Some of my thoughts
at the risk of triple T'ing and the howls of derision from the usual couple of wanker-trolls with superiority complexes.

A disease is when a pathogen/virus/bacteria enters your body without your knowledge or conscious effort thru any number of avenues.

An addiction is when you body or mind craves a substance so much so that you will forgo all other things, places or people in order to get that substance and then ingest it. Physiological addictions tend to be far harder to overcome than psychological addictions. Having said that I'm in no way negating the fact that using you will-power to battle your brain over your body is any less of a serious battle.
But that's it to me - addiction is ultimately overcoming your overwhelming desire to take a drug with your will-power. You may need all sorts of assistance to beat that desire but at the end of the day you make a conscious decision to either lift the bottle to you lips or not. Addiction is not a disease.

Now I know I'm going against a lot of modern medical doctrine here. I don't have an argument really other than - as I've said you chose to do the things you do. Sex addicts penises don't accidentally fall into vaginas. Heroin doesn't invade 1 junkies bloodstream from another's and start to multiply. HIV and most of the Heps still do tho - shoot safe and don't share, kiddies!
Personally I feel that as soon as they managed to find a way to call any addiction a "disease" was when every person who didn't have any will-power got a free ride to say "Don't you judge me!". As far as I'm concerned a psychologist telling you that alcoholism is a disease is akin to a microbiologist telling you that the bacteria you ingested attacked your immune system because you were weak willed.

I don't like AA. A higher power never took me to a meeting. I drove my straight, sober self. I have the Blue Book - not really relevant anymore. But Bill did a lot of good shit at the time. If you want to scare your self sober by reading try "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey (which I know was bullshit but hair-raising non-the-less), "I'm Black and I'm Sober" by Chaney Allen or even "Scar Tissue" by Anthony Kiedis. (Google them you lazy bastards!)
The other thing I don't like about AA is the negative emphasis. EDIT: And the constant focus on staying dry. Spending all your time obsessed with not drinking isn't healthy - all you end up doing is thinking about drinking. All the time. I'm a great believer in pro-activity and silver linings.Spending your life focusing on how you've managed not to have a drink each day seems like a wasted effort. Go out, have fun, do shit that you enjoy doing. Then quietly reflect at the end of the day that you couldn't have done a lot of it if you'd spent your day drinking. I love taking my daughter fishing at the end of a busy day.

Finally - lower the bar. Don't hold others to your expectations.
A mate of mine hopped on the wagon a couple of years ago. His missus kept drinking most days and smoked a shitload of pot all day, every day.
She had offered to go "dry" with him but he told her that was her choice (as he should have) but she flatly refused to stop smoking. That was where he had issues. He could see her addiction and expected her to "give up" as much as he had (she clearly didn't have a problem with her drinking and was easily able to give it up). Yet his expectations were that she would be as "dry" as him.
I know it caused them a lot of problems - at the end of the day, he was going it alone and he needed to focus on that rather than worry about whether his missus was straight and sober.

To anybody who's dry or trying - talk to people you love openly about it. If they judge you then it's not *really* the end of the world (no matter who they are). If you drink bottle(s) of "hard" stuff a day go to a doctor when you quit because going dry without medical supervision can be far more dangerous than going cold turkey from smack.

My 2 cents.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sat 16 Feb 2013, 6:51, 7 replies)

Nothing hilarious..
...about ditching the demon drink.

I've done it about 30 times in the last 6 years, now hoping it was the last.

You're right in that the only thing that matters at the end of the day is not taking that first drink.
(Galahad is out of his gourd on yellow bentines, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 11:25, closed)

I'm going to focus on what's important here
You said "don't share kiddies". Good advice indeed.
( Ghoti Fingers, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 11:31, closed)

And
"lower the bar".

Frankly it's a mess of contradictions.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 11:53, closed)

You tell the best stories, ringo.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 14:41, closed)

You're angling for another
merit sticker, aren't you?
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sat 16 Feb 2013, 21:32, closed)

You know me so well.
Dib dib dib, and all that.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 21:58, closed)

cheers

(woocfot friends with Sacha Distel, Sat 16 Feb 2013, 17:57, closed)

Another..
..good book is 'Dry' by Augusten Burroughs. Very very funny too.
(inflateable, Sun 17 Feb 2013, 20:25, closed)