Nearly one-third of adult Americans do not drink alcohol at all. Furthermore, another one-third of adult Americans consume less than one alcoholic drink per week. These figures from a Washington Post article astonished me; far more Americans don't drink alcohol or very light drinkers than I had realized. 

Alcoholism in the military is a big problem. Ask any man or woman who serves in a branch of our armed forces, and they will affirm that there is a drinking culture in the military with high expectations. No matter what your position, title, or unit, it seems that most of the military lifestyle revolves around alcohol. While the military didn't directly cause my alcoholism, the lifestyle and drinking culture of the service didn't protect me from it either.

Alcoholics often wonder if it's safe to eat food cooked with alcohol. After all, alcohol is used to cook many foods: pasta sauces, chocolates, jams and even cakes. Recovering alcoholics are often faced with the question, is it safe for me to consume this food or not?

It's clear to me now that alcoholism recovery is the most important part of my life. Within the recovery community, especially among those with long-term sobriety, the notion of all-or-nothing pervades our approach to life in sobriety. We all have our own set of priorities, but if we, as recovering addicts, place anything or anyone in a position of greater importance than our sobriety, we run the risk of relapse. As a result, this warning is often shared with men and women when they begin to get their life back in sobriety, "Be prepared to lose everything you place before your alcoholism recovery." 

One thing I've learned is to take action in alcohol recovery and stop arguing. Recent well-publicized articles criticizing 12-step programs have been making the social media rounds and set off another flurry of commentary and response (of which I'm a part). I'd like to suggest, however, doing something that in some ways is becoming easier and easier to avoid in the world of instant information--get off the Internet, stop arguing and take action for alcohol recovery.

Depression and alcoholism as a dual diagnosis kept me in a downward spiral until I reached out and asked for help. I drank because I was depressed, and then the alcohol depressed me even more, thus encouraging me to self-medicate with more alcohol. Recovering from either depression or alcoholism alone is challenging enough; recovering from the dual diagnosis of depression and alcoholism often feels impossible. 

I recently celebrated some general life and sobriety milestones. These are good things; things I should be--and am--happy about. But even positive milestones in sobriety can be emotionally fraught, and that's a potentially dangerous situation for people in addiction recovery.

In recovery, unrealistic expectations and resentments can pose a problem; maintaining sobriety is much more than simply not drinking one day at a time. Certainly, that's all most alcoholics can handle at first. But to be truly happy in sobriety, recovering alcoholics eventually have to work on developing emotional sobriety. One of the biggest culprits affecting my emotional sobriety is resentment towards others. I have also been warned that resentments often lead to addiciton relapse if not dealt with and resolved. Here I discuss managing sobriety expectations and resentments. 

With use of e-cigarettes and vaping on the rise, many people are beginning to wonder, just how safe are e-cigarettes and vaping? I recently attended a lecture by three professors at Portland State University that addressed the science of e-cigarettes. The neuroscience presented was complex but at least one point was clear--vaping and other forms of electronic nicotine delivery are not harmless. 

Many people claim that marijuana is not addictive and steadfastly promise that their recreational marijuana use does not harm anyone. Results from a recent lab study may shed new insight on the effects of marijuana that has, until now, been unexplored. This study indicates the offspring of recreational marijuana users may be more susceptible to heroin addiction than children of non-marijuana users. In other words, recreational marijuana use may correlate to heroin addiction.