Hopefully Scotland's prescribing of Nalmefene will be a big success & Australia will follow suit. Buying my Naltrexone online costs me a small fortune & I am always always worried the stuff will get lost in transit.

I am currently building a stock pile as an insurance policy

Wow, I am so glad I stumbled on this thread. This is a topic that I have been thinking about for some time now. My experience of the public's perception (generally speaking) is that alcoholism is a) a moral issue, and b) can only be managed through abstinence. There are also those that are completely ignorant and tell you to just drink less. I have had two very close friends of 20+ years simply walk away from our friendship because I wouldn't (read couldn’t) stop. They took the position that I was a selfish son of a b**** and no longer worthy of a relationship with them. This was after I spent countless hours pleading the disease aspect of alcoholism. That was a very painful experience that showed me how difficult it is to move preconceived notions.

I'm not denying that I haven't exhibited selfish tendencies in my life. And I’ve been around other addicts that have made me look like an altar boy. Nor am I denying that I had a big hand in developing my alcoholism. But I have wanted to stop for nearly four years now and have been unable to accomplish that. It certainly hasn't been for lack of effort nor has the personal price been inexpensive to me and my family. The physical, financial, and emotional toll that has been paid over that period has far outweighed any benefit from booze. I truly believe (and have experienced) that at some point you lose the luxury of choice. It even says that in the AA literature.

But if alcoholism can be managed as a pharmacological issue (and people on this forum are living proof) it opens up a Pandora's Box of issues that the world is simply not ready to handle. There are entire institutions/industries that have been constructed to deal with our moral failings. Religious institutions have been around since the beginning of mankind to deal with our fallen condition and sin. The recovery industry is entirely built around the concept of addiction being incurable. The philosophical and economic implications are enormous and it is going to take a long time to change those opinions. And that is just what they are, opinions not grounded in fact.

I agree with dothework regarding AA. Spending countless hours sitting around in preschool rooms discussing alcohol actual made me sicker than I was before I joined. And hearing people say that the hand of God reached down one day and took away the obsession drove me nuts. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I saying the prayers wrong or was I praying to the wrong God? Frankly I think those boasts were a load of BS. I wouldn’t bash anything that helps people. I’ve seen people that were absolute train wrecks go through the program and turn their lives around and become productive members of society. That's a great thing. But I would question the belief that their methodology is the only way and that alcoholism is incurable. That type of mindset can actually cost lives if there is another way out.

Interesting that you brought this back up. My last two blog posts were on some of these topics.

It's a really complicated issue, though. There are people who see it as a weakness which we indulge by ongoing choice. There are people who see it as a disease which strikes from without. Neither is using a very useful paradigm IMO.

There's also that line about just substituting one pill for another. It's so foolish, but some people think it's so clever. Nothing ever goes away as long as some people think it sounds clever.