Is Alcoholism a disease?

I cannot in good conscience consider alcoholism a disease. Not at all. While I empathize with sufferers of addiction including alcohol, how can anyone compare failing to quit drinking to something like cancer?

I'm sure people will dislike me because I feel I am allowed differentiate between the two. It's not that I am telling anyone how to feel. Everyone has the right to feel however they want. This only my opinion which I feel I'm allowed to have.

It's not like I don't have any experience with both alcoholism and cancer. My mother who was an admitted alcoholic died three months ago of cancer. My brother and I used to sneak cans of Budweiser and marboro red cigarettes into the garage and drink after her and her boyfriend passed out. This was in 4th grade right before my brother left to live with our grandmother. My mom's boyfriend Paul hit my brother in the mouth with a beer bottle that was intended for my mother. It broke his front tooth and the police decided Paul could no longer be around my brother.

I didn't drink again after that year until I was 13 and went to my cousin Gabriel's wedding. I snuck champagne and beer and almost caused a big fight between the families. My cousin Ruben and I were checking out some guys car and he started giving us shit saying we were too close to it. By the time I was in 12th grade I was working full time at McDonalds and drinking at night after work. We would go to my friend Thom's house and drink. We would also go over to my friend Fernando's Mexican restaurant and drink while playing cards.

The following year while stationed in Washington it only got worse. By the time I was 19 I was driving back and forth to Vancouver Canada to clubs three days a week. Between that and visiting a girl Sheila I met there I was drinking beer, vodka, rum, and Vancouver's best raspberry ciders. They're like 7% alcohol. It all culminated in being pulled over by the police for illegal lane usage. They found an open bottle of bacardi and missed a corona stashed in the seat pocket of my Jeep Wrangler. Ended up with a court date and up in front of the Captain. I only showed up to one of those appointments. I'll tell that story another time though.

My point is that I'm exactly who becomes an alcoholic. But even if I succumb to being an alcoholic I hope I never start calling it a disease.

Anything that you can quit and it goes away is not a disease. I honestly feel that is a way of admitting you're powerless against it. Like it owns them and they cannot get rid of it. If they quit they can say they beat a disease and so they can feel like they've conquered something. I just feel if you need to give yourself a fake disease so that you can beat it to feel good about yourself? In my opinion it means there are insecurities there that need to be worked out.

I'm not trying to be judgmental order holier than thou. Trust me, I'm no better than anyone. A homeless man on the street is my brother. No matter his background, color, or beliefs. I believe we are all the same underneath. I also feel physically what others feel. No, not to the extent they do. But when I see someone struggling with addiction, pain, sickness, sadness, loss, I feel their pain.

I have no idea what my future holds. I do have faith though. I've already accomplished more than I ever thought I would. The rest is above everything I could have ever imagined. I guess you can say I had low expectations or none at all. I do know that I've had ups and downs with alcohol. There are times I've felt I controlled alcohol while other times alcohol has controlled me. If i become consumed by it it's on me to find help. But to try and say I have a disease? To me, that's offending everyone that has ever had a real disease that they did nothing to bring upon themselves. Yes, some cancers are caused by people themselves. Others diseases like Leukemia, small children never did anything to deserve that. Let's not feel so guilty about our choices that we need to blame a disease in order to cope. So that if we conquer it we feel strong or if we fail we have something besides ourselves to blame it on.

I hope that I can simply accept my choices and responsibility for something that I could have decided was a risk at anytime. Instead I chose to roll the dice and hope I can control it.

Instead of a disease it's more like a gambling addiction. Continuing to risk losing it all by betting against the odds. We all have freedom of choice. I can't complain about the consequences if I am the one that chose to risk it all.