Saudi Arabia is the Worst Alcohol Treatment Facility in the World

I once moved to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to beat my alcohol addiction. What a mistake that turned out to be. I feel lucky to have made it out alive. Not only was there plenty of booze available, but it was a lot stronger than anything I’d normally drink. I also didn’t anticipate that drinking would be more fun when it is illegal. It turns out that home brewing is an incredibly easy skill to learn; it helped that I was such an eager apprentice. It cost very little to brew huge buckets full of grog so this meant that there was never a dry moment.

Saudi Arabia Makes an Alcoholic Feel at Home

In the weeks before my move to Saudi I’d been told that my liver had been damaged. My body had finally begun to show the signs of chronic alcohol abuse. I’d already accepted a job as a nurse in Riyadh so the news of my struggling body part didn’t bother me that much – it was all under control. I’d spent over a decade trying to defeat my addiction, and Saudi now seemed like the last treatment option available. My plan appeared flawless; what could go wrong? Even the most determined alcoholic wouldn’t be able to do much damage in a country where the stuff was banned. I felt certain that given a year or two in the desert my liver would be once again ready for battle.

I wasn’t the only drunkard who saw Saudi as their exit strategy. Just before I arrived there had been another guy who had drunk himself to death in the land of no beer. His liver packed in and he developed a condition known as esophageal varices; this is where you drown on your own blood. His story scared the shit out of me, but it didn’t stop me drinking. The more worried I became the more I’d need to drink to calm my nerves.

Bye Bye Saudi Arabia and Thanks For All The Beers

I bailed out on my Saudi contract a few months before it was due to expire. I was holidaying in Vietnam at the time. I just knew that if I returned I’d drink myself to death. There were other factors involved, and I talk about these in my book Dead Drunk. I just knew that nothing good was going to come of my return to Riyadh. A few days later I ended up in Thailand, and this is where I’ve remained ever since.

Perhaps it is unfair of me to blame Saudi for offering such an awful alcohol rehabilitation program; after all, the never advertised their country as such. They do publically flog and stick people in prison for even smelling of drink, but this isn’t enough of a deterrent. It must be hard for such zealots to understand why alcoholics would risk all this for their favorite tipple. My advice for anyone considering Saudi as their next recovery option would be to look elsewhere – talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

8 Replies to “Saudi Arabia is the Worst Alcohol Treatment Facility in the World”

  1. Used to make me laugh how Saudi supermarkets had the yeast, sugar and non-alco beer all on the same shelf. I’ve even had the check-out guys commenting that I’d a busy night ahead when I checked out with the goodies.

    Siddique the killer though and some I knew drank it uncut. Now that is an exit only strategy……

    1. Hi Ed, it used to make me laugh too when I’d see everything kept together on the supermarket shelves. You couldn’t buy a carton of grape juice without the shop owner trying to sell you some yeast 🙂

  2. Paul your post doesn’t surprise me at all. Any country which has strict laws on alcohol will have its underground supply of illegal hooch and other ways of getting your fix as Ed’s comment points out. Thailand has laws against gambling but getting a bet on a football match there is not difficult to do and of course the underground lottery is rife. I’m not sure if banning alcohol or gambling actually works for a nation’s people in terms of the reasons those laws are applied.

    BTW can you gamble in Saudi?

    1. Hi Martyn, I don’t believe banning these things ever helps. It just turns more people into criminals.

      I would be surprised if gambling wasn’t illegal. Most forms of entertainment are banned there. It is a good place to go if you want to save money.

  3. i can’t beleive that saudi arab have alcohol drinks, here in moroocco we’ve been told that this country is saint you can’t find any kind of corruption, but thanks for opening my eyes and good luck with you drinking problem

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