Psychedelic have been medicine for me and my husband, at least the way we use it. I have endless respect for any medicine, since it brings life at the fullest.

recovering alcoholic. realized I was looking for the comfort I felt as my GABA receptors were tickled. I seem to have trouble moderating consumption of this chemical, and I don't think I'm 'stupid' or 'weak', in fact the will is quite strong, it's hard once it's in me and I know that so now I've stopped.

No for me.

Reading something of these posts about how marijuana is "superior" to alcohol, or arguments over whether or not alcohol is an entheogen or not raise a very valid point: everyone is different. Furthermore, everyone changes. There was a six month-one year period during my late teens where I drank enough for a lifetime. I would have a bottle of Bacardi 151 under my bed and do two or three shots every couple hours to stay drunk, but functional during the day, and then blackout drunk every single night, wake up the next morning on a park bench covered in my own vomit, with no idea what happened. Needless to say, that ended quickly. My drinking habits went to the "occasional beer" train of thought. Eventually I even got sick of this, and when I would find myself at a bar, with friends offering me to buy me beers, I would have a sip, feel nauseous, and realize that it's just not for me. It's been probably two or three years since I've had more than a sip of an alcoholic beverage, beer, liquor, wine, anything.

I also used to be in the "marijuana is far superior" boat, but I'm starting to find that it has its share of flaws as well. Anyone who says it's not addicting on a psychological and physical level is delusional. Everyone is different. I found myself experiencing rebound anxiety from consuming too much alcohol, lied to myself for months (if not years) about how it was unrelated, and kept going. Same with pot. I'd get stoned out of my mind first thing in the morning, act surprised when my brain started going nuts, having panic attacks, intense episodes of depression (literally running into a bathroom stall at work and sobbing hysterically for ten minutes, even though nothing was actually wrong, my brain was just telling me that I'm an awful human being and deserve to die, etc. etc.), then I'd finally come down, get my head straight and feel good, and what would I do? Run to my car like a dumbass on my lunch break, get stoned out of my mind again, and then have a near meltdown while I was trying to work...again. I did this every day for months. Then I'd stop for a few days, realize the joys of being clear-headed and lucid, be super productive, etc. I'd get stressed one night, take a few hits off the pipe, and before I knew it, I was back in the same cycle: get stoned, lose my shit, get stoned again, come down and lose my shit again, get stoned, etc., etc., every hour of every day, FOR YEARS.

I guess the moral of my story, again, is that everyone is different. I've smoked with people who literally burn through an entire blunt of high-grade cannabis every couple hours during the day, and they're completely lucid and functional. I've also smoked with people who take one hit of crappy regs on a pipe, then start losing their mind, getting intense paranoia, and otherwise just being way more messed up than they "should" be (at least compared to me). At the end of the day, no drug is "superior" or "inferior" to any other in an objective sense, only in a subjective sense. There are probably people out there who shoot heroin "recreationally," as in, on occasion, and not as a result of addiction, and then there are people like me, who barely even have the self control to go to a single day without getting stoned every few hours, even though I'm acutely aware of the negative effects. Saying that marijuana is "superior" just because it's your drug of choice is like saying rock music is "superior" to jazz music because it's your personal preference.

If I hand you a gun and you turn it on yourself and blow your brains out, am I the one responsible for your death because I gave you the gun? Think about it that way.

End rant.

Ethanol is a superb solvent for numerous far more interesting compounds. But sometimes a good beer is just the thing. None of the possible answers for the poll seems to correspond with my approach to drinking. I've drunk for a lifetime in my younger years, been teetotal for a time too, but nowadays I can take it or leave it. Christmas/Yuletide was a great excuse for gratuitous drinking this time round.

A poll without a "no" option. I'm being trolled!

Not anymore with the exception of tinctures for teas and medicine and the bit in Kombucha or Kefir. I don't know how much having a great deal of Cherokee in my blood has to do with it but drinking makes me insane. I used it and other substances against my own will eventually and after years of abstinence I have no desire for it.

a beer occasionally

A nice cold beer after a long day in a HOT as hell workshop is great but that's about it for me these days apart from the odd occasion. I've never had any problems with alcohol, never been my go to substance.

I drink maybe once or twice a month, and I try to drink only a small amount. Alcohol is bad for my gut health and my rosacea, so I'm considering just packing it in altogether for the time being

Is five o'clock somewhere.

I am also a recovering alcoholic.
I stopped drinking alcohol in my third year of uni, So I was actually in that situation anon_003. Sure it sucks, what i've found myself doing now, I go to parties to see people who i care about. People will not think of you as a social outcast... believe me.. quite the opposite.

Although, alcohol was never my 'go-to' substance. But I know enough about myself that if I started drinking again, it sure would become it.

I like what akasha and ouroburos mentioned.
Sure, there are tons of people who can use substances without addiction. People can even use drink alcohol daily and become dependent, but then realize "Oh this is getting out of hand" and simply stop.

However if you are alcoholic, that doesn't quite work. It's as if the switch in the brain for self-preservation is broken... in a sense you a drinking to stay alive, but drinking will inevitably kill you.

I don't believe its action self-control as akasha said, because that would require immense energy and a miserable existence. Like ouroburos said, the will of an alcoholic is so strong if anything.

I believe addiction has a lot less to do with the substance, and a lot more to do with the fear driving it.

There is reason to believe that on a neurobiological level tryptamines (DMT, LSD, Ibogane, psilocybin), having a similar structure to serotonin, can actually help repair the dysregulation that alcohol causes in the brain - or perhaps compensate for inborn dysregulation in the case of those who are born with this susceptibility. That, in fact, is the reasoning used to justify current research on tryptamines as adjuncts to treatment for alcoholism. I believe that is what I experienced/am experiencing.

I am a recovered alcoholic, although it feels weird to say that due to being pretty young. Booze just feels too at home in my hands, and there is alcoholism in my family history. Most of my drinking was done when I was quite young, from 14-17. Lots of blacking out and days in a row on "drugs and alcohol". I do wonder what effect that had on my formative development. I realized there was a problem when I felt I couldn't cope with reality sober, but I still feel that way occasionally now to be honest... I have an addictive personality, no doubt.

I've lost good friends to alcohol and can't bear the idea of losing more so am sensitive around binge drinking, plus I slip into old habits once in a while. I have a high tolerance and handle my alcohol well. I still drink every month or two to maintain my social life, but I wish it wasn't necessary.

FWIW I'm completely abstinent. Mostly because it makes me feel like shite. The smallest amount. I even avoid alcohol extracts because, believe it or not, I can feel the alcohol in it.

I just wanted to return to this thread to thank everyone for their contributions. I'm still unsure of what I want my relationship with ethanol to look like in the near and distant future, but recently I have been drinking only very small amounts on special occasions. I am content with my current alcohol intake, but that could well change at some point.

Thank you for offering fresh perspectives and opinions, thereby helping me sort out my inner debate.

Much love to you all <3