All intriguing information, but raised a question in my mind.

Isolated rat with nothing to do but coke overindulged until it OD'd.

Rat in a busy world with buddies ignored the coke and had a great rat life.

What of a rat that is caught between the two worlds? Had a taste of the coke but also had the richer environment? 

What of a rat that is caught between the two worlds? Had a taste of the coke but also had the richer environment?

We didn't see that. The isolated rat's adaptation to his environment was to party till he dropped.

The rat with a community had a different agenda.

In general, I think the article above identifies a common pattern. It is way easier to abstain in a pleasant environment, not completely devoid of stress but at least nourishing to the mind and soul. When a fellow gets bored, stressed or depressed, that is the danger zone, and temptation is always around the corner.

I have found this to be the case as well, because I was a binge drinker for much of my career, always buying a bottle of booze or a twelve-pack for the weekend. I began to really despise alcohol when I noticed that it made me grumpy and irritable and unpleasant to the people I cared about most. You know, if booze only made one mean to mean people, that would be okay, wouldn't it, because mean people deserve it, but instead, alcohol just causes collateral damage. I believe alcohol opens a gateway for evil to come into our world. I'm with Mohammed on that, I guess.

When I changed jobs, I found that it was not difficult to simply quit drinking. I turned instead to cannabis, and it was relatively harmless, but certainly does slow the mental faculties and reduce one's energy levels. Now I'm pretty much sober, although I will confess to the occasional lapse, especially when under stress.

I am glad I never tried coke. My brother tried to introduce me to that stuff, back when I was a teenager, but there were too many articles in the media about overdoses back in the day. Also, there is something about intranasal insufflation that appalls me. It's a dangerous mode of taking. Out of caution or whatever, I stuck with booze and weed, but stayed away from the hard stuff. Part of it was to defy my parents, because they were always telling me that marijuana would lead to heroin, speed, coke, etc., due to the "gateway drug" theory, and I wanted to prove them wrong.

Anyway I relate with your posts, james, and say Right On for being out and open about addiction. It is a difficult thing, and we all have addictions of one kind or another, whether recognized or not. Addiction, especially alcoholism, is a big issue in the gay community. I think it may be because people are lonely, but there are other factors too.

It makes sense to me when I think of my own life and addiction. I lived in a place where I had very little stimulation and the only thing to do for fun was drugs. Once I moved out of that place, went to college, and got a life, I found that managing my addiction was a lot easier. 

It's definitely interesting. 

Oh yeah, I wanted to share this article about a Cornell student that got popped for smack (sorry, couldn't resist), but bounced back and graduated. She's all about the white privilege, but I think it's a nice story of redemption and renewal.

I'm not at all pleased with that white privilege concept. Some whites (Ivy Leaguers in particular) are shitloads more privileged than others. Maybe rich assed honkies would be better and more accurate. I haven't seen much of it- but I live in the poorest state in the nation and the leadership here seems hell bent for leather to make #50 as backwards as humanly possible. As it said in the article, it depends on where you get prosecuted. Many jurisdictions are out to give as much time as possible to everybody so white privilege only goes so far.