.08. legally drunk is at .08. i was looking at a blood alcohol level calculator

[seabeyond]

and that is a lot of drinking.

we went onto two sites

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm
http://bloodalcoholcalculator.org/

and put in 2 beers in 1 hour with person at 160lbs and the result was .02. the second site rated it at .017 so the first site looks to round up. at 3 beers in an hour went to .03 something. to get to .08 is lots and lots of drinking.

my brother arrested for dui and blew over .08 and said three beers all day. of course we didnt believe him but i had been being told that it didnt take much to hit the legal limit. i drink wine (when i drink which isnt often). two wines in an hour wasnt very high either.

is there something we are missing on this. since dropping to .08 people have really expressed it wasnt much drinking at all and that is not what i see from this calculator.

[BlooInBloo]

1. "A lot" is largely in the eye of the beholder.

[seabeyond]

2. well, ... to get to .08 seeming like a lot. lol, i am dancing on the tables with a couple wines

i understand i am a wuss with booZE. knocks me on my butt, why i dont drink often. just seems....

i guess you are right what a lot is

[bbinacan]

14. See post 10 n/t

[spiritual_gunfighter]

54. What the poster above said

Blowing .08 isn't a lot of alcohol for some people, I know it isn't a lot for me which is why I no longer drink. It is relative.

[Mike 03]

3. Also, 160 lbs sounds like a pretty big person. It would take more alcohol in a shorter amount of

time to push that person past the limit.

But the main point is not the amount someone drinks, but the time period in which the drinks are consumed. Three "shots" in rapid succession are more detrimental than three beers over a two hour period.

The liver can only process so much alcohol per hour.

[BlooInBloo]

If by "pretty big", you mean "average", then yes....

http://www97.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=american+average+weight

[Mike 03]

15. Ooops, my bad. Sorry. No offense intended. NT

[Donald Ian Rankin]

43. I thought it was hideously obese until I realised it was imperial... N.T.

[Bill McBlueState]

73. sigh, now I'm going to be playing with Wolfram alpha all morning

Thanks for nuthin.

[Obamanaut]

75. I'm bigger than that (200 lbs), and used to drink, a lot. Now, after

many years of very little drinking, my face feels smiley and tingly after one beer, with three I am greatly impaired.

I think it depends, to a great degree, on current drinking experience and tolerance and size and amount of food consumed with the alcohol - all those 'ands' rolled into one. And maybe age even enters into it (I'm 66).

Or not.

[Occulus]

93. Age, height, weight, liver function, and tolerance to alcohol

There are a lot of factors involved in what amount of alcohol gets a person "drunk". I do drink quite a bit of beer (almost never drink hard liquor, though, as the hard stuff does not agree with me), and yet, at 5'7", 140 lbs., and almost 34 years old, I can feel the alcohol in my system after one single beer.

Did you know- the liver can regenerate itself in as little as a month, from as low as 25% function, back up to nearly 100%? It's the only organ in the body that has that capability. As I understand it, green vegetables- spinach, broccoli, etc.- help liver function a great deal.

If you drink to excess, eat your veggies, I guess...

[dysfunctional press]

112. 160 lbs is a 'pretty big person'...?

hardly.

this IS the us of a, after all.

[armyowalgreens]

4. I have vision problems after 1-2 equivalent shots of alcohol

There's nothing unreasonable about the limit.

[seabeyond]

5. i am definitely tipsy at two wines and only registers like .02 or .03. i dont remember

but i certainly wouldn't want to drive at that. i am thinking you are right, it is not an unreasonable number, .08. unless there is something on these calculators i dont know about

[armyowalgreens]

12. I have an odd range

1 shot usually makes my vision a little blurry but my motor skills and reasoning are still intact. I am near near black out drunk my 9-10 equivalent shots.

And believe me I've gotten there before. But I get to this point in the night where I kind of plateau and can drink more than usual without feeling the effects. But of course I inevitably crash.

[Warpy]

6. .08 isn't buzzed, it's blotto

You can metabolize one unit of alcohol per hour. That's 1 oz. of distilled liquor, 4 oz. of wine, or one 12 ounce beer. If you guzzle 3 beers in an hour, you'll be impaired for 3, although the nice part will have worn off a lot more quickly than that.

