When someone says that they are addicted to something they don’t mean that they are literally addicted to it. They are just trying to convey how much they love something like “Oh my gosh I’m addicted to those chips!” This just means that they really enjoy eating those chips. What most people do not understand is that an addiction is so much more than that. An addiction is needing to having something and not being able to get it off your mind. Addiction is thinking about having that one thing until you have it. Addiction is thinking you might actually die if you do not get that one thing that is on your mind. This is what it is like to be an alcoholic.

As a college student I hear a lot of other students joke around saying that their friend is an alcoholic. They say this because their friend gets blackout drunk on the weekends or even enjoy "Thirsty Thursday" more than the average person. If their friend was truly an alcoholic they would be drinking alcohol before their 8 a.m. on a Tuesday. That is truly what an alcoholic is. They cannot function without having some kind of alcoholic beverage in their system.

Growing up kids always wish they could have some of the wine or beer that their parents are having. This is just because it is something that a child or teenager are not suppose to have until they are of age. Once a person gets to high school or college, drinking is a part of the culture. I remember in high school kids would talk about how they were sloshed Saturday night and they can’t believe that they were alive. Or that some kid had to go get his stomach pumped because of alcohol poisoning. Then, it college it’s everywhere. One of the bigger reasons that the drinking age is twenty one is because most people are not responsible with it. That can lead to dangerous things like alcohol poisoning or a person can become an alcoholic at a young age.

Being an alcoholic is not something that should be joked about because if someone truly knew someone that was an alcoholic they would not think it is so funny. Alcoholism is an addiction that can take over someone’s body. Alcohol is a drug that can be just as addictive as any other drug. There are many people out there that suffer from alcoholism every day. It affects not only the person that is an alcoholic, but also those around them. It affects their family, friends, and their work.

This hurts the people around them because someone who is suffering from alcoholism is not themselves. The people who love them still love them. The people around them still want what is best for them; even if what the person is doing is hurting them. Alcohol can turn someone into someone that they are not. More so than the average person who gets a little drunk off a glass of wine. Everyone is obviously different once they have had a drink or two. It’s a whole different ball game when someone has been drunk for two days straight and it’s the middle of the week. This is what is so difficult for friends and family to accept. That the person that they love is not the same person when they are an alcoholic.

Alcoholism is a serious topic that people should be more informed about and make less jokes about. Having a drink to an alcoholic is the same as getting high to a drug addict. They will not feel normal without it and will search for it until they fulfill that need. This is why it is so serious. People should treat it that way. It can lead to so many bad things.

To those joke around about alcoholism, please don’t. You don’t know what someone has gone through because of being an alcoholic or known someone who is.