How do you make a sound drunkard?
Give a man a stiff drink every time he is bored or depressed.
This seems to be true from anecdotal evidence.
I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone dealing with alcoholism who has exclusively used a drink as a means of celebration and joy within a community.
Everywhere drinking becomes a problem, it is being used as a crutch – against depression – and regret – and weariness – and often, loneliness.
I could be wrong.
You are much more likely to make your man a sound drunkard by pressing drink on him as an anodyne when he is dull and weary than by encouraging him to use it as a means of merriment among his friends when he is happy and expansive. Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground.
–C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
