One of the most common questions we get asked by clients, family and friends is about alcohol consuption. Specifically if someone has a problem with cocaine or meth, but they have never abused alcohol, can they drink after drug rehab? Well this really an interesting question on a lot of fronts. One involves why someone ended up in drug rehab abusing drugs in the first place. Most times it is some sort of self-medication process involving an inability to cope with life.
One could make some type of arguement, that if you have learned how to cope with life and acquired new skills to deal with everything, one or two drinks wouldn't make a big difference … right? I would say no. The reason is very simple. Alcohol does not under any situation make for better decision making. Alcohol lowers inhibitions. Alcohol use before cocaine relapse is very common. What is the point of taking that risk? By doing a risk benefit analysis by any standard, drinking after drug rehab would not come out as a quality risk. Improve your life by improving the quaility of your decisions. By any yardstick, alcohol consumption after drug rehab is a poor risk.
