Alcohol: Use, Abuse and Addiction
Smart drinking means alcohol was one element of your weekend, not the prime focus.

What is normal when it comes to drinking?

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, and the Addiction Research Foundation, define moderate drinking as no more than one or two alcohol drinks a day (for daily drinkers), with at least one day a week without drinking. Moderate for “weekend” drinkers is four drinks for men, three for women; these amounts no more than three times a week. Another excellent guideline is: never drink on an empty stomach, stick to one drink per hour for smaller people, two per hour for larger people, and no drinking of alcohol for at least an hour before bed.

What is problem drinking?

Drinking becomes problematic when it interferes with your life: your relationships, your studies, your work, your safety, your health, your responsibilities, and/or the rights and safety of others. If alcohol has affected you in any of these areas and yet you have not changed your drinking pattern, then you have an alcohol problem.

What is alcohol addiction, or alcoholism?

you if, when you are sober, you are preoccupied with thoughts of drinking, you can’t or don’t stop drinking once you’ve started, and you continually break your own intentions or promises to change your drinking patterns. If you succeed at changing your self-defined problematic drinking patterns by yourself, you weren’t physically addicted. If you can never manage to quit or control your drinking for a long period of time, you may have a physical addiction.

Six Steps to Sensible Drinking:

1. Keep track. Alcohol is not juice. Treat it more seriously than a beverage. Keep track of how much you drank tonight, and this week.

2. Pace yourself. Over an evening, alternate your alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic drinks. Don’t drink on an empty stomach: have dinner before drinking, and snack while you party. Dilute drinks with juice or milk. Have no more than one drink an hour.

3. Try partying with less or no alcohol, and try other extra-curricular activities besides partying. You may be surprised how much fun you have!

4. Learn when to not drink (eg. when sad or depressed, when you need to be alert, when you’ve already had enough, when on medication or an empty stomach), and how to refuse drinks without feeling anti-social.

5. Don’t use alcohol to allegedly escape from stress or problems, or to “give” you social skills you think you don’t have when you’re not drinking. Learn how to be confident and release stress without the crutch of alcohol.

6. Don’t drink out of habit: just because it’s Saturday, or you’re at the Pub and you always drink at the Pub, or because “everyone else is”, or because you did well on a test, or because you did badly on a test ...

If you are worried about your drinking or someone else’s, you can consult confidentially with Kris Trotter or Christiana MacDougall Fleming, MtA’s Personal Counsellors (364-2255 for an appointment); or Cindy Crossman, MtA’s Nurse Educator (364-2163); or Ken McKenzie at the Sackville Hospital on Wednesdays (856-2333 for an appointment).