I have to put in 2 cents, based some handholding of alcoholics.

One cent is for Grimmy, who says "Being drunk on stage a couple of times doesn't make you an alcoholic". Well, yeah it does, if you no longer have enough judgment to stay off the stage when you're so pissed you're jeopardizing your reputation, then alcohol has some control over you and that is my definition of an alcoholic.

The other cent is for the 'self-inflicted' pool. I agree these folks should have decided to put it down very early on, yet very early on they didn't know they were going to be an addict. The problem is, in an alcoholic, the alcohol takes over the brain at some point and starts making all the decisions.

A person addicted to alcohol to the point it's causing problems has long since passed the point where they are total control of their choices, they have no objective judgment left, all they know is they think they are fine and they want another drink.

That's why most people can't just put it down using willpower, they have to be plopped into detox or rehab or some place where alcohol is no longer running the show, for some time until they learn to take control again.

Anyway, I saw a fine musician this year who I thought was dry for life, who is apparently back on it, showed up very dodgy put pulled himself together to play a good concert at half-speed. It breaks your heart.   

It's like watching the Elvis meltdown again, just so pathetic, yet you couldn't have got past that army of sycophants to tell him that if your life depended on it.