longbow51
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2023
- Messages
- 1,086
I don't think it's a coincidence that so many here struggled with alcohol. Addictive traits can be strong, and, as some have pointed out, if you're here, you probably have some addictive traits, as you can only hunt a few months of the year if you don't count coyotes. And, unlike gamblers, the payoff only happens a couple of times a year, at least for big game.
I was definitely more than a little obsessed with fly fishing, running rivers, and duck hunting. For a long time if it said Sage or Winston on it I had it. Might have been able to pass a liquor store but didn't pass many fly shops (this was before the explosion after ARRTI).
My job kept me from drinking most of the time, or maybe I would have gotten in trouble there as well.
I asked a psychologist once why she thought so many obviously very bright people were abusers of alcohol and drugs; IIRC, we were talking about Hunter Thompson. She said she thought they just were processing incoming information at a much higher level, and were looking for ways to dull the inputs.
Certainly plenty of dumb drunks too, though.
As for the genetics of alcohol dependency, a little light reading:
I was definitely more than a little obsessed with fly fishing, running rivers, and duck hunting. For a long time if it said Sage or Winston on it I had it. Might have been able to pass a liquor store but didn't pass many fly shops (this was before the explosion after ARRTI).
My job kept me from drinking most of the time, or maybe I would have gotten in trouble there as well.
I asked a psychologist once why she thought so many obviously very bright people were abusers of alcohol and drugs; IIRC, we were talking about Hunter Thompson. She said she thought they just were processing incoming information at a much higher level, and were looking for ways to dull the inputs.
Certainly plenty of dumb drunks too, though.
As for the genetics of alcohol dependency, a little light reading:
The Genetics of Alcohol Metabolism: Role of Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Variants - PMC
The primary enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Both enzymes occur in several forms that are encoded by different genes; moreover, there are variants (i.e., alleles) of some of ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov