Can drug addicts drink?

It's never a good idea. How many people have you met that gave up smoking for chewing tobacco because they thought it was a safer alternative? You'll be trading one addiction for the other.

The problem with using any anacotes of seeing people suffering from one addiction automatically suffering from another addiction is that it is sensational in matter and limited, also. Selection bias, essentially. Not only are you looking for cases of addiction, but the examples of addiction will be more obvious. Are you likely to reference or even be aware of the person getting by in society? No. They will not come to your attention unless they desperately want to be acknowledged, which most addicts do not. Furthermore, I have heard people flat out not believe their stories of addiction since it did not fit the idea of addiction held by the observer.

As for whether or not alcohol is a depressant and what being a depressant means... I did not say that alcohol does not contribute to depression (or it is not possible for alcohol to contribute to depression). I said that being in the drug class of depressant does not mean it causes psychological depression.

I realize that wikipedia might not be the best source, but every scientific source tends to agree with wikipedia (in this case) and feel free to google any one of them...

A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug or endogenous compound that lowers neurotransmission levels, which is to depress or reduce arousal or stimulation, in various areas of the brain.[1] Depressants are also occasionally referred to as "downers" as they lower the level of arousal when taken. Stimulants or "uppers" increase mental and/or physical function and are the functional opposites of depressants.
Depressants are widely used throughout the world as prescription medicines and as illicit substances. When these are used, effects often include ataxia, anxiolysis, pain relief, sedation or somnolence, and cognitive/memory impairment, as well as in some instances euphoria, dissociation, muscle relaxation, lowered blood pressure or heart rate, respiratory depression, and anticonvulsant effects, and even complete anesthesia or death at high doses.
Depressants exert their effects through a number of different pharmacological mechanisms, the most prominent of which include facilitation of GABA, and inhibition of glutamatergic or monoaminergic activity. Other examples are chemicals that modify the electrical signaling inside the body. The most prominent of these being bromides and channel blockers.

I didnt bother googling further than that since it is not relevant to the discussion. Whether or not it is a depressant or stimulant, itself, is irrelevant to the argument. Many psych meds are either depressants or stimulants... and since depressants and stimulants are the opposites of each other, if one were bad, the other would be good.... A depressant does not mean it causes depression, this was a red herring, that was why I brought it up.

Yes it is. Nicotine is a stimulant than can increase risk of heart disease, stroke, miscarriage in pregnant women. Nicotine can trigger bronchi spasm in your lungs. Cause dizziness. Plenty of side effects of nicotine use...

Of course drug-addicts can drink. I'm rather confused by this question.

As was stated, the consequences you listed are not consequences of nicotine but consequences of the other chemicals in cigarettes. Nicotine is a stimulant. As with depressants, being a stimulant or depressant says nothing about the drug being inherently bad...

Nicotine is a stimulant the way caffeine is. The other chemicals in cigarettes are, however, incredibly damaging... Nicotine is addictive and this is damaging in itself, but we have been conflating so many issues.

This is why there are not the same warnings on nicotine gum/patches as there are on cigarette packs.

There are several different issues on the table which people are conflating...

is a substance addictive
is a substance harmful
is a substance harmful in a way that a functioning person is immune to and a person addicted to another substance is *automatically* going to fall prey to
is addiction based on the substance or is it something else
who decides what is best for an individual- is there a cookie cutter answer...

You are absolutely incorrect. The effects I listed are from NICOTINE, not from the other substances. Note I did not discuss cancer or COPD which are attributable to the other substances in cigarettes. I've spent the last ten years of my life in medicine, I kind of know what I'm talking about

These are rare, I'm guessing. Millions of people use nicotine in personal vaporizers and don't suffer these effects.

Ummm.....wow. Is there any particular reason people are ARGUING the adverse effects of nicotine? This is an addiction forum yes? Are you debating just to debate. This does seem to be the way of forums more often than not. Talking louder to make ones own point heard rather than listening. Arguing scientific fact. Ok then.

I'm sorry. It's just that, as a vaper, I'm encountering a lot of misinformation (I dont mean from you!) regarding vaping and nicotine. People think it's just as bad as smoking, etc. That isn't the case, but a lot of FUD is being promulgated by forces who stand to lose a lot such as tobacco companies and pharmaceutical industry. Vaping is the one thing shown to actually work for smoking cessation (it worked for me when nothing else would) and England just recently decided to promote it for that purpose. Whereas in many other parts of the world, vaping rights are up in the air or vaping is banned entirely (like in Singapore).

