"Utterly Addicted To Alcohol (documentary)"

[jts]

Some years ago an alcoholic tried to bum some money off me. Usually I ignored these people but this one time I decided to have a little fun with him. First I interrogated him. Why was he in need of money? He had to pay the rent. That wasn't a good enough reason. The real reason was he drank it and was broke until the end of the month. It was early in the month. He said he didn't drink any alcohol for 9 days. I asked him, is 9 days a long time for him to go without alcohol? Yup it was. I was skeptical about whether he didn't consume any alcohol for the last 9 days because I smelled alcohol on his breath.

After interrogating him, I lectured him. I told him that alcohol (at least in excess) works against every rational value. Whatever you can rationally value -- money, health, family, job, career, reputation, whatever -- alcohol works against it. He enthusiastically agreed with everything I said, saying repeatedly "you got that right".

Ethics is that branch of Objectivism that has to do with values. That's why I posted this under Ethics.

After the lecture, he wanted 2 dollars. I didn't give him anything, figuring I wouldn't being doing either of us a favor if I did. He cussed at me.

The following 45 minute video is an education for any young person who thinks alcohol is a joke. In AA they say alcohol is "cunning, baffling, powerful". I'm glad I'm a kook. I outsmarted alcohol by not getting started on the *&^%$ stuff. That's a megapowerful decision. Not even alcohol can beat that.

I defy any philosopher or logician to refute the following proposition:

If I never take the first drink, I will never take the second drink.

http://youtu.be/uQu7yzV_9N4

[tmj]

I figure you owe that guy $2. His asking apparently gave you the right to have some fun with, interrogate, lecture him. I would be willing to bet he figured that was the price he had to pay to get the money. Why did you waste his time? Just to hear yourself speak?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Ethics is that branch of Objectivism that has to do with values. That's why I posted this under Ethics.

Jerry,

Well, I moved this thread to the Addiction section and I am now going to straighten this sucker out.

Let's start with "ethics." Honesty in preaching is one of those values, don't you think? Or do you believe it is ethical to lie and manipulate to promote another ethical value? Is that Objectivism to you? It is not that to me.

This was a pain in the ass to research, but here's the reason I did it. The ONE thing that I was sick and tired of when I was in recovery was the constant lying and manipulation by people trying to get me to stop. I'm not saying you are lying, but you are trying to be manipulative with your sheer carelessness. And I believe you know it, but I can't be sure so I'll just leave it at suspicion.

Let's dig in, shall we? To start with, the title of this documentary is not "Utterly Addicted to Alcohol." It is "High on Alcohol" and it is part of the "Drugged" series of National Geographic. Here is a YouTube link with the correct title:

Drugged - High On Alcohol

http://youtu.be/_dJ97Vwoup4

Also, you can read something about it at the official National Geographic site: Episode: Drugged: High on Alcohol.

As of this posting, when you click on the "Overview" link on that page, you get the following message: "UH… OH… 404 ERROR." I think I know the reason, too. They probably have to feature this documentary on their site for contractual reasons, but the story of this film is ugly.

It was produced by Pioneer Productions. In order to get realism into their films on drugs and alcohol, they needed real users. So they did what lots of companies do when they need someone, they advertized. Here is an example:

New TV Documentary Series Seeks Addicts

A production company is offering free rehab for featured crystal meth, alcohol, heroin and crack addicts.

The Fix

All this is well and good, but what kind of rehab did they offer? That's where this story gets funky.

Ryan, the alcoholic in the film, died in rehab after 17 days. If you look around the web at user comments, you will see people frustrated at the lack of explanation and details in the film about how and why Ryan died. It's all vague.

Well, I found something. His younger brother claimed he died of mistreatment in the rehab center--see here. The following is a quote from that link:

it wasnt suicide according to someone claiming to be his brother on this video comments - . I well answer your question cause i know the whole story. For you see I am the youngest brother of Ryan. My older brother died from being pulled a way from alcohol which his body need to survive on. all in all he died from mistreatment at the rehab center. I thank you all for seeing my brother last moments, and i hope this video would help out other people out there with alcoholism.

Someone over there did some digging and came up with this article:

Bay Recovery Center doctor surrenders medical license

By Paul Sisson

NOV. 5, 2012

UT San Diego

From the article:

A San Diego doctor, who was investigated for allegedly overprescribing drugs to himself and his patients, has surrendered his medical license, according to a disciplinary order released by the Medical Board of California.

The order, posted on the state agency’s website, ordered Dr. Jerry N. Rand to surrender his license, effective Oct. 31. The signatures of both Rand and his attorney appear on the document, but neither responded to a request for comment on the matter Monday.

. . .

The report accused Rand of “extreme polypharmacy” for prescribing multiple medications with inadequate care for possible drug interactions in his treatment of a 29-year-old woman who drowned in a bathtub in 2008.

This year, a 28-year-old man died at one of Bay Recovery’s residential treatment centers. The department concluded that Bay failed to refer the client to a higher level of care even though he had been disoriented and hallucinating for several days.

Apparently, that 28 year old man who died at the Bay Recovery Center in San Diego was Ryan.

In other words, Pioneer Productions hired a real-life alcoholic to do this movie and promised him treatment, but put him in a rehab facility that killed him.

That's the truth.

As to the message in the film, some people will resonate with this scorched earth approach and others will not. I'm keeping it here in the Addiction section for those who do.

Michael

[anthony]

Unfunny topic, but "Dr.Jerry 'n Rand" is good for a wry grin...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Incidentally, once upon a time in Brazil, I was approached by a bum on the street. (This is a true story from the days when I was still in the orchestra.) It was about two in the morning. He claimed he was "watching" my car, which had been parked on the street next to the theater for half a day or so as the orchestra traveled by bus to a nearby town for a concert.

Normally, I blew off these guys, but this time I decided to go for it. I pulled out a somewhat generous amount and handed it to the bum. I said, "Listen, I know you should use this for bread or milk or something like that, but I want you to go get the biggest glass of pinga you can find and enjoy yourself. But here's the deal. Right before you drink it, I want you to toast the gringo who gave you this money. Now, remember. No food or anything stupid like that. Pure pinga. And I want my toast."

(Pinga is a very cheap kind of Brazilian rum.)

The bum grinned and promised he would do exactly that. I drove off.

I woke up the next morning with the worst backache I had ever experienced in my life. It hurt to breathe. That sucker stayed with me for two weeks.

Is there cause and effect here? Damned if I know. But I never did that stunt again. And I never had any backache like that again. (Call me chickenshit.)

Michael

[SoAMadDeathWish]

I have no clue how anybody could be addicted to alcohol. I can barely stand the smell.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Naomi,

Consider yourself blessed.

Michael

[PDS]

Naomi,

Consider yourself blessed.

Michael

Blessed indeed.

[syrakusos]

I am not an alcoholic. Alcoholics go to meetings. I drink alone. I am a drunkard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46pQwwF8uww

Beer is civilization. That goes for wine, also. The Hungarian word for "wine" is "bort" (beer) and the word for "beer" means "brown." In the oldest of times, the distinction was not clear. Grain and fruit were stored in wells and at the bottom was liquid. Indeed, bears are known to find fermented fruit on the ground. Fermenting - zymurgy - was the folkway that became organic chemistry.

You can be "addicted" to anything, even sex. But would you give up sex because some Puritan is shocked ("... shocked, I tell you...") at your behavior?

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." -- Ayn Rand

Alcohol broke us free of the instinctive thinking of apes and allowed wild ideas such as symbolic writing and predictive astronomy. It is no accident that numbers larger than 3 led to writing in the same times and places that beer was brewed. (If you care to know the truth search for Denise Schmandt-Besserat.)

Read about local Austin beer here

http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/2013/06/awesome-austin-foods.html

and here

http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/2014/03/around-austin.html

[BaalChatzaf]

Oh come on. I have done my best mathematics cold sober.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[jts]

Charles Darwin in "Descent of Man" writes:

"An American monkey, an Ateles, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus was wiser than many men."

[Brant Gaede]

Reprised

[Peter]

I am reading the latest Robert Parker novel about New England Sheriff Jesse Stone. The character is an alcoholic. His therapist (played by chain smoking William Devane in the TV movies) refuses to congratulate Jesse for going nearly a year without getting drunk. He said something like, to an alcoholic drinking is like holding your breath. You can do it for a while but when you start holding your breath you know you are going to eventually breath again.

Peter

[PDS]

On April 3, 2014 at 4:28 PM, BaalChatzaf said:

Oh come on. I have done my best mathematics cold sober.

Ba'al Chatzaf

How do you know?  

[BaalChatzaf]

48 minutes ago, PDS said:

How do you know?  

I am always cold sober

[PDS]

30 minutes ago, BaalChatzaf said:

I am always cold sober

Christopher Hitchens would like a word with you...

[BaalChatzaf]

18 hours ago, PDS said:

Christopher Hitchens would like a word with you...

I wish it were possible for me to have a word with Christopher.  He is one of my favorite people.