Haven’t read anything on the subject, but my personal belief is that being drunk is only an excuse when you’re being coerced into committing a crime because of your state and/or made intoxicated against your knowledge or will for the purpose of coercion, i.e. if you are yourself a victim in the situation.
I too am not responsible for anything after I black out.
Or, as was apparently the case with one of the SCOTUS justices, you at least don’t remember what happened when extremely drunk, and plead innocence on those grounds.
which is reasonable. A blackout state is also like another personality. You could kill someone (or be killed) and not remember it at all, and your sober self would feel unjust if you were punished for something you don’t remember doing.
One would then think the issue is with the substance and the regulation thereof. Alcohol is one of the few drugs that can make you completely black out and still operate on auto pilot. Unfortunately it is also the most popular and legal drug. That needs to change. Give people drugs that don’t have a blackout risk, or, at least, when you do too much of it you become incapacitated enough where you don’t hurt people. Most drugs are like this, and are more fun than alcohol anyway.
Your sober self may well not remember doing it, but is absolutely still responsible both morally and legally. Unless, as @NerdAlert mentioned, you were forced against your will to take the alcohol or coerced into committing the murder.
Don’t get blackout drunk… that’s your responsibility. It’s pretty simple. If you fail in that responsibility then you will bear the consequences. Again, pretty simple.
2 Likes
… although that’s not how it always works in US courts. (C.f. my earlier comments about lawyers’ skill and the randomness of juries).
That’s not something that can be controlled. Nobody wants to be black out drunk. And unfortunately, the line becomes harder and harder to grasp as you consume more alcohol.
I think alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs for this reason. The only other drug that I can think of that makes you not remember yet your body is still be able to function almost as a different person is ambien.
I think both should be heavily regulated. Unfortunately, neither are.
Yes, it can, by virtue of choosing whether to risk intoxication.
If you knowingly consume intoxicating substances, you should be assuming the responsibility for what you might do while under their influence.
1 Like
Most of us don’t drink and think, let’s me weigh the possibility of killing someone. That’s the thing about a blackout state, we don’t know what will happen, nor do we know the person we become.
However, we know (or should know) that if we drink to excess, we risk a blackout state and/or engaging in behavior that we might regret later.
That knowledge should inform our decision on when/where/whether/how much to drink (or smoke, or…).
I could see someone arguing that they were driven to intoxication due to addiction, but I’d rebut that the risk of addiction is also one of those things that should be considered when making a decision to consume such substances.
1 Like
You’d hope. I personally think alcohol would be a lot less popular if all other drugs are legal. and I think someone’s right to do drugs ends where it might impact other people’s rights, and alcohol is top of the list.
Other recreational drugs rarely affect other people directly (not talking about substance abuse etc. just the effects of doing the drug in the moment).
Ambien never makes me do anything I don’t remember 
Sounds like a good argument for not drinking at all…
our society is not really conducive for not drinking though. especially when all other drugs are banned
It’s totally doable. I have plenty of direct evidence.
clearly it’s not all that doable. considering the number of people that drink (and drive, and fuck up the world)
Doable, but not done.
And I’m not talking to them. I’m talking to an individual who thinks that getting blackout drunk is unavoidable. That person should consider giving up alcohol.
1 Like
oh absolutely. not disagreeing there. and I think giving up alcohol would be a lot easier if they had other drug options available. most people don’t like to be sober, so they need something else
That makes me very sad…
I don’t judge. But when they end up harming others because they’re doing a dangerous drug like alcohol simply because it’s the only legal drug, that indeed is sad.