Some people who smoke (and I’ve been a pretty much daily smoker for thirty-three years) believe it’s an all-purpose tonic for everything. Can’t drink? Bad back? Erectile dysfunction? Migraines? Smoke some weed! And maybe it does work...for them.

Oh yeah, I know all about that LOL. Right around age 30 I politely let my handful of real friends know that unless I was attending the event anyway I wasn’t interested in lugging carloads of drunks around anymore, as I was weary of the same stories, the dumb barroom inside jokes and having someone’s wife/GF draping…

I can relate. I’m fifty now and I’ve watched alcohol tear a swath of destruction through numerous lives. There are certain people who I just cannot stand to be around when they’re loaded so I just avoid them now and I don’t miss any of them at all.

Although he might see it as being insulting in a way, four months is not a very long time. I know someone who had a VERY serious drinking problem (nearly fatal, almost shot by police, quite ugly) and he tried to claim he could “handle it” but unfortunately he relapsed and ended up even worse off than before. At the…

Just an aside, but one of the upsides of not drinking (for whatever reason) is that you’ll actually remember the things you’ve done. I have several friends who have no recollection of various events and happenings from the past, as they were blotto at the time. They just think I have a superlative memory but actually…

Good answer, anyone who wants to “see what happens” when you drink is someone who has no place in your life, you aren’t a cartoon whose purpose is to amuse other people.

Sometimes. I’ll be at a backyard BBQ or whatever and be offered a beer and get “the look” when I politely decline or maybe at a bar when the shots start flying around and the one I don’t want and didn’t ask for is just sitting there but honestly I don’t care. I’d rather deal with that than what booze does to me. I…

I do that sometimes, however in my experience it doesn’t always help. If you’ve had a drinking problem you simply should avoid bar scenes and etc., the temptation is just too great.

I don’t drink (don’t like the buzz, tears me up inside too) but just about everyone else I know does, some of them heavily. It can be difficult, plus you’re always the default designated driver which can get really annoying too. Sometimes I’ll just grin and bear it, sometimes I simply politely decine to participate in…