Even if I traded one addiction (smoking) for another, vaping is at least 95% less harmful and I'm not doing further damage to my lungs or anything else. So I believe the topic is pertinent since smoking was brought up in this thread.

People with drug problems obviously weren't teetotalers during their time of abuse, so you could see what their pattern was with regard to drinking. If their issue had always been with drugs or a particular drug and not alcohol, there would be no reason to think that alcohol would trigger them to consume their former drug of choice or that they would be unable to handle it. Of course, if they or others around them began to notice that they could not control their drinking, they should stop ASAP.

I'm pretty sure the jury is still out on vaping. My friend who is a recovering alcoholic with a 25-year chip uses one, and has used nicotine ever since she first started going to AA, so I wouldn't dream of pressing her not to. But it hasn't been around nearly long enough to be able to state unequivocally its safety in terms of long term effects. I think it's a good option though.

On the topic of addiction and alcohol, I personally think it just depends on the degree. For someone who is truly a chronic addict (has been addicted to multiple substances, heavier substances, has mixed them liberally, etc.), using alcohol becomes very unlikely to be an innocuous activity in their lives. Distorted thinking comes with drunkenness, and bad decisions are more easily come by. For someone who was more mildly addicted (to only one thing, non-opiate, not chronically), it can still be true but there can be more leeway.

Speaking from, among other things, having been married to an addict no longer with us whom I believe would have had a far greater chance at staying straight and alive had he not been able to convince himself that he could handle alcohol. Seems like it should be no big deal, right?

The jury may still be out regarding proving that vaping is harmless but we do know it's 95% less harmful than smoking as studies have shown. Moreover I no longer wheeze since I switched from smoking to vaping and the doctor had to admit my lungs sound clear now. There's no question vaping is less harmful. If you want to continue to argue the fact, you may wish to visit one of the vaping forums and put forth your ideas in a more studied environment. There are enough people whose health has turned around dramatically for the better since starting vaping that you'll be sure to get an enthusiastic response. In fact if it weren't for vaping I'd be hurtling towards death because there's no other way I could have stopped smoking. Vaping is a smoking replacement for me rather than a smoking cessation. Nonetheless, and even though I have lasting lung damage, that damage is halted now. Vaping has saved what life I had left.

^Respectfully, I agreed it's a good option! When I referred to potential long term effects I was talking about what they will be finding out 10 and 20 years down the road. It's the same reason I won't use Splenda this decade. They're always discovering things later on, like this PsychCentral article (Prenatal Exposure to Flame Retardant Linked to Attention Problems in Kids | Psych Central News) about how they're still discovering new dangers resulting from the flame-retardant children's pajamas that were all the rage eons ago when I was a kid. In this regard I'm lucky that all my clothes were handmade for me by my mother. Fashionwise, not so much.

I agree with most people that have responded to this post. I have abused alcohol in the past when I was on pills or did not having pills at that moment. Since I got clean, I drank one glass of wine and I was just fine. I didn't run and go the liquor store to buy a fifth of whiskey (my old fav, lol) I actually got a slight headache from the glass of Chardonnay and didn't enjoy it at all. Going into my getting clean, I thought I would never be able to take a sip of any alcohol but I think that as long as I can be strong enough to do it in moderation ( like the normies do! Lol) and only do it once in awhile, I think I will be okay. I definitely don't feel that way towards any of the pharms and hard stuff that I I abused. I know that no matter what, I cannot misuse any substance with the intentions of getting "slap ****ed up" (as me and my recovering addict father say) haha. I just can't let anything make me not in control of my mind, body, and emotions. If I ever felt that a beer or a glass of wine was leading me in a bad spot, I wouldn't do it, ever. And a lot of people do feel that bc addicts are "All or Nothing" personalities , we shouldn't do it at all .

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Thanks. I like that you pointed out intention, that is a big one for me. For instance, I have had a beer with friends just being social and having a good time and didn't even want a second. But if I choose to drink to avoid life, I know that I'm in trouble. The same goes with all sorts of things. When I drink coffee to enjoy a good cup, I stop before I get all jittery and insane. If I do it for other reasons...

I get irritated with the assumption that there are good drugs and bad drugs. As for the vaping debate, interesting but not all that relevant.

