I've been sober a few 24 hours, but some of us don't make it. The following newspaper piece was published statewide. It details the last days of a good friend of mine from high school & my early 20's -- we partied hard. The person described in the article, surrounded by "mountains" of beer cans was once me, so I'm not being self-righteous. If anything, the memories of us using & drinking make me feel guilty,as I was pounding beer for beer with him. It really hit me...This is a deadly disease.

A xxxxx man lay dead inside his unheated home for months before police officers found his body on a couch.
xxxxx police Capt. Jeff O'Brien said a relative of xxxxx contacted authorities after she hadn't heard from him in months, her calls went unanswered, and her mail to him bounced back. He said officers on Thursday checked xxxxx's State Street home and found him dead inside.

"He had been there since December we think, on his couch," O'Brien said.
December is when a neighbor last spoke with xxxxx, O'Brien said. He said the home had mail stacked up in front and the post office stopped delivering Jan. 24, which ultimately led a concerned member of xxxxx's family to contact authorities.

"There was no heat in the house so he was preserved," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said a medical examiner determined Rose's death to be from natural causes. He said "mountains" of beer cans surrounded xxxxx's body.

I don't know what else to add. It's just that it could easily have been me.