by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: July 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 21, 2008

An alcoholic drinking socially is akin to a child eating only one piece of candy. The chances that an alcoholic will fall back into the cycle of full blown drinking are extremely high. It's just not a good idea to mix the disease of alcoholism Search this Site with a couple of beers with the boys once a week.

The "can" in the same sentence as "an alcoholic ever drink again socially" is a little tricky. Of course he CAN. I think that to even compare the word can and should in this sentence is being a little picky about wording. If you add a quick "and not be brought down by it" to the end of the question, you would have a whole different look at the word can. Sure, they "can" drink socially. But the chances of it ending socially are completely against this person.

If you have the disease you should do everything in your power to stay away from any of the temptations associated with it.

Just as giving a child an entire bag of candy and telling him to eat only one piece for now is a bad choice, so is the idea of putting an alcoholic in a room full of liquor and telling him to only have one drink. How does this scenario really sound like it will turn out? It's not a very promising picture, is it?

Let's just address some of the problems associated with the idea of having just a social drink to an alcoholic. Chances are, if this question is posed, the person it is directed at is someone that has already been through the ringer with alcohol. They battle with wanting a drink every single day of their life. One little sip of "the hair of the dog" could send that person spinning hopelessly out of control again. Although the term "hair of the dog" refers to a remedy for a hangover , if you are an alcoholic, your life has become one huge hangover.

This person may have already lost family because of their addiction to alcohol. Families suffer severely when it comes to this terrible problem. Alcohol affects a persons sense of judgment although they may think that it's numbing some kind of pain that they have felt. Alcoholics often become mean and/or violent spirits. This endangers anyone around them.

There may have been a loss of a job along the way also. Alcoholism often causes the inability to function in every day life. If this is the case and possibly the reason the alcoholic stopped drinking in the first place, is it really a good idea to encourage them to pick up the habit again? You can justify having a drink socially, that is a sure bet. You might even get away with it a few times and think everything is okay. The cold, hard fact is, though, that it will eventually catch you and take you under the water once again.

The question is very simple to answer when you think of all the consequences you will probably have to face again. If you don't mind taking the chance of losing everything again or if you don't mind scaring your family half out of their mind again, then I say go for it. The only thing you have to lose is everything, again. Please take this advice from someone who has lived around alcoholics all of her life. It destroys more than your own life. It destroys the life of everyone around you. Don't try to drink socially when you already know that you have the problem. It's just not worth the cost.

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