Alcoholics will usually shrug off how much they had to drink because it typically takes a larger quantity for them to get that buzz going, one way you can tell who's at risk the first time you see them drink.

However, even though they don't feel the buzz, they are impaired and take the same amount of time to metabolize every unit of alcohol that the rest of us do.

Drinkers will also assume they're sober once the pleasant glow has worn off. They are still mentally and physically impaired until all that alcohol has been metabolized, though, and if they're behind the wheel of a car, they'll get popped for that DUI unless they wreck out and kill someone first.

And yes, you do need to down a large quantity of booze in a short time to hit that .08.

[seabeyond]

8. very interesting. thanks. my brother is an alcoholic. does take a lot for him

so even though not showing the signs of drunk, he still has the numbers. makes sense. still, does not 3 beers make, wink.

but if he was drinking all day and night comes and he drives, though he isnt a sloppy drunk, the number is there

[seabeyond]

9. n/t

[MercutioATC]

27. Different people metabolize alcohol at different rates.

Men typically metabolize nearly twice as fast as women. The range between people of the same sex can be nearly 100%.

I also don't know what calculator you're using, but a 160-pound person who drinks 3 frozen daiquiris in 3 hours will blow a (theoretical) .09.

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm


I don't know about you, but three daiquiris in 3 hours won't get many people "blotto".

[seabeyond]

31. wow, it did. where as 3 margaritas in 3 hours is .02. interesting. wow. n/t

[Occulus]

95. That can't be right. The last time I had a margarita, just the one got me drunk.

I mean, "I can't drive" drunk, slurring my words drunk, stumbling around drunk.

But then, as I said above, I don't tolerate hard liquor well at all. Maybe that was the problem.

[seabeyond]

99. lol, me either. i think it really depends on tequila they use and amount varies

some are really generous pouring in the shot. hubby was telling me had something to do with the various acohol in the pina and it being frozen or something.

you wuss

one margarita, geeeeeesh, lol. cheap date.

[Occulus]

106. Well, I *was* pretty young then, too. And it was a frozen one, not that I think about it.

And it was a gooood margarita.

The last time I drank any serious quantity of hard liquor was at a family Christmas party. My sister's boyfriend's brother (Bueller moment!) was making Long Islands. In big glasses. Like, three shots of each liquor sized glasses.

Holy God. No, I mean really. We all got sloshed. And they were the dangerous sort of Long Islands, the sort that you just can't taste the liquor, even though that's about all it is. It was fun, but I learned my lesson, and I think those days are very firmly behind me at this point....

[seabeyond]

108. yes. it really is like drinking ice tea. i looked to see how much to hit the limit with

those, but i didnt see it on there. the most powerful drink, that i actually liked, that i have had. lol. that is funny. i was going to put them in the post above.

[NeedleCast]

105. That's just not true

.08 means very different things to different people. People with higher tolernace can drink quite a bit and still not be impared. Lots of other factors play into this...like what you're doing or whether you've eaten recently.

[eShirl]

7. all other factors accounted for, it depends on the size of the beers

Super Big Gulp?

[seabeyond]

11. 12 oz and i understand imported are soemtimes stronger than the domestic

all i have learned.

i really am anti alcohol. too many in family have let it ruin their lives. hubby has to deal with that issue with boys cause i am not reasonable

[NNN0LHI]

21. Alcohol content varies widely

http://www.theraven.com/beer.html

[bbinacan]

10. BAC is mostly BS.

I did a research paper my senior year in high school (1982). I even won a $300 college scholarship from the Alcohol Beverage Control Board in NC. Go figure. I interviewed Dr. Patricia Waller of the Highway Safety Research Center at UNC (where I ended up going to college). She ran a BAC test on Med students. Because they drank little, they all passed out before they hit BAC .10. As luck would have it, the building was being renovated so she drafted some plumbers for the study. She told me that at BAC of .10, she could see no, or very little impairment. It all has to do with tolerance. I then interviewed the head of the NC Highway Patrol and shared my conversation with Dr. Waller. He agreed with her assessment. I asked him why BAC was used and he replied that they needed a quantifiable number to get a conviction.

