Sir Niall Dementia:
Any form of addiction is awful (my own father was an alcoholic who died tragically young) and it can ruin the lives of familly and friends as well as the victim. The poster who described alcoholism as "self inflicted" is apparently ignorant of how it can start, I just wonder how many colleagues reading this thread suspect they may have a problem, or even know that they do.
The addiction is not self-inflicted, but often addicts cross over the line when under the influence. More often than not, only a forceful intervention can stop the progession to destruction. The drunk who gets behind the wheel has become a criminal. The pilot who shows up at the airport in uniform over the threshold limit must be stopped before he commits a criminal act. At the point termination is appropriate.