24/01/2025
I AM SO GLAD THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ALCOHOL 🍷 HERE'S WHY ... There's a thing called 'ni****ne replacement therapy' (NRT). Basically, NRTs are used as aides to give up smoking. They include patches, lozenges, nasal spray, gum, inhalers, and 'v**es' (e ci******es).
The purpose of NRTs is to provide ni****ne without the harmful chemicals found in ci******es; reduce the frequency & intensity of cravings & withdrawal symptoms; and help to reduce the risk of relapse in the early stages of quitting.
But here's the catch. The addictive compound in ci******es is NI****NE. Therefore, the problem with NRTs is that they are merely replacing one form of ni****ne with another, keeping the CYCLE OF ADDICTION ACTIVE.
I'm certainly not discouraging anything that ultimately stands a chance of helping someone overcome an addiction of any kind. My issue though, is that to conquer the addiction, we must REMOVE THE SUBSTANCE THAT IS PERPETUATING THAT ADDICTION.
This is why the common act of 'va**ng' is not working & has in fact now become a scourge. While va**ng started out as a perfectly 'innocent' NRT, whose main objective was to help people quit smoking by making cigarette withdrawal symptoms more tolerable, it has now overtaken smoking as a pastime. In other words, those who take up va**ng are now enjoying 'inhaling a v**e' as an enjoyable activity in & of itself. This is not therapy. This is just another harmful addiction. Moreover, many of those who are va**ng were never smoking ci******es in the first place, so are not using v**es for their original marketed & intended purpose: as an NRT.
And this is why I am so glad there is NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ALCOHOL. In other words, there are no 'alcohol replacement therapies', or substitutes which replace one form of alcohol for another.
One reason no ARTs have ever been developed? Quite simply, because, unlike NRTs, there is NO SAFE FORM OF ALCOHOL. All alcohol, in almost any amount, is harmful to the human body.
On the other hand, a piece of ni****ne gum is far less harmful than a cigarette, so it is a helpful tool in the cessation of smoking. But there is no helpful form of alcohol.
Which is a good thing. Because if there were, many of us would switch from one form to another, only to find that the cycle is increasingly difficult to break.
The only way to quit alcohol is to quit alcohol. Period. There's no way around it. And that's okay. In fact, it's more than okay. It's good. Because I feel for those who are trying to quit smoking & turn to an NRT, only to find themselves addicted to the NRT.
I can attest to this, when I became dependent on ni****ne chewing gum a few years ago when I quit smoking. Then it took me years again to GET OFF THE GUM! Talk about defeating the purpose of trying to jump off the addiction train once & for all! 😄 With the gum, I was still riding that train, with every stop calling me to either step off the train to freedom, or stay on it by taking another hit of ni****ne 🚂
And that is why I'm glad there are no ‘ART’ substitutes out there for alcohol. Because I'd rather quit entirely, than to remain in a so called 'therapy'-induced cycle of addiction 🤔