[seabeyond]

13. makes sense. this is what i was wondering. my reaction to two wines is way beyond

my husband or brother, both drink more and more tolerant.

i wonder if the impairment is in question too, the difference in tolerance. but you do need a number. this is what i was wondering though. seeing reaching the number .08 in my eyes is totally different than someone who drinks more often

[bbinacan]

24. A good example

I got a DUI in 1986. I had been at my college graduation party and was drunk when I drove home. I blew a .19. Now here's the interesting thing. I was driving 50 mph on a winding curving road with a speed limit of 25 mph. For those of you familiar with Chapel Hill, NC., I was on Umstead Rd. The judge asked the cop if I ever crossed the center line and if I ever ran off the road. The cop said that I hadn't. The judge was incredulous and asked the cop why he pulled me over. The cop said he was doing 50 mph and he couldn't keep up with me.

[muriel_volestrangler]

41. "Med students. Because they drank little ..."

Wow, talk about culture difference. In the UK, med students may well be the heaviest drinkers of any students, in my experience. The heaviest I knew - someone who could drink 22 (British) pints in a single day (ie midnight to midnight), and still stand up at the end (he did weigh over 200 pounds, though).

[knitter4democracy]

86. Nope. Same here.

Worst drinkers I've ever known.

[knitter4democracy]

85. Med students don't drink much?!

Um, times must have changed by the time STBX was in med school. We left the med school's prom-like dance when the drinking got serious, and that was after just an hour or so. Total waste of our money, but I wasn't having fun being around people who were drinking hard and fast and then puking in the bathroom.

[alarimer]

102. So the legal limit is essentially arbitrary.

I think I would be impaired long before I hit .08. I know it only takes a couple of beers (actually maybe even just one) for me to feel the effects.

There is also some controversy over breathalyzers. They are known to be inaccurate but most companies will not release the code so that they can be tested and challenged in court cases. It makes me wonder how many people have been convicted of DWI when they should not have been.

Ed has some good info here

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/05/why_breathalyzer_companies_won.php

[seabeyond]

104. i had two wines, over dinner, and an hour and half at least, and

handed the keys to hubby

[MrModerate]

16. Interestingly, in a lot of countries the legal limit for driving is . . .

0.00.

As in none.

The premise being that impaired is impaired and you don't get to pilot a couple-three of tons of metal through the community while impaired. So, people designate a driver who spends the evening sipping bottled water. A small sacrifice to reduce road fatalities.

[bbinacan]

18. See post 10 n/t

[MrModerate]

53. Key words in your post are:

"mostly" BS and "very little" impairment. Sorry, but unquantified hearsay is not good enough when we're talking death by automobile.

Besides, even if there are some people (heavy drinkers, shall we say) who can still function at 0.08, a couple of things occur to me:

1) Most people can't, so the BAC criterion is useful
2) The risk is too great even with those who've developed a tolerance
3) Just because the state adopts a value that might not precisely identify the point at which all persons are incapable of driving safely does not make it invalid as a social measure. Lots of laws are based on triggers developed by expert input and formally evaluated via risk analysis.
4) From your description, the study violated the standards of such studies (sample size, controls, etc., etc.) and so your conclusion that "it all has to do with tolerance" is not very credible.

[varkam]

30. Personally, I tend to think that's how it should be here, as well.

I wonder how many fatal accidents involved a driver that was "legally impaired."

[JonLP24]

64. Mostly in countries where alcohol is banned

Phillipines it is heavily regulated but they'll also give 20 years for possession of Marijuana. You got Nepal who I'm unfamiliar with alcohol laws and some countries in Africa. Most if not all industrialized nations has a limit and it is usually .05% still lower then us. But countries with a .0% are mostly Arab countries that ban alcohol.

[MrModerate]

79. Or, f'rinstance, Romania, where they have a huuuuuge drinking problem. n/t

[defendandprotect]

92. That's the way it also was in NYC -- "Taxi" or if we had to do something

not local then a designated driver --

However, in the suburbs, it seems to be a frightening thought to be carless for even

a few seconds!!

[SoCalDem]

17. a person who is "impaired" loses the ability to remember just how much they did drink

and if they only drank (no food), it's probably metabolized faster too...

It's like people who say they "haven't eaten all day", and truth be told, they "nibbled" their way through the day..a bite at a time:)

[Mind_your_head]

19. Very interesting - thanks for posting

One thing that I have thought of when thinking about people who drink in "today's world" versus "back in the day" when my parents would host/go to 'cocktail parties', or when my parents would make a drink for themselves at home, etc. ..... "back in the day" they would use a shot glass to measure the amount of alcohol they were giving themselves.