But I also operate under the assumption that people's recovery works best when they decide what works best for them and I know many disagree... I know that my recovery was **** when I didn't listen to my own voice and instead let others dictate to me what to do. We figure out on our own when our choices are bad ones... But getting back a voice we had lost? That's a sort of recovery in itself, one I'm working hard at at the moment.

And I know the thing about being told what to do is a greater trigger for me than for most as I've loved most of my life doing what people said and losing myself in the process.

Wow! You and definitely have a lot in common. I hate to be told what to do; it makes me want to run out and get as high as I possibly can! When that happens it always ends in a disaster, especially the last few years. I don't like to tell myself that I "cannot do something" and I hate it even worse when someone else's tries to control me. These are major issues I have with doing the AA/NA thing. While it works well for many people, it's just not for me.

I also agree with you about mapping out your own recovery. Many people will disagree with this. I believe it is usually the first timers or people that don't really know why the use that need such structure. When you have been going through this for ten + years like I have, you know what works for you and what doesn't, it's just a matter of doing it and sticking to it.

I have done it all; rehab, outpatient, counseling, AA/NA, taking Meds, etc. So far, cold turkey, no sub Meds, no docs, no meetings has worked for me. What I did was ask my mother to help me with my ten month old so I could detox from benzos, Suboxone, and antidepressants for a week. She stayed with me and helped me with my baby so that I could get better in that aspect. Then I started really looking into myself and seeing all the things that make me want to use every day. I had to change these things.

Learning to be grateful, humble and a willingness to REALLY take a long hard look at oneself in the mirror makes all the difference in recovery, I believe. I do believe in staying away from people, places, and things that make me want to use.

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You are right, we do have a lot in common! Congrats, I got off suboxone too (I got off a lot of things...) But the suboxone I did completely on my own. Methadone, too.

It has been super difficult to get away from people, places and things that I know are harmful to my recovery when others insist that they are supportive. It results in a huge loss of self...

However, I think that this is largely due to my life history that this is such a trigger. I mean, I can have someone yell and swear at me and I get far less irritated than when people inform me of what I should do or who I am.

Rehab did help me... 16 step meetings... sometimes AA/NA though those tend to come with more triggers (as you mentioned). Sometimes I can deal with those triggers just so that I can have a place to go and some (limited) form of connection... But not hugely beneficial.

Mostly just finding ways to engage with the world and trusting my own voice have been what has done it.

Thanks for your story... can definitely relate. My rehab had a philosophy I could really relate to, so that was great. A lot of mapping our own recovery...

My stint in a recovery house was the exact opposite... to each their own.

Probably not
Alcohol messes up with your logical reasoning, you will probably do more drugs while under the influence

I also have had a rough time distancing myself from people and places in the past. I had people that said they were supportive of me being sober but the moment I was around them, they were using in front of me, or worse, trying to hide it from me, which only insulted my intelligence and pissed me off. This time around I am not going to put myself in those positions even if it means being a hermit. Lol. I just can't do the same things over and over again expecting different results- insanity.

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I am a drug addict who can never never drink. I too, have never met a drug addict who could drink. I know for a fact my addictive behavior will not allow it!!

Speaking only for myself I am a recovering addict and I can drink on occasion...however I got broke of drinking heavily due to a bout with alcohol poisoning on moonshine when I was 20 (16 yrs ago) and that broke me of getting drunk period the end...not that I got drunk often anyhow but that did me in altogether....I have wine with say an italian meal out or on a special occasion....I drink maybe once every other week and almost never even catch a buzz....

I had to vote "as long as the're careful." But that's only because I'm drinking a can of lager as I write. I've just kicked a Diazepine addiction which came after a heroin/ketemine addiction.

In all honesty I believe it's not the best thing to do. Its just another drug and I treat it as such, but these days I try to be a lot more aware of when I choose to drink and how much.

I reckon that if depression wasn't a factor and I did more life fulfilling things I could take the final step and give up drinking for good. In the long run it's probably going to hinder and not help things. Peace.

Well I thought it might be possible but I proved myself wrong this past weekend when I had some mixed drinks on vacation that led me into downing a bunch of benzos & doing a fentanyl patch...after 9 months clean I am going to try again. And I'm not going to drink.

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Can people with food addiction drink? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Not everything fits neatly into a yes or no category.