There are certain hellholes (mental and physical) which permeate all stations and boundaries, be they socioeconomic, gender or geographic in nature. The referenced stranglehold jumps oceans and leaps tall buildings. Such is the pernicious and insidious effects of substance abuse. In particular, alcoholism or its precursor alcohol abuse – more often than not – are death traps. This is not only the case for the addict, but for those unfortunate enough to become entangled in their path.

The tragic nightmare of alcoholism is evidenced and starkly amplified below, and its findings are more than heart rending. On the socioeconomic scale, suffice it to state, a physician generally reaches decidedly comfortable heights, aside from the high personal stature accrued. But said status hardly immunizes an accomplished professional from becoming a slave to addiction, to the point of operating on patients while duly impaired! Take, for example, the unfathomable breach of the Hippocratic Oath, as told by a highly respected, seasoned physician: “Could this pill CURE alcoholism? Doctor drinking himself into an early grave tells of his ‘fairy tale’ recovery.” This horror story can be accessed within ‘Alcohol Addiction: Its Stranglehold On Anyone Unfortunate Enough To Succumb To Its Lure’. It is by NO means an isolated case.

Alcohol’s tentacled, inebriating embrace wraps around women, as much as it does around men, whether one is a powerful female executive, regular office worker or stay at home mom. Alcohol (drugs as well) is an equal opportunity abuser and destroyer. Diane Schuler was a “typical” suburban, soccer-loving mama, but no longer alive to tell her harrowing tale; one which not only destroyed her family but others as well. So it is incumbent upon others to be duly mindful of the carnage she wrought, evinced through ‘The Underbelly of Substance Abuse and Its Crossing of All (Societal) Red Lines’.

NOT to be remiss in the trail of devastation, how many are aware that too many who are viewed as rescuers often need rescuing themselves? Simply put, countless in law enforcement, firefighting and security capacities fall sway, and many die (taking down others with them) as a direct result. Never mind the attendant dangers to the public, while paradoxically performing (potentially) life saving duty under the influence, duly described within ‘Police Chiefs Discuss a Tough Issue’.

And for more than obvious reasons, some security-related assignments require abstinence from alcohol, even when fraternizing after hours. Alas, certain individuals are simply incapable of upholding their “oath of duty”. The lure of alcohol is too strong to resist, and they fall prey to its immediate seduction. And whether or not it is “fair” to impose any such rule in the first place, the fact of the matter is that there are too many who imbibe to excess and are train wrecks in the making. Hence, a blanket rule becomes mandatory. So if one cannot adhere to such strictures one has no business in said line of work. Simple as that.

In light of the above, and attesting to alcohol’s wreckage, a young Israeli Navy recruit lost his life and dragged two officers down with him, although as collateral damage. But the fact of the matter is he absolutely had an underlying addiction, whether as an abuser or an alcoholic. And those closest to him may have failed to even recognize his addiction, or chose to blind themselves to reality. There are always enablers in the addict’s midst. Few are islands onto themselves. Either way the damage is irreversible. At its core level, one doesn’t get to the point of drinking oneself into oblivion, hanging onto the back of a moving train, without such a predilection. Similarly, one doesn’t drive drunk, or end up in an emergency room due to alcohol poisoning, if not an abuser, or onto the path of full blown alcoholism. And that’s the (clinical) truth. 

‘Two Israel Navy officers sacked over fatal accident ‘