My friend drinks a lot.

[TechBoyJK]

Is there a point to this thread, or do you just want to know if that's a lot to drink?

Yes, that's a lot for one person to drink, and he probably left because you were out of beer.

Pretty much. I don't drink much. I grew up around people who drank a lot but it was more or less when we were younger and it was partying, etc. Now that I'm 30+ I look at that differently. For someone 30+, with no life and no money, it seems a bit much to be going through a 12 pack in a few hours on a weeknight for no big reason.

 

[BoomerD]

I have a friend who is 31, doesn't have a job, still lives it at home, etc. He's actually never moved out and hasn't had a job in a few years. He's adopted and their only child. I often think his mom doesn't want him to leave the house. There's some weird, made for Jerry Springer shit going on.

He drinks a lot and almost everytime I see him he's carrying around a case of beer.

My roommate is friends with him too, and they were hanging out last night. I noticed my friend brought over a 12 pack of keystone light. I got up this morning and noticed the 12 pack, empty. He was probably only over for 3 hours or so. He's also only 5'5 and maybe 135-140 pounds.

Isn't that a lot to drink in one sitting for no reason? It was a monday night.

So you know Locut0s personally?

 

[AreaCode707]

I find it interesting that people consider this acceptable behavior in the early twenties but not in the thirties, as though drinking heavily when you're young doesn't have any connection to an alcohol problem when you're older.

 

[Wyndru]

I find it interesting that people consider this acceptable behavior in the early twenties but not in the thirties, as though drinking heavily when you're young doesn't have any connection to an alcohol problem when you're older.

People probably figure that when you are in your 20's you are more likely to attend keggers and stay out all hours of the night getting drunk. In your 30's most people mellow out and are less likely to do keg stands and stay up until 4am getting drunk, probably due to a more stable life (family, career, etc...)

 

[Soundmanred]

A&E Intervention here we come!

 

[AreaCode707]

People probably figure that when you are in your 20's you are more likely to attend keggers and stay out all hours of the night getting drunk. In your 30's most people mellow out and are less likely to do keg stands and stay up until 4am getting drunk, probably due to a more stable life (family, career, etc...)

Yeah, I get that's how people think about the lifestyles but it's in total denial of how alcohol addiction works.

I'm not just randomly bashing on drinking; I'm definitely not a teetotaler myself. I'm just pointing out that when you regularly attend keggers and get drunk you ARE conditioning your body to expect and rely on that alcohol, chemically speaking, and simply maturing mentally and socially doesn't do anything to change the physiological dependence on alcohol that you spent several years developing.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I find it interesting that people consider this acceptable behavior in the early twenties but not in the thirties, as though drinking heavily when you're young doesn't have any connection to an alcohol problem when you're older.

I think part of it is that there's a bit of leeway given in society for an "experimental" phase when you're young. When people reach college/post high school real world it is often the first time in their lives that people are not setting boundaries for them. It is not unusual for them to subsequently cross all of those boundaries (sex/drugs/lifestyle) that had been set for them before, just to see what it is like on the other side. Their actions at this point are not necessarily indicative of the lifestyle they will choose later.

Most people, by the time they hit their mid 20s, have worked out a lifestyle that works from them. Concern arises when that lifestyle is as destructive as the one they "tried out" in their early 20s, as is the case for this guy.

 

[GTSRguy]

A&E Intervention here we come!

Haha! Thats exactly what i was thinking!

I look forward to this up and coming A&E episode. There was JUST a guy on who was 31 years old, and has no job and is a major alcolholic, this thread reminded me of him. He was one of the few who changed after the intervention.

 

[Specop 007]

Your friend is an alchoholic.

Clearly. The OP has shared one incident of drinking therefor he must be an alcoholic.

