What is your definition of "sober"

[glider]

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

[Anonymous]

amen! once more brother! Lemmee here it one more time, right on!

[Antigen]

...including moderation!" -- Mark Twain

Merriam Webster
Sober: showing no excessive or extreme qualities of fancy, emotion, or prejudice

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/ ... y&va=sober

Whatever it is going on in all those TOUGHLOVE and group meetings all over the place, by this definition it sure as hell ain't sobriety!

The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's no good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
--Carl Sagan

[85 Day Jerk]

For me being 'sober' is basically being able to fulfill your obligations and responsabilities.
Tripping over beer bottles on the way to the bathroom before you throw up and call in sick is not being sober.  Smoking pot is harmful to a productive life in the sense that time marches on the whole time you are stoned, yet your own time perception is altered leaving you wondering what happened to the weekend?  Why are the clothes still dirty?  Why are the cupboards empty?  I am glad my mom did'nt smoke pot, or I would have starved as a child.  The same goes without saying for abusing prescription medication.

In all fairness though it is not the drugs that are the problem.  How little or how much we all use is not how to define sobriety.  Sobriety is being confronted with a crisis situation and dealing with it like a mature adult, and not "go running for the shelter of a little Mother's Helper."  I always fell for the Great American Beer Bullshit Campaign, whereas alchohol is a reward for being a good little Do-Bee all week long so therefore I "deserve" to drink because I have "earned it."  It was a lie, designed to keep me placated so that the MAN still had me right where he wanted me.  I fell for it hook line and sinker and so do millions of other Americans who drown out the unresolved anger and injustices that stem from the Great American Workplace and some go as far as to bring the hell of their jobs to there homes where they can make it a controlled hell environment in order to deal with their inability to deal with their own Job Hell.
They take it out on the ones they supposedly love, and when the children reach the age where they start to question this behavior, they may decide to see what it is like.  The parent then, in a fit of desperation places the young teen in a second generation program.  And all the while handsome Republicans hold glasses of ice topped with Good Ole Legal Alchohol, and hold fund raisers to open yet another "drug re-hab" while secretly funding corporate workshops to train management how to further exploit the masses that work for them all to keep the money flowing.
Thank you and have a pleasant tomorrow.

[Carmel]

I think "sober" is relative.

I think discussing the details of what consitutes sobriety, is the very thing Straight did in order to be the hack-job sort of place that it was.

Sobriety isnt the issue.  And Straight even used to preach that drugs were the symptom, not the problem...they just conveniently forgot to ever acknowledge the problem, and drilled the symptom into the ground.

Its not whether or not you do this, but dont do that, or whether this is legal or that isnt....its about what happens when you are confronted with difficulty and how you apply yourself to a solution.  Some people are more fiercely addicted to God and religion than some who are addicted to drugs.  You can use ANYTHING as an addiction, its your mode of coping that determines whether or not you are going to face the issue head on, or hide behind drugs/God/sex, etc.

The addictive behaviour will manifest over and over no matter how many times you may get "sober".  The addictive behaviour will manifest even if you dont touch another drink for the rest of your days.  Until you change your roots issues and reactions, no amount of "sobriety" in the convetional sense is going to make one damn bit of difference.

[METALGOD8]

theres a song out now, it says something like:

"why try to stay so ber when I feel like I'm dy ing, yeah,...."

Then later, something like:

"Everything's gonna be fine, yeah..."

I think being sober is not what straight says, that's for sure.  



MG8 :smokin:

I think we can disect any word in the dictionary until it's meaning is worthless.  I am sober today.  I do not take mood altering drugs to help me deal with the day to day.  Since I have started living this way certain things don't happen anymore.  I don't feel suicidal, I'm glad to be alive.  I'm not afraid to open my mail or answer the phone, I don't have to hide from life's responsibilities anymore.  I don't wonder what I did last night or where I parked my car.  I don't have to worry about where I went to buy alcohol last night and where I will go today to buy it so I don't look like an alcoholic to store clerks.  I am able to watch my son grow up and remember every detail of it.  I am someone in my circle of family and friends that people want to be around and come to when they have a problem.  I eat regularly.  I don't shake in the morning anymore.  I don't dread getting out of bed in the morning.  I experience pure joy without the help of anything "magical".  I have hope today.

This is is what being "sober" is to me.  Maybe it doesn't match the definition in the dictionary.  I really don't care.  I wouldn't go back to the way life was for anything in the world.  I am finally "happy".  I don't know the definition for "happy" is, I just know what it feels like and that's good enough for me.

[Anonymous]

SOBRIETY = FUCKING MISERY, just a personal opinion.  

It is fascinating how altered states of reality become of interest so early on in life.  For instance, spinning around in circles until one becomes dizzy as a child.  Youthful intoxication.
Let's Party.

[ClayL]

adj 1: not affected by a chemical substance (especially alcohol) [ant: intoxicated]
     2: dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises; "a grave God-fearing man"; "a quiet sedate nature"; "as sober as a judge"; "a solemn promise"; "the judge was solemn as he pronounced sentence" [syn: grave, sedate, solemn]
     3: lacking brightness or color; dull; "drab faded curtains"; "sober Puritan gray"; "children in somber brown clothes" [syn: drab, somber, sombre]
     4: completely lacking in playfulness [syn: unplayful, serious] [ant: playful]
     v 1: cause to become sober; "A sobering thought"
     2: become more realistic; "After thinking about the potential consequences of his plan, he sobered up" [syn: sober up]
     3: become sober after excessive alcohol consumption; "Keep him in bed until he sobers up" [syn: sober up]


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sober Sober, a. [Compar. Soberer; superl. Soberest.] [OE. sobre, F. sobre, from L. sobrius, probably from a prefix so-expressing separation + ebrius drunken. Cf. Ebriety.]
   1. Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually temperate; as, a sober man.

            That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name. --Bk. of Com. Prayer.

   2. Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors; as, the sot may at times be sober.

   3. Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason; self-controlled; self-possessed.

            There was not a sober person to be had; all was tempestuous and blustering. --Druden.

            No sober man would put himself into danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck.
                                                  --Dryden.
Sober So"ber, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sobered; p. pr. & vb. n. Sobering.] To make sober.

         There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.        --Pope.

Sober So"ber, v. i.
   To become sober; -- often with down.

         Vance gradually sobered down.            --Ld. Lytton.