Under the Influence

The biggest danger of the alcohol trap is that it gives the addict the illusion of control. This sounds like a contradiction , especially when you see someone who has drunk alcohol when you haven’t, but alcohol removes one’s natural fears and inhibitions. When that happens you feel as though you are more in control but, in fact, you are not. Consequently this leaves the drinker out of control, vulnerable and unprotected. When you are driving your car, you have to be alert in order to make sure you don’t injure yourself or other people. It is natural to have some fear at these times as it’s this fear which is vital for our survival. However, when alcohol short-circuits the brain, it removes this fear and gives the addict the illusion that they are calmer and more in control so their perception has now changed.

There are still some people who believe that they are better drivers when they have had a couple of drinks and I used to be one of them. Was I stupid for thinking this? No, the reality is that I did feel calm, more relaxed and in control at the time but these were illusions, and how was I to know when I was the one who was under the influence? When I woke up the next morning, my perception of what had happened had not changed. I felt hungover and thought I had been outrageously stupid to drink and drive but I still believed that the feelings I had experienced while under the influence were real.

They say that a good friend should never let you drink and drive. That is true and a good friend wouldn’t. A friend who actually knows what they are doing that is. It is no good asking them to hang on to your keys so that you don’t drive home if you have too much to drink. Once they are under the influence themselves, their judgement vanishes and it is not them any more. Your true friend has already left and the person who remains just wants to get home and wants you to provide the transport. You may drive to a pub with the best intentions in the world but, as soon as that alcohol hits your brain cells, you feel a false sense of control. You would never normally contemplate drinking and driving but it’s no longer the real you who is driving home. ‘Under the influence’ means literally that: being controlled in what you say, do, and think.

Most people realise that alcohol drinkers do not drive better but are in fact endangering the lives of others as alcohol slows down their reactions. This awareness was highlighted partly due to the organisation MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). Their campaign in the early eighties led to people changing their attitude to drink-driving but it still wasn’t enough to make me ask myself whether all my other reasons for drinking were fallacies too. Take the idea that it makes you a fun person. Alcohol does not turn you into a fun person. How many people do you know who are dull and annoying and who, after a drink, don’t turn into fun people? Far from it, they become even more boring and annoying and all you want to do is get rid of them.

In truth, alcohol does none of the things which we are convinced it does including the one about …