 

[GTSRguy]

I think part of it is that there's a bit of leeway given in society for an "experimental" phase when you're young. When people reach college/post high school real world it is often the first time in their lives that people are not setting boundaries for them. It is not unusual for them to subsequently cross all of those boundaries (sex/drugs/lifestyle) that had been set for them before, just to see what it is like on the other side. Their actions at this point are not necessarily indicative of the lifestyle they will choose later.

Most people, by the time they hit their mid 20s, have worked out a lifestyle that works from them. Concern arises when that lifestyle is as destructive as the one they "tried out" in their early 20s, as is the case for this guy.

Totally agree! Im 22 and have the urge to walk past the boundry lines...to me its 'living'. I should note ive been very conservative my whole life (not in a political way)

 

[AreaCode707]

I think part of it is that there's a bit of leeway given in society for an "experimental" phase when you're young. When people reach college/post high school real world it is often the first time in their lives that people are not setting boundaries for them. It is not unusual for them to subsequently cross all of those boundaries (sex/drugs/lifestyle) that had been set for them before, just to see what it is like on the other side. Their actions at this point are not necessarily indicative of the lifestyle they will choose later.

Most people, by the time they hit their mid 20s, have worked out a lifestyle that works from them. Concern arises when that lifestyle is as destructive as the one they "tried out" in their early 20s, as is the case for this guy.

Yeah, socially I totally get that. The thing is, what you "try out" socially is what you are actually living physically. You can try out a lifestyle of substance abuse and decide the lifestyle isn't for you as you grow out of it, but the effects of the substance abuse are still there. You are not magically immune from addition in your early 20s.

We treat the early 20s as a time for experimentation and close our eyes to the fact that we are condoning alcohol abuse and then somehow expecting that social condemnation alone in the early 30s is enough to make someone stop abusing. It works for some people, definitely, but it is most certainly setting others up for failure.

The teens and early twenties always have been and always will be a time for experimentation, but if we collectively remained aware that an alcohol problem in your twenties is as serious as an alcohol problem in your thirties, it just be acknowledging a physical reality and, maybe, would help some people avoid that path.

 

[MetalMat]

Does he drink a 12 pack every day?

 

[zinfamous]

12 cans of water between 2 people?

hardly a drinking problem if you ask me.

 

[Avalon]

I find it interesting that people consider this acceptable behavior in the early twenties but not in the thirties, as though drinking heavily when you're young doesn't have any connection to an alcohol problem when you're older.

Sure, it can have connections, but the majority of the party hard college kids don't become (or stay, depending on how you want to look at it) alcoholics when they get older.

If you want to consider the social acceptance as an enabler to a predispisition for alcoholism, then I can see your point, but I don't really think it's the root problem, as I don't consider it a physical addiction.

As for the OP's friend...his parents just need to set him straight and give him some goals. Sounds like they're failing at that.

 

[infoiltrator]

An alcoholic can be any age, a binge drinker or a constant one. The definition is usually once started, doesn't stop till all available alcohol is gone or he/she passes out.
If you have the genetic disposition it takes very little to start and a lot to stop.
One of my uncles was a functional (mostly) binge drinker, lasted into his 60's. Went from a 50's rich kid to broke in 40 years, very tedious the last 20 at least.
Better look hard at who this guy spends the most time with.
Alcoholics tend to become "give aways" while feeling good or users scamming for their next high, and they like company both ways.
Ask him if he knows where to buy booze on Sunday, or if he runs a tab at liquor stores.
Somestimes I think parenting should require certificates and performance evaluations. Sometimes.
Sometimes I think booze bottles should display the the score card %ages of addiction and abuse.
No one knows what the majority of party hardy college kids become.
Some are lost, ..

 

[jbt52]

Who cares? It's all just labels based on each individuals perception.
"An alcoholic is anyone you don’t like who drinks more than you do." -Dylan Thomas

 

[TechBoyJK]

Does he drink a 12 pack every day?

he says 2-3 times per week. He's actually scaled back a bit, but I think that's an effect of not having money