It’s February and a majority of New Years’ Resolutions are already a thing of the past. A popular meme resolution is “Dry January.” Dry January is a reaction to all of the excess drinking that many indulge in during the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year. The idea is to give your body a break from all alcohol abuse in the prior 6 weeks. “Dry January” is better than 12 months of alcohol abuse, but it’s foolish to believe that 1 month of abstinence can undo 11 months of damage.
Let’s establish some facts.
- No amount of alcohol is good for you. I know that ‘they’ used to say that a few glasses of red wine was safe, even healthy. That was a lie created by Big Alcohol.
- Alcohol is poison. Regardless of what alcohol lovers say, alcohol is toxic to the human body. We use alcohol as a disinfectant because it kills cells. Our body is simply a complex arrangement of cells and alcohol kills them.
- Alcohol is toxic to ALL of your body, not just your liver. In addition to brain and liver damage, alcohol increases the likelihood of at least 7 cancers. This is only what science has 100% proven so far. Future research will prove that alcohol increases the likelihood of far more than only 7 types of cancer.
I’m not a teetotaler. I’m writing this as someone who has had a ‘complicated’ relationship with alcohol. I use complicated generously. If I’m being honest, the correct statement would be, “I’ve had a bad relationship with alcohol. I never really bought in to having 1 or 2 drinks because What’s the point? It doesn’t taste good. It makes you fat. The only good thing about alcohol is that getting drunk can be a lot of fun.
A few years back, I was going through a series of difficulties in my life – I lost the site in my left eye from a golf ball accident while I was getting divorced from a bad marriage. My drinking during this time was the worst in my whole life. I was drinking to escape reality. Since then, I got divorced and came to terms with my disability and the uncontrollable urge to drink until I didn’t know vanished. Now, I’ll have a few High Noons on occasion, but my overall alcohol consumption has dropped to probably 3 drinks a month.
I don’t miss it.
I don’t miss the hangovers. I don’t miss the gross spare tire around my waist. I don’t miss the $200 bar receipts I’d find in my pocket the next day. I don’t miss wondering what I said and to whom I need to apologize.
I find myself resenting and hating alcohol as I plainly see what a destructive force it has been in my life.
I’m fortunate that I was able to get my drinking under control without medication, therapy, AA, or legal intervention. I understand that it’s not that easy for everyone and I sympathize with people who alcohol has a tighter grip on.
The inspiration for this article was the recent statement that the U.S. Surgeon General released saying they were going to require alcoholic beverages display a warning label stating, “Alcohol Causes Cancer” just like they did to Big Tobacco. I was ecstatic to see this and welcome any and all legislation that holds Big Alcohol accountable for the poison they push on us.
As a cannabis advocate, enthusiast, and business owner, I’ve been enraged by the hypocritical double standard our society has with alcohol and cannabis. Let’s discuss…
In addition to the proven and well-documented health problems alcohol causes, it’s equally destructive socially. Alcohol is responsible for a majority of driving related fatalities. Alcohol is involved in a most incidences of woman and child abuse. Alcohol is always close by during date rapes and fist fights. Despite all of the negative health and societal consequences of alcohol, the only regulations we see are an age limit to purchase and a tiny fine print “Please drink responsibly.”
These ‘warnings’ are a side note after you see alcoholic products plastered all over college football stadiums, billboards, buses, and every third TV commercial.
Think about how easy it is to buy alcohol. You can get it at every gas station, grocery store, or convenience store. When you go to a party, the first place the host point out is the bar. You can’t turn around without feeling a social nudge to get a drink.
If we analyzed the toxicity, societal damages, public health costs, ease to access, addiction rate, low cost, and social pressures to drink, I could make a strong case that alcohol is the most dangerous drug we have.
Disclaimer: I’m an ‘individual liberty’ guy, so I don’t think that alcohol should be illegal. I used to think that all drugs should be legal, but my view has changed since the proliferation of synthetic drugs that are incredibly addictive and dangerous. I do think that alcohol companied need to be held to the same standards of Big Tobacco and other industries that sell poison to people.
There is no point in acting naïve and wondering why alcohol literally gets away with murder. There’s a big, influential alcohol lobby. However, more importantly, a large percentage of our lawmakers love alcohol and wouldn’t dare criticize their ‘little medicine.’ Next time you see state or federal lawmaker, look for the telltale signs of a real drunk – a bloated red face. There are many other visible signs and I found a website that shows them here. Alcoholics are addicts just like any other, except that they are addicted to a legal and socially acceptable drug. But don’t get it twisted, they are still a drug addict.
This leads me to one of the stupidest double standards between alcohol and hemp – advertising.
Alcohol companies can advertise anywhere and anyway they want, yet hemp companies are so restricted to where, how, and what we can advertise. They sell a product that causes cancer. We sell a product that fights cancer. They sell a product that causes brain damage. We sell a product that reverses the brain damage caused by their product. They sell a product that causes men to punch women. We sell a product that helps men to understand women. They sell a product that causes widespread inflammation throughout the body. We sell a product that stops inflammation. I could go on and on.
I didn’t have an outline when I started writing this because I wanted to see where freestyle would take us. The purpose of this article was to share information, personal experiences, and then to rant about the ridiculous hypocrisy and double standards that our society has with it’s little sweetheart, Mr. Booze. I’m not even going to turn this into a sales thing by saying quit drinking and switch to Better Than Nine.
If you did a Dry January and like the way you look and feel from a month without drinking, I encourage you to keep it going for February and March. You brain, body, wallet, and true friends will thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Daniel