I seldom go out to bars anymore but when I did, IF you saw the barman/maid using a shotglass, s/he would ALWAYS overpour the shotglass to make it LOOK like they were giving you a 'generous' drink (and hopefully YOU would give them a better tip) BUT you didn't really know how much alcohol you were drinking that way. (Not to mention that OFTEN, IF NOT ALWAYS bar shotglasses are designed to look like a full ounce, but very often are way less than an ounce, so again you have NO IDEA how much you are really getting in that drink).

When you go to someone's house for a party or get together, how many people do you know of that use shotglasses anymore when they're pouring alcohol? I don't know of any in my 'circle'. Wine & beer, well that's a LITTLE bit more predictable I suppose.

I'm not making any excuses AT ALL for people who are driving while intoxicated/impaired, I'm just pointing out an observation of mine.

-----------

One other 'observation'/anecdote that I'll share, if you will allow me:

Several years ago when the hand-held game "Bop-It" was popular, my kids got one for Christmas. Some friends of mine and I were playing with it and got pretty good at it.....then we started having a few drinks and continued to play/pass the thing among us.....it was AMAZING to all of us, how even after ONE drink our skill/reaction time diminished. That was a real "eye-opener".

[Roon]

83. Half of my family are alcoholics

the other half are in recovery...When we gather for holidays,they use a shot glass to make drinks.

[DS1]

20. They must have fucked their calculations beyond belief.

2 glasses of wine for the average person will get them very close, whether or not they can handle it

[seabeyond]

23. i put the two sites on the op. they were found on google. not about me.... n/t

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

74. Yeah, that's what I was thinking

[ThomWV]

22. I used to drink a lot - and I blew over a .2 on each of my DUIs. I never weighed more than 160

and ever drop of it was beer. You can do it with ease.

Haven't touched a drop in 12 years.

[seabeyond]

25. wow. i will have to play with the calculator a bit to find out how much and how fast

one would have to drink to get that high. now, with the time it takes to leave the body per hour so much slower than consumption it appears it does accumulate.

[ThomWV]

28. In every case it was over about a 6 hour period.

There is nothing in this world so good for you as to quit drinking. I didn't quit smoking for another 3 years after I quit drinking. I figured I'd work on them one at a time and get the first one right before I moved on to the second. I came to realize that I would not live if I kept drinking like I was so that one got the first priority. Now if I could get myself to quit chasin' women my life would be serene.

[seabeyond]

33. ya ya ya thom

you and your women. lol, wink. i remember you.

glad about the drinking. like i said in another post, alcoholism, the real nasty one is in a line of our family. they all die of it. brother is about shot. it is a tough one.

[endless october]

26. i said this in another thread, but..

i wish there was an affordable, widely available, accurate breathalyzer for the public. i have been breathalyzed one time. my band played a graduation gig where an off duty cop had been hired. the cop had an breathalyzer available for everyone driving home to make sure they were ok. i wasn't driving. after the gig, i got breathalyzed just for curiosity. i felt pretty tanked and was .08 on the button.

i don't see why every bar and every party goer can't have access to one of those devices. it would make my nights out a lot less stressful. right now, if i'm driving, i try to stay way under the limit. if i'm at a gig, i ride with a band member and do not drive.

i had my stupid days when i was younger and regret ever driving if i was close to the limit or over.

[JVS]

39. I was at a party once where someone brought one of those along

[MercutioATC]

29. You're missing the cumulative effect of alcohol.

It increases over time.

If you're only drinking one daiquiri in one hour and then going home, you're fine (.02)

If you have 3 daiquiris over 3 hours (one per hour), it puts you at .09

[seabeyond]

34. i put in 6 beers at 3 hours and was .07. i see. thanks. n/t

[sl8]

77. There's a significant discrepancy between these two calculators.

I tried 6 beers/3 hours/160 lbs. at the first site and got .07 BAC, as you said. I changed the beer to light, imported, and Canadian and still got .07 BAC.

On the second site, 6 beers/3 hours/160 lbs. yielded .101 BAC for males and .119 BAC for females.

That's a pretty significant difference.

