Many agree with you. I've not encountered an addiction myself, (yet, at least, knock on wood), so I have no stance one way or another, but I've read accounts w

Many agree with you. I've not encountered an addiction myself, (yet, at least, knock on wood), so I have no stance one way or another, but I've read accounts where many people have experiences similar to yours, and yet there are others that (claim to, at least) encounter it like an illness. They were sick, got treated, and now are not sick. Perhaps the Sinclair method that others discuss does that, breaking the longing for the alcohol, perhaps not. From where I sit, if you're in a place where you are no longer suffering and others are no longer suffering, you get to define how you relate to the problem you had. Having your only option be a group that insists you must be a victim when you don't agree feels wrong. Now, do we have real people in that situation - not a perma-alcoholic but somehow being forced to join AA or go to jail?. I don't know.