Alcohol will share the same fate as nicotine. But it will take much longer.

Honorata drank. Alcohol alleviated anxiety, gave strength, courage. It allowed her to function somehow, so she self-medicated with it. But the surge of vitality and animus was temporary. Then the struggle began. With her emotions and difficulties. With everyday life. So she quit drinking. Just for a while. She quit and returned several times. Eventually, she found herself in addiction therapy. Her surroundings were surprised: “We didn’t know you had such a problem!”. Honorata knew why – she was a classic high-functioning alcoholic. She has been living in full abstinence for six years.

– Today, it doesn’t bother me at all when someone sits with me at the table and drinks. But it was hard at the beginning. It awakened hunger – says Honorata Wąsowicz, founder of Czyste Podróże. The idea for the offer of alcohol-free and substance-free trips was born out of love for travel, nature, and her own experience of fighting addiction. It is also a response to the lack of infrastructure for people recovering from addiction. Because one of the basic recommendations of therapy is: absolutely avoid spaces where alcohol is present.

– People attend AA meetings or group therapy and really fight for themselves. But in Poland, alcohol is everywhere, so afterwards they have nothing to do. They lock themselves at home because there is no safe space for them – says Wąsowicz.

During postgraduate studies – majoring in tourism and hotel management – Wąsowicz hesitated for a long time to reveal her idea. When she finally dared, one of her lecturers said: “Courageous!”. For him, a person who organized and planned mass trips for large travel agencies, the absence of alcohol in the tourism space was unimaginable. Why?

– Because alcohol is an element of managing people and their purchasing decisions. Drunk people are more willing to spend money on additional things, trips – says Wąsowicz.

Holidays without emotional alkoprotein

Czyste Podróże has been around for four years. The first two years it was just a crawl, then everything exploded. Their offer also attracts people who have no history of addiction. Those burdened by pressure from drinking peers and comments: “You don’t drink? Are you pregnant? Sick?” People who simply don’t want to drink and are looking for a space where no one will question their choice – which, by the way, seems increasingly popular. Wąsowicz sees this as a result of growing societal awareness about a healthy lifestyle, but also the development of emotional language. People have access to psychologists, psychiatrists, and can seek help from specialists. Earlier generations did not have such opportunities.

– At home, emotions weren’t talked about. Alcohol often served as a kind of proxy. It was used to experience joy and to survive sadness – says Wąsowicz, noting that podcasts and social media are among the factors contributing to the growing sober movement. However, social media can be a double-edged sword. Under posts of Czyste Podróże, comments often appear: “Without alcohol? Boring!”, “If they don’t drink, they snitch”, “Some sect”.

The social stigmatization of abstinence is as strong as the stigma of alcohol problems. Psychologist Marta Jaskulska, author of the book Żyj ciekawiej. 30 dni bez alkoholu, points out stories where people, after months of abstinence, happily and proudly go to family gatherings. And what do they hear? “You won’t toast with me?”. They succumb to pressure and return to their addiction.

– What is done to people who don’t want to drink is simply violence – she says.

She also emphasizes the cultural roots of the phenomenon. From childhood, we see the ubiquity of alcohol. At family parties and beyond, it’s normal. Moreover, alcohol is portrayed as something fashionable in consumer culture. Advertisements feature smiling groups of friends holding beers. Films show a glass of whisky with ice or a glass of red wine as the height of elegance and style.

– Of course, it’s no coincidence. We are conditioned by what we see. I used to work in marketing, unfortunately also in alcohol advertising, and for years I saw nothing wrong with it. It’s also frightening that I, who have no history of addiction, who practice yoga, meditate, and am a very conscious person, fell for the myth of the “healthy glass of red wine” – says Jaskulska.

Finding people you used to be

Wąsowicz points out another paradox: – People think alcohol enhances sensations, boosts things, but in reality, it takes much more away.

Neurobiology confirms this – any amount of alcohol damages the nervous system. Epidemiological studies show that non-drinkers statistically have the lowest risk of cancer and heart disease. One standard drink contains about ten grams of pure alcohol – roughly the amount in 100ml of wine, half a pint of beer, or a single shot of vodka. A British study involving over 36,000 adults showed that just one or two such drinks daily cause the disappearance of gray matter in brain areas responsible for memory, planning, and impulse control.

Additionally, with regular drinking, even three times a week one drink, the body begins to produce more cortisol, the stress hormone, even on days when alcohol is not consumed. Tuesday without wine becomes harder than it was before drinking on weekends. We reach for a glass to return to “normal”. But this normal is getting further and further away. The same with serotonin. Alcohol temporarily raises it, but then it drops below the baseline. Hence Sunday afternoons with a black hole of thoughts after Saturday’s wine. All of this is driven by biochemistry.

– Our brain has an atavistic part – I call it the monkey – and a human part, the prefrontal cortex. “Monkey” accounts for most of our behaviors. And in the evenings, when the human part is tired from decisions, the “monkey” simply takes over – explains Jaskulska, adding – The fact that we drink is not due to our character. It’s a cultural and biochemical conditioning.

According to her, we are taught that giving up alcohol feels like a loss. And we don’t like that. An evening glass after work creates a habit. Signal, reaction, reward. A closed loop. That’s why willpower alone is not enough. The “monkey” needs to be given a different “banana”.

– People who, after the Curiously experiment, stop drinking, write to me that they start painting, learning languages, launching businesses they only dreamed of. They say they start to remember the girl, the boy they used to be – she says.

Does the night ban on alcohol sales serve you?

Jaskulska’s Curiously project started precisely with an experiment – 30 days without alcohol and careful self-observation. The effect? Improved sleep quality, increased energy levels, clarity of thought, and better handling of emotions previously masked by a glass of wine. After the experