when I was in Straight, being "sober" meant totally abstaining form drugs and alcohol, but the unspoken rule, as it is in AA, is that you could still smoke cigarettes and stay "sober". Of course, Bill W. died of his drug addiction to cigarettes (emphysema).
When I was in straight, nobody was taking Ritalin or Adderal but they were taking Prozac, is this being sober?
At SAFE, smoking pot is relapsing but nobody thinks twice of taking Adderal for ADD (Adderal is a combination of 4 amphetamines, all amphetamines are more toxic to the human body than cocaine) Is that sobriety?
I think that people?s definition of sobriety is weak at best. People tend to put all drugs in the category of drugs except the ones they use (Alcohol is just a drink, pot is just an herb, Adderal is just medication, etc.)
Personally, I like intoxication and believe its a wonderful and natural thing that has been part of mankind since the dawn of time and yet I also believe that addiction is a terrible thing. An analogy is that food is wonderful but bulimia is bad. I also believe that neither Bulimics nor drug addicts are criminals.
Elvis Prelsley was a spokesman for Nixons war on drugs and he died a drug addict. Have we all lost our perspective? I see little rhyme or reason in our cultural definition of sobriety.
~John