[seabeyond]

80. the significance of whether your ass goes to jail or not. lol. ya. thanks. n/t

[seabeyond]

37. that really makes sense, people saying not drunk, but comes up .08

i can see people having 6 beers in 3 hours, say import.... that would be over .08. and not feeling like they over did. a lot for me, but not a drinker.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[backscatter712]

35. One place where it's possible to be deceived.

Define 1 beer.

Is it one twelve-ounce can of Budweiser at 4.7% alcohol, or did you have one 16 oz pint of imperial stout at 8% alcohol?

It makes a significant difference.

[seabeyond]

36. true. hubby ask i clarify glass of wine. i never have more than one glass, and i never bottom out

the glass before topping it ergo a bottle later, still just one glass, lol

i dont know about that stuff, but when calculating, husband was telling me import/domestic different

[lapfog_1]

38. Note for motorists...

Should you be pulled over and given a breathalyzer test and "blow a .08 or better", immediately insist on having blood drawn, either by the police or (better) by a clinic or hospital. Insist that the blood be drawn immediately and AFTER the blood is drawn, a second breathalyzer test be applied from the SAME MACHINE.

Now, if the blood analysis comes back and matches the Breathalyzer, well, you're screwed.

However, often the machines are mis calibrated OR there are other conditions that can cause your breathalyzer reading to be much higher than that of a true blood analysis. And now you have a case to take to court (often, when presented with the discrepancy, the prosecutors will simply drop the charge rather than engage in a court fight).

Most places, you will have to pay for the blood work. But it's way worth it.

I don't drink that much, and have never been pulled over for DUI... however, my girlfriend was after she had 3 beers with a bunch of co-workers (she was a PA in a clinic). She was over the legal limit but didn't feel even "tipsy". She insisted on this and her blood analysis from drawn blood showed .03, not .08 as the breathalyzer showed. The charges were dropped.

[seabeyond]

40. thank you lap. my brother had blood drawn when he got down to the jail

he was telling me how something was screwy with breathalyzer and just couldnt be. so i am waiting for the blood test to come back.

[backscatter712]

44. I remember hearing once about cops cheating to get the breathalyzer to give higher readings.

I remember one trick was that after the cop pulled the disposable mouthpiece out of its wrapper and put it on the breathalyzer tube, he'd "clean" it by wiping it down with alcohol.

Gee. What do you think that would do to the reading?

[Trekologer]

84. Or you could be asked to blow into one that doesn't calculate averages correctly

Through an appeal of a DUI conviction, the computer source code for the Draeger Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C was ordered to be turned over to a 3rd party expert to analyze the code. In other cases in other states, the manufacturers have strenuously argued against being required to turn over the source code. This is a rather brief but good commentary of the revelation:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/05/software_proble.html

The basic conclusion is that the code is poorly written. Its style wouldn't be acceptable by professional standards, uses a suspect method of computing the average of multiple readings, loses a significant amount of precision due to the method of storing the sensor output, and disables the error-detection ability of the hardware. It is quite possible that the results that this device reports are incorrect: someone who is over the limit could be cleared and someone who is not over the limit could be reported as such.

[Occulus]

100. Do NOT do the above if you happen to smoke pot

Some states have laws on the books that define a DUI regarding marijuana as having any trace of THC in one's blood. It's an automatic DUI, even if the last time you smoked it was weeks ago.

Insane? Why, yes. But it's also law.

[Toucano]

42. Four beers and 1 shot, 120 minutes: came to 0.086

I drank exactly that last night and I barely felt it. I ate an average meal 30 minutes before.

I think some of how and individual feels is an effect of their tolerance and the frequency of their consumption.

[seabeyond]

46. good point. that is nothing. there is something where people get a shot with beer

shot of what? anyway, i can see why people having drunk that in two hours wouldnt think it a deal. now again, this is watching the guys in my life drink and how the booze effects them. not me personally.... my tolerance is nothing

[Another Bill C.]

45. I only had two

12 oz. glasses of domestic tap beer over a period of 3 hours. I weigh 210 lbs. The police saw me exit the bar and followed me, stopping me because I had "crossed the fog line" (I knew I hadn't). I blew a .0246 which is higher than I expected given my weight and the span of drinking time. I don't trust those charts any more.

