Alcohol and Drug Addiction

There is a bit of disinformation that floats around out there that states that alcoholism and drug addiction are two different things.

They're not. They are one and the same.

Allow me to clarify. This is important. Alcohol is a drug.

In fact we could wipe out the term "alcoholism" all together and simply refer to alcoholism and alcohol addiction as drug addiction. Because alcohol is, in fact, just another drug.

Now people like to confuse the issue, and many people in recovery will speak of "cross-addiction," which simply means that they feel that they are addicted to multiple drugs. But none of this nomenclature is really necessary because a drug is a drug is a drug.

If you are hooked on painkillers then you also have a drinking problem. You might not realize that you do (yet), but if you continue to substitute one drug for another (alcohol for painkillers) then eventually you will see that you are in fact "cross-addicted."

I knew this guy in treatment once and he was a crack addict. He claimed that he had never had a problem with booze and he really didn't care much for drinking and so he never really drank and he never go drunk. Crack Cocaine was his big thing and that was what he was in treatment for.

Well guess what? He left treatment and he stayed off the crack for a while but he had a beer with his dinner once. And then a week later he had a glass of wine with another dinner date. And before you knew it he was back in treatment again! He told me at that point that the alcohol seemed to be fine at first but it eventually led him back to his drug of choice. Thus if you are addicted to one drug you had better learn to steer clear of them all.