Alcoholism is a disease of the mind and the body. It is genetic in origin and it is always fatal if left untreated. For someone to say that it is simply a matter of choice is to speak out of profound ignorance. If it was just a matter of will, AA would not exist. I have been in the recovery community for 14 years. I have experienced the tremendous effort of will required for an alcoholic to abstain from alcohol (or drugs, addiction is addiction) for even a short period both personally and in the observation of others. It is not a weakness moral or otherwise.
It manifests itself as a mental obsession that, even though experience has proven to the alcoholic hundreds of times that to partake is to invite disaster, this time will be different. This is an obsession common to all real alcoholics, there is no exception.
Once alcohol has been ingested, in any amount, the disease then manifests itself as an uncontrollable craving. That craving can only be quenched by more alcohol.
The body of an alcoholic metabolizes alcohol in a different manner than "normies." That is why an alcoholic in the heart of his addiction can consume amounts of alcohol that would kill a normal drinker. I have known people to drink a gallon a day of whiskey day after day. I myself used to drink so much that bartenders used to shake their heads in wonder. I had bartender give me nicknames like Mr. "T" because I would drink 9-12 Long Island iced teas and then get up and walk away without weaving or even appearing drunk.
The problem that people have in calling it a disease stems from the fact that the only long term treatment is a spiritual one, not a pill that comes in a bottle.
That's a very interesting statement. Do you think the "medical community" would ever bring itself to admit that the only long-term treatment for something they call a "disease" is a spiritual one?