[seabeyond]

47. this is why i started the thread. to hear peoples experience

what i was seeing on the calculator wasnt jiving with what i hear from people

[Odin2005]

48. Wow, weight really makes a difference!

I'm a big guy and I can drink 9 rum-n-cokes and still be under the limit

[Lucky Luciano]

49. I was taught when I was in HS that

Each 12 ozbeer (probably Budweiser alc content), 5 oz wine, 1.5 oz of vodka would give the 160 lp person a .02 BAC and that each hour, one such drink would metabolize. So 5 drinks in an hour is 0.08 as it is .02 * 5(drinks) - 02 * 1 (hour).

[shadowknows69]

66. That's exactly how I learned it in "Drunk driving class"

After my first and only DWAI

[Lucky Luciano]

76. Interesting - note that we are both from NY! So the NYS alcohol

curriculum is consistent!

[Mind_your_head]

50. Why do we all drink (get high, if that's your 'pleasure') in the first place?

I think that's an honest/reasonable question, to which I'm not wise enough to have found an answer.....but I'm not stoned/drunk enough to NOT ask the question.

[Mind_your_head]

52. Alright.....I'll answer.....

Why do we drink/get high (if that's your pleasure).....PAIN RELIEF.

We're all in emotional (and sometimes physical) pain.

[seabeyond]

55. totally disagree. i understand a lot of people drink and do drugs

cause of emotional or physical pain. but no.... i dont think it is even close to being all. some self medicate cause of mental disorders. they are not in pain per se, they are trying to balance. some do it cause it is fun and feels different.

pot.... is fun. i liked the feel of pot and the world i would go to. i am not in either emotional or physical pain. hubby drinks. no emotional pain. relaxes after a day of work. mellows. feels good.

nothing bigger than that

[snooper2]

91. smoke a joint before mowing the grass

makes it much more fun :)

[seabeyond]

94. really

smoke a joint before doing about anything, makes it more fun, lol, wink.

[seabeyond]

96. except reading

walking thru hall remembering all the different fun..... never could read a story stoned

[Codeine]

67. Not "all" of us do.

I can't be the only straightedge teetotaler here on DU.

[shadowknows69]

68. Ironic for a person whose name is Codeine.

[Hanse]

51. I assume the calculator's fucked.

Using listerine registers a BAC of 0.01 or 0.2 on a breathalyzer.

[rucky]

56. He should've opted for a blood test.

If you can do that in his state. The breath test is less reliable.

[seabeyond]

57. thanks rucky. he did when he got to the jail, insisted on it

i dont know how long it takes for the results or if they came back yet, what they are, but he took one. but this is what i was interested in. if his story held any truth into it. this guy, .... always looking for the truth in what he says.

[TheFarseer]

58. .08 is only 3 or 4 beers

For someone with a higher tolerence, they won't even be feeling that.

[seabeyond]

59. 4 imported beers (higher alcohol content) in one hour for 180lbs is .06.

that would be lots of guzzling.

8 beers in two hours takes it to .14 though. that is a fast jump

[Taverner]

60. I am 185 lbs and 2 beers at 6-7% puts me over .08

[seabeyond]

61. .10 2 beers at 180 canadian beer at 10% (i dont even know what this is)

but 2 beers with 10% for 180 lbs does come up .10. interesting. late last night on another calculator site hubby found male/female was significant in changing the number. this site doesnt ask for clarification of male or female

[JonLP24]

62. Probaly should believe him if only at .08

It takes me 3 beers at 160 to get .08

[seabeyond]

69. i love him dearly, but.... i probably should never believe him, lol.

his was 3 beers all day on a sunday. this was 8 at night. after an hour nap (not pass out, i swear). we will see with the blood test. i was just surprised when i started playing with calculator. i have learned a lot on this thread, with different peoples experience and knowledge, that i just do not have.

