cold weather it became clear that intoxication is the principal culprit in most exposure deaths. Maybe the goof will draw more attention to the story, its a much more common event than most believe. So my condolences to the family for what must be a trying time, but I hope this story gets out there regardless of why it becomes widely distributed.

One explanation for the effect is a cold-induced malfunction of the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates body temperature. Another explanation is that the muscles contracting peripheral blood vessels become exhausted (known as a loss of vasomotor tone) and relax, leading to a sudden surge of blood (and heat) to the extremities, fooling the victim into feeling warm. ~ Wiki

Not to leave you with the parting thought of dead, naked drunks, I thought I might share an oldie and goodie sung by the same. It’s a double entendre with Leon Redbone being the oldie in this case and Zooey Deschanel is the (new) goodie. Another interesting factoid is that Zooey has an older sister Emily, who plays Dr. Temperance Brennan of Bones fame- a TDA favorite.

Thanks to TDA reader Norm for sending me the link to this interesting graph used in an attempt to provide a rational scale of the potential harm and misuse of a diverse range of drugs. I say attempt because in my opinion the authors have far underestimated the dependency and physical harm that should be attributed to alcohol.

I realize that any system devised to gauge harm will be arbitrary, but I find it hard to believe that these good doctors overlook the massive societal damage caused by alcohol when compared to the rest of these drugs. Here is a pdf on the actual study, any thoughts on the subject?