Alcoholism is a Disease: Let’s Treat it with Science, not just Willpower & Meetings.

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I did the math. If I’m lucky enough to live to be 90 years old, I will take over 750 million breaths in my life, and my heart will beat over three billion times.

My body will digest food when I eat, attack bacteria and viruses when they enter my system, and I will blink to keep my eyes moist millions of times and all without me even knowing that it’s happening, except for the occasional moment of introspection, such as this.

And my story will be repeated billions of times over my life span without conscious, active participation by the people with whom I share the earth with.

All of these impressive and life-sustaining involuntary actions keep us trodding along despite our best efforts to thwart through poor diet, lack of exercise, unnecessary risk-taking, inadequate sleep, and excessive stress.

Two things are true about our survival in spite of ourselves: Our bodies are…