Gregory Freeman: Alcoholic's Story Shows Sobriety Can Be Achieved

Headline: ALCOHOLIC'S STORY SHOWS SOBRIETY CAN BE ACHIEVED
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., Aug. 29, 1999
Section: METRO, Page: C3, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

If you offer C.J. a drink, he'll tell you he's allergic.
   The response usually gets laughs, but for C.J. the issue is no laughing matter.
   C.J. - who asked me not to use his full name - began drinking when he was 12 years old. "I was an alcoholic by the time I was 17, but I didn't know it, " he said. "I was drinking a fifth of whiskey every four or five days."
   "A lot of it was peer pressure, " he said. "Other kids were doing it, and I was hanging out with the wrong crowd. It's not an excuse; it's just what happened."

C.J. joined the Army, and his alcoholism continued. He was still drinking when he got out, even after he developed a liver disease.
He smashed a couple of cars because of his drinking, and was arrested more than once for driving while intoxicated. After the second DWI case, a judge had some serious words for him.
"He put me on probation, but he told me that if I got one more DWI charge, he'd throw me in jail, " C.J. said.

"I listened to what he said, and I didn't have a drink for that entire two years.
   But shortly after the two years were up, I gradually started drinking again, and I couldn't stop."
   By this time, C.J. knew he had a problem, but didn't know how to deal with it.
   One evening, he went to his basement with a case of beer. "I was popping can after can, and crying out to God, asking him to help me get rid of this problem."

Shortly afterward, his job sent him to Oklahoma for a five-week training program. Evangelist Billy Graham was scheduled to be in Oklahoma while C.J. was there, so he took his best suit with him, hoping to see Graham preach. He also hoped that Graham's prayers could help him with his drinking problem.
But when he hit the Oklahoma border, he bought a six-pack and started drinking again. For the first four weeks, his drinking didn't get the best of him.

But one morning when he woke up, he found himself in jail.
   "I didn't know why I was there, " he said. "I didn't remember anything of what happened."
   Jailers told him that he was being charged with attempted rape, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. "I couldn't believe it, " he said. "I'd blacked out and didn't remember anything. I put my head under the covers and cried."
   Ultimately, the charges against C.J. were dropped, but he knew then that something had to change.

"I'd gone through two recoveries before, but they hadn't stuck, " he said.
"After this happened, I got in a recovery program and stuck with it.
"What happened to me in Oklahoma had to be a message from God, " he said. "God was answering my prayers. And through Alcoholics Anonymous and God, I got the strength I needed to deal with my problem."

C.J. had his last drink in October 1983. And he hasn't used any other addictive substances since that time either.
Being around alcohol doesn't bother C.J., and he'll even buy a drink for someone else. But he won't touch the stuff.
"I'd love to be a social drinker, " he said. "But with this disease - and being an alcoholic is a disease - I'm afraid to take a drink because I might end up back where I was before."

C.J. says he's a much happier person today, and he and his wife are about to celebrate 26 years of marriage.
"I love my wife and I love my family, and it's important for me to take care of myself, " he said.

"I came up drinking, and I didn't know at the time how much of a problem it could be, " he said. "But so many people I knew died because of it at an early age. It's important to recognize that you've got a problem and then to try to do something about it."
C.J. hopes other alcoholics realize they have a problem and take steps to deal with it. "There are a lot of alcoholics walking around who look like normal people - businessmen, doctors, lawyers - and many of them won't admit to themselves that they have a problem. But you can't deal with it until you face up to it."
C.J. knows that as much as anyone. That's why he's "allergic" to alcohol.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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