The Danger of Promoting the Lesser Evil
This is a guest post from The Discovering Alcoholic, who writes a top rated recovery blog, www.discoveringalcoholic.com, covering alcoholism, substance abuse, treatment and recovery issues.
The Jesuit priest Baltasar Gracián wrote, “Never open the door to a lesser evil, for others invariably sneak in after it.” As a recovering alcoholic, this statement rings particularly true when considering the issue of using other substances in lieu of our drug of choice… say beer if one was a whiskey drinker, or switching to marijuana and other drugs. It never works; invariably alcoholics and addicts will ultimately abuse whatever they have chosen because WHY we use is more critical to our condition than what substance we choose.
On a much larger scale Russia is learning this basic lesson of recovery, years back the government tried to combat the rampant alcoholism of vodka drinkers by promoting beer as a choice with lower alcohol content. Unfortunately, this did nothing but start a whole new segment of the population to drinking and the new catchphrase- “drinking beer without vodka is a waste of money.” Now Russia is reversing gears and instead of promoting beer, is trying to tax it out of existence!
I wonder if the Amethyst Initiative is paying heed?
