Drug-induced.

On a train. From one end of the country to the other. On Friday 13th. Grr.

Awesome recent patient I wanna blog about [Hello, Dean of Medical Undergraduate Education. I am blogging about a fictional patient that most certainly is currently not an inpatient at your teaching hospital].

I am always totally blown away by patients. The little old lady that walked out on her husband after sixty years of marriage. The guy who was made redundant by the only company that would ever employ him. And most recently, the ex heroin addict who ranted for ten whole minutes about people who drink alcohol.

I say this with a beautiful, chilled cider in hand.

While I agree that alcohol hurts people, and that it is pretty dangerous, I have absolutely zero urges to become tee-total. I'm not sure how a heroin addict (I won't say ex-addict, since I think that betrays the current Methadone addiction) is competent to judge those who drink. Firstly, alcohol is a legal drug. Heroin is clearly not. I understand that there are those who believe that, were alcohol discovered today, it would be instantly classified as a Class A drug. However, there is also the side that believe alcohol is good for you - a glass of red wine a day prevents heart disease, for example. (I'm a firm believer in this, but since the idea of what you should drink daily keeps changing, I'll stick to varying my tipple).

Even Jesus drank alcohol! Everything is good for you in moderation, except heroin. This guy even tried to justify his addiction by claiming that he never injected. Does this mean I can do coke if I just lick it? No - because the overall effect is the same. You're still putting an incredibly harmful substance into your body for no reason.