[JonLP24]

72. Well if he had the DUI long after he had a drink then I'd doubt him

I remember one night in the Army, before work of all things. I started drinking Hennessy, and something else I was fine. I then drank some vodka then blacked out. Don't remember a thing, eventually one of my leaders found me woke me up. I did PT, then rode with a friend while he did something. Showed back to morning formation about 1 minute prior(supposed to be 10 minutes prior) I was told my NCO's were looking for me at the barracks so I walked to the barracks. Anyways he gave me a field breathylyzer and blew over a little over .100. There was also this soldier that brung a civilian on base, anyways the NCO asked him who is going to take you off base? He said "I was hoping he(Me) would give me a ride. We all laughed at the idea. Anyways he took me to the MP station to go on one of those bigger breathylzers, not the same as a field breathylyzer you see cops use on a suspect immediately after a pull over. I blew a .097 at 10:47 in the morning which had to be hours after I took my last drink but I did drink an undertermined amount of liqour due to being blacked out but it had to be atleast 8 hours passed and I was still 'legally' drunk.

[Dorian Gray]

63. I honestly don't think that's accurate

You can buy a blower, and I've done it after two beers, and I've been over the legal limit.

(Admittedly, I've had those two beers in under an hour, but that quiz says at my weight, I'd only be at .06 after FOUR beers in an hour. WHAT?)

[seabeyond]

70. that is what i was thinkin. why it was hard for me to buy into this. n/t

[mainer]

65. A journalist tried to reach .08 for an article she was writing

She wasn't normally a heavy drinker. While colleagues stood by and kept measuring her blood alcohol, she downed glass after glass of wine. Before she could even reach the magic number, she passed out.

[seabeyond]

71. interesting. doesnt take much for me, hubby much better handling booze.

would be fun to see, side by side, the difference in reaction ect... getting to that number.

[The Hope Mobile]

78. Your brother is probably drinking hard liquor not just beer.

He also probably already knows he has a problem. This may sound like a lot of assumptions on my part but my father and sister are alcoholics so I've heard these stories often plus I used to work in rehab. .08 is (at least) 5 or 6 drinks in a relatively short period of time. Eventually most alcoholics turn to vodka because the smell is the least detectable and it does the job fast. Hope I'm wrong.

[seabeyond]

81. he is definitely an alcoholic.

we have a line, my mothers fathers side. all of the males die from the disease. high iqs like 180, 190 but i swear bipolar and self medicate. probably allergic to alcohol too. this isnt something quiet, in the closet or we shy from.

he lies too, habitually, continually, so you are probably right. hadnt even thought about that. probably three beers and a whole lot of shots of something else.

bah hahhaa, silly me. didnt put that together.

ah well

[The Hope Mobile]

87. Most real alcoholics I know of (including my family) drink

fifths of vodka almost all the time. They don't bother with shots. They just go straight for the fifth and chug it down in no time. My sister can polish off a fifth of vodka in a few minutes.

The hallmark trait of any substance abuser is dishonesty and manipulation. They get VERY good at it to try to cover their disease and put themselves in a place where they can continue to use. Has he ever been in a program? There does seem to be some kind of link between high IQs and substance abuse or just plain self-abuse. I hope he gets the help he needs.

[seabeyond]

88. he is working on 50. he has told himself so many lies he doesnt even

try to bother with reality any more. i really see absolutely not a chance at treatment. after over a decade of trying to help, i have spent the last decade not a part of it. i dont judge, i dont try to fix, i just let him be and love him. it is his to do and he seems to want to live this way, his choice. i did tell him i think he is bipolar and can be treated and live a mellow life. he was flabberghasted, why, why would i want that he says. this is living the highs, the lows, feeling life.

whatever dude, i say

i just dont have booze much in my life. i saw the damage with that line in the family, so i stay disconnected from it.

i can say it is sad, .... but he doesnt see himself as sad, so i am certainly not going to try and pin it on him. his life, his choice.

[The Hope Mobile]

89. That makes sense. My sister recently lost custody of her kids so

Maybe it feels sadder to me because I hate to see what its doing to people who have no choice in the situation but if he's OK with it then I guess its his choice. I stay as disconnected as possible too but I know, in her case, that she's very unhappy and I know it has hurt the kids a lot. If it was just her, I'd probably be able to just step back completely. As it is, I can't get involved in her treatment at all anymore. Too much roller coaster.

[seabeyond]

90. i hear ya. i truly hear ya. 3 kids i have watched live in hell. two decades

of poor parenting. a lifetime trying to help these kids. and now, i see, that they will be as lost as the father and mother, making the same choices, having lived that life, they will/are chosing the same. they are 14, 16 and 20 now. i cant help them anymore. no example or lesson will penetrate. i told them for years, this is their cross that they will have to resolve so they dont live that way. they arent listening. so they too walk their journey.

it really is that we all make our own choices and none of us can be forced

more than anything, i use these people i love as lessons for my kids. how making the choices are on their back. no one has control over another.

it is sad.... from yours and my perspective. and even though these people say they are sad, want better, there is a reward they get out of this life, (not having to live iwith conscience?) and until that reward isnt present, they wont change. i jsut think there is a certain alcoholic where it is damn impossible to treat.

good luck to you on yours.

[The Hope Mobile]

107. Thanks. Same to you! nt

[defendandprotect]

97. Sad story . . . but I don't think that addiction is "choice" . . .

I guess that's something that would have to be argued out here between

those who have been addicted.

Also presume you mean he is not helping himself -- getting help?

Meanwhile, I think there is also a condition among some who drink heavily

where the brain becomes "drunk" with much less alcohol???

Blotter effect???

[seabeyond]

101. oh, i definitely agree with his genes that it isnt choice

and it is, lol. an odd place to be. i cannot see him ever being able to function without. that kinda eliminates choice. but i can see him getting medical attention to see if it is bipolar and going into a treatment that might then allow. there really are different types of alcoholism, i believe. a lot fo people we see they reach an age, and they get treatment and is successful. but not this type. it is just different. so regardless, i allow and love and that is it.

brain becomes drunk with much less.... i can see that. i dont know. i dont watch, wink

[Roon]

82. My parents' bar had a coin-op breathalyzer

my parents friends used to make bets and see how high they can get the machine to go.....then they all drove home..

[IdaBriggs]

98. Sorry for your (brother's) troubles, seabeyond.

Is he asking you for money to help him from the predicament? Is he asking you for support?

Its very frustrating to watch people you love make stupid decisions; sounds like your brother's number was up on the 'getting away with it' calendar. Most likely he will lose his license, but continue to drive (and drink) anyway. If you are lucky, he will get some probation with a requirement he stay away from drugs/alcohol, and perhaps attend some kind of twelve step.

Unfortunately, if he is like most alcoholics, it won't help until he hits rock bottom. Hopefully that will happen before he injures someone else. I feel bad for his kids.

:(

[seabeyond]

103. this isnt his first dui. not his first bailout either. i stopped giving money

a decade ago. father still does. he bailed him. told me the other day, the amount he has bailed him and his xwife out (cause of the kids) he could have put two of the three thru college.

he is charming, and lies continually, and people buy it. i never have. every single lie i hear. a huge heart. will borrow the shirt off my back to give to a friend, wink. lol

he didnt do anything wrong..... dontcha know. being picked on

[IdaBriggs]

109. Bummer that you can't get your father to an Al-Anon meeting.

Of course, that would mean everyone having to deal with the fact they have an alcoholic in the family, and furthermore, that it impacts them. Speaking as someone who has family members who have drug problems *and still doesn't to to Al-Anon, even tho I advocate it for others*, part of me feels like they already suck up enough of my energy, so why do I want to go to meetings "for" them? (Yes, I know the meetings are about helping *me*, but I get so sick of their drama having any part of my life....whine!) LOL!

In the meantime, he is pretty much ruining the lives of his children -- shock. And its really everyone else's fault -- shock. And since your father is spending money on his *current* problems, if/when a time comes when your father needs financial help, its a guarantee that your brother won't be able to assist (so everyone else will have to take care of things, being how your brother is incompetent and all). But your brother will definitely have his hand out for an "equal" share of your parents' estate when the time comes, despite the fact he's been draining them dry for decades.

Sigh. :( Good luck!

[seabeyond]

111. lordy, if you dont have it right there

i was talking to father last night and first time he brought up finances. (husband has asked in apst what shape he is in. i am clueless, one thing we dont talk about, yet he was so confortable and set for retirement). father said last night, may not have a lot at the end..... but thinks he can handle it until then. and the flash went thru my mind as i save for our retirement and kids colloge, dad might have been set up where we will have to help him out.

you know

and you can bet brother will be there for his "share". these are the realities of these people. and you are right, there dramas, and us being drained.

thanks for the good luck, lol

[deaniac21]

110. I couldn't find anything on the chart for two 12 oz. glasses

of single malt with a 5 mg percocet chaser.