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To: Skwor
The amount of alcohol consumed in the 18th and 19th Centuries would be considered alcoholism today. But it appears that cannabis and illegal drugs have to some extent replaced beer, wine, and spirits as the means of addiction. However, many people were high functioning alcoholics but there are few high functioning drug addicts.
2 posted on 03/03/2026 3:22:18 AM PST by Wallace T.
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To: Wallace T.

One high-functioning alcohol & drug addict was Hunter S. Thompson. Maybe Keith Richards but I guess he’s cleaned up his act.


8 posted on 03/03/2026 3:43:07 AM PST by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
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To: Wallace T.
“ but there are few high functioning drug addicts.”

Edgar Allen Poe

19 posted on 03/03/2026 5:07:05 AM PST by circlecity
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To: Wallace T.

Revolutionary era people drank ale and cider because water wasn’t safe to drink. They also drank because life was hard and depressing much of the time.


29 posted on 03/03/2026 6:48:34 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Wallace T.

People back then, especially in urban settings, drank brewed and fermented beverages because it was safer than drinking water. It had a slight alcoholic content (1-3%) but not like beer we drink today.

Such beverages no longer exist because we can get clean water, so a lot of time people are confusing modern beer to those types of alcoholic drinks.


40 posted on 03/03/2026 8:46:12 AM PST by Truthsearcher
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To: Wallace T.

Was still better than drinking the water back then.


41 posted on 03/03/2026 8:54:29 AM PST by pas
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