Very good post. I’d also suggest that the use of the term “epidemic” to describe any and all personal and social disorders doesn’t help, either. An epidemic is a medical condition that is dangerous to a large population simply because it can be spread through casual contact. Heroin abuse isn’t an “epidemic” any more than alcoholism is a “disease,” and pretending otherwise results in a gross misuse of public resources.
Amen!!! If alcoholism is a "disease," it's self-inflicted and self-cured. I bet that folks who suffer from real diseases like MS and Type 1 Diabetes, only wish that they could make all of their symptoms disappear simply by halting a negative behavior.
I have concluded that for some (if not most!) of we alcoholics, alcoholism is more like a fairly rare allergy. I'm allergic -- I break out in handcuffs! Most people don't; I, like my grandfather did, seem to have a physiological reaction to alcohol that is violent and crazy, and I don't remember a darned thing the next day. If eating strawberries made me break out in a rash, what would I do? I'd stop eating strawberries!!!! Same thing with booze. I finally quit drinking booze (it wasn't easy, but it was very, very simple) and guess what!!! All of the symptoms of my "disease" completely disappeared! And they've remained absent for the past 20-plus years that I've declined alcohol!! Imagine that!!!
I once saw my "allergy" to booze as a curse, but in time, I came to recognize it as a singular BLESSING from God, a gift for me from Him. I turned to Jesus, became closer to God, and believe now that it was His way of helping me in fumbling my way along His path. I resent any do-gooder, government or otherwise, who would presume to deny me or anyone else that opportunity for the spiritual growth that learning to overcome an addiction provides. Addiction is a moral/spiritual problem, not a legal one. Government is AMORAL and should be limited to minimum power. Religion is moral and its power is proven and demonstrated.
One thing though, correcting my post #53 — Sherlock Holmes was actually a cocaine addict, not a heroin addict, though heroin addiction did play a part in at least one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories.
Very good point also about the misnomer of “epidemic” for indulgences of weak character. Well said.