# 'Dry Drunk' and the Law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169 "2020-10-17T11:12:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/21 "2020-10-18T07:11:14Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Because the OP asked about release of a drug from fat causing impairment I’ve always understood that this was a potential danger with pesticides, or at least certain ones (DDT?) People would be exposed to “acceptably” low levels over long periods of time, and it would accumulate in body fat. If an overweight person went on a diet, enough of the pesticides would be released into the blood in a short time to make one very sick, or possibly even very dead. ---
**Author:** ![JustSaying3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@JustSaying3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustSaying3)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/22 "2020-10-18T16:30:36Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > My stepfather was an alcoholic who quit drinking and basically became a much better person. But, on a couple of occasions, under a lot of stress, he behaved in his old ways, without having had anything to drink. His sponsor told him he was “dry drunk” and got him back on track. It’s a thing, but has nothing to do with fat deposits A more reasonable explanation is that your step dad had personality traits that he could keep in check if he wasn’t drunk or under stress. No need to associate it with some holdover of his drinking. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/23 "2020-10-18T21:42:33Z")
No, that’s what it is, exactly. A behavioral pattern that did not depend on alcohol to play out. That was my point. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/24 "2020-10-19T15:36:24Z")
Pennsatucky. [Tiffany Doggett | Orange Is the New Black Wiki | Fandom](https://orange-is-the-new-black.fandom.com/wiki/Tiffany_Doggett?file=TiffanyNew.png) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/25 "2020-10-19T16:56:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > “Dry drunk” is a real thing, but it has nothing to do with the OP ideas. > > Wikipedia says: > > Dry drunk is a colloquial expression that describes an alcoholic who no longer drinks but otherwise maintains the same behavior patterns of an alcoholic. The objective of groups such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous is not just to help their members stop abusing drugs and alcohol. Even if that is a thing, it wouldn’t be something that would impair your driving. If you are driving irresponsibly because your are “dry drunk”, its just dangerous driving. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/26 "2020-10-29T21:15:33Z")
I also remember, from the depths of time, something about chronic alcoholics and water intoxication. Possibly a salt-balance reaction? As in “chronic alcoholic gets drunk on drinking water” Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/27 "2020-10-29T21:44:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > > [@Jim\_B](#): > > > > I don’t know. She was from Pennsylvania. It is a very rural state. > > Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Erie would all like a word with you. Actually that seems to prove the point for me. I’ve been to Erie and I never would have considered it a major city. But with a population of 95,000 people it’s the fourth biggest city in Pennsylvania (Allentown is in third place). Albany has a bigger population than Erie and it’s only the sixteenth biggest city in New York. So apparently Pennsylvania is a lot less urban than I had ever realized. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/28 "2020-10-29T21:49:00Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I also remember, from the depths of time, something about chronic alcoholics and water intoxication. Possibly a salt-balance reaction? > > As in “chronic alcoholic gets drunk on drinking water” > > Anybody? Water intoxication is a thing, and can happen to anyone. Not sure if alcoholics would be more susceptible. I read that it occurs with some regularity at the Grand Canyon, because people are urged to hydrate so much – some people seriously over do it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/29 "2020-10-30T15:15:24Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I also remember, from the depths of time, something about chronic alcoholics and water intoxication. Possibly a salt-balance reaction? > > As in “chronic alcoholic gets drunk on drinking water” > [@eschrodinger](#): > > Water intoxication is a thing, and can happen to anyone. But to be clear, it’s not “intoxication” like getting drunk. It’s > [@](#): > > **Water intoxication** , also known as **water poisoning** , **hyperhydration** , **overhydration** , or **water toxemia** , is a potentially fatal disturbance in [brain](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain) functions that results when the normal balance of [electrolytes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte) in the body is pushed outside safe limits by excessive [water](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water) intake. ([Water intoxication - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication)) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/30 "2020-10-30T16:39:57Z")
Yes – good point. We forget that that is what intoxication means – being affected by a toxin. The water intoxication cases I read about at the Grand Canyon were serious medical emergencies. And “gets drunk on drinking water” is not what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169/31 "2020-10-30T20:52:02Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > But to be clear, it’s not “intoxication” like getting drunk. I’m not sure that there is such a clear distinction. Many mind/brain disorders are indistinguishable on the symptoms, and my dim memory from 40 years ago, from medical journals and people who knew alcoholics, was that alcoholics who got water intoxication appeared drunk. It wouldn’t be ‘intoxicated’ on a blood alcohol test – but that wasn’t universal 50 years ago, cops were still doing “touch your nose, walk the line”, and it might have come up in court, and might have been something a registered nurse would have come in contact with. FWIW, people with concussion from traffic accidents are _still_ sometimes thrown into the cooler to ‘sober up’, there are _several_ mind/brain disorders that can appear as ‘intoxicated’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dry-drunk-and-the-law/923169.md?page=1)