Alcohol is a Gateway Drug
To other substances and a different person
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The Gateway Drug
Alcohol is a gateway drug. It loosens you up to try other things. This was always my experience anyway. If it wasn’t for alcohol I wouldn’t have smashed cocaine, I wouldn’t have sampled ketamine and I wouldn’t have dabbled with MDMA.
This is a reality for most people. No one goes straight to trying heroin - not a drug I did - or maybe they do, but the point is alcohol lowers your inhibitions and alters your brain just enough for you to say yes to things you wouldn’t normally agree to.
I’ve seen drunk men who wouldn’t entertain any drugs when they’re sober bow to the slightest of pressures when offered a chance to experience a new high. I’ve seen their faces the day after realising what they did and noticed the twinge of disappointment.
I’ve read some writers here on Substack talk about dabbling in other substances and how they came to do it. The wonderful Dana Leigh Lyons, who offers the great resource SoberStack, wrote this in On Shame & Cocaine, Giraffes & Communion:
Although this experience was not necessarily a result of the booze, it was due to Dana’s desire to fit in. This has always been my argument that alcohol is a gateway drug. It’s the easiest to start with because it’s socially acceptable and everyone does it!
Most people have a drink first before doing anything else and some people, as I’ve already alluded to, find other drugs because they were already drinkers. This “step up” is usually in the moment or a progression because the need for a bigger rush has intensified.
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My progression to “harder” drugs happened without any planning on my part. I used cocaine because my friends offered me some. I was so drunk that I said yes. That was the same for other drugs too. I rarely preplanned taking anything other than booze.
The only time I planned to take another drug was the time I went to Amsterdam - but I think I’ll leave that story for premium subscribers! Needless to say, aside from cocaine, I never wanted to do more than drink alcohol. That was the drug I enjoyed.
Cocaine costs
Dee Rambeau wrote in The Romance of Addiction; “Hollywood has long romanced addiction as well,” and this was one of the main reasons I continued using cocaine for as long as I did - which wasn’t that long in all honesty. I’ll get to that later.
I loved the movie Scarface. I wanted to be Tony Montana. I wanted to have mountains of white powder piled in front of me and the money to snort the stuff all day long. I wanted to be a cocaine gangster. I enjoyed snorting the stuff. But I enjoyed alcohol more.
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Cocaine became part of my routine for a couple of years but it still wasn’t number one. That spot belonged to alcohol. The devil’s dandruff was just too expensive for me and I wasn’t going to waste money up my nose when I could spend it on cheap booze.
You would get more for your money with alcohol and it was easier to get your hands on. Yes, if you knew the right people you could get coke and pills easily enough but I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, the illegalness of it or the price.
Booze had got me through some tough periods. It had been responsible for some good times. I wasn’t about to abandon it. But my alcohol use over the years allowed me to experiment with other substances, ones I would never have tried if I were sober.
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Painful truth
I’ve seen the famous quote from Russel Brand arguing that alcohol isn’t a gateway drug. His statement is correct for some but does not fit everyone, which can be said for most people’s comments. However, I do understand where he is coming from.
“Cannabis isn’t a gateway drug. Alcohol isn’t a gateway drug. Nicotine isn’t a gateway drug. Caffeine isn’t a gateway drug. Trauma is the gateway. Childhood abuse is the gateway. Molestation is the gateway. Neglect is the gateway.
Drug abuse, violent behaviour, hypersexuality, and self-harm are often symptoms (not the cause) of much bigger issues. And it almost always stems from a childhood filled with trauma, absent parents, and an abusive family.
But most people are too busy laughing at the homeless and drug addicts to realise your own children could be in their shoes in 15 years. Communicate. Empathise. Rehabilitate.”
- Russel Brand
I never suffered the things listed by Brand before, or after, I took my first drink at the age of 13. I drank it then because I was offered it by a friend who was cooler than me. I developed an addiction to it because it turned me into someone I wasn’t.
Alcohol transported me into the skin of a funny, well-liked, confident and easy-going young man. When I drank I was able to talk to women. I was able to make large groups laugh (with me at the beginning of the night, then at me by the end.) I made friends.
But alcohol destroyed me internally. It changed me. I might well have been the above person without alcohol but I never gave myself the chance to find out. Yes, I wasn’t drunk all the time and I still was that person but I always had booze to mask insecurities and heighten things others liked about me.
Whether it was cocaine, ecstasy, weed, MDMA or alcohol, I used them because I had become uncomfortable with my feelings and emotions. I used them to suppress pain and mask depression. And I lost myself. That was hard to write.
Thankfully, my recovery is helping me find myself again. Since getting sober I can look back at my alcohol use and make the statement “alcohol was a gateway drug” because that was my experience. I lived it.
Booze was a gateway to other drugs. But it was also a gateway to another person. I became someone else when I drank. I’m just grateful that I now have the opportunity to find my true self again.
Thank you for reading: “Alcohol is a Gateway Drug.”
If anything in this article resonated with you or you have any questions, then please leave me a comment:
Here are some useful articles related to today’s post:
Check out the last post: “Combatting Chair Smashing Chaos with Clarity.”
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Take care of yourself and your family,
Roscoe | Alcohol Free Fathers
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I've always been against alcohol and cigarettes. Alcohol is underestimated. Because it's true. It's no big deal as long as it's not an addiction. But when you're going to feel bad about your life. That's when alcohol takes over.
Alcohol is sneaky.
I have a friend who doesn’t drink - he’s been looking for community around people who don’t engage as well. I’m happy to be able to forward him your newsletter. Hoping he finds others and more conviction in his decision after reading your newsletter.
Roscoe, thank you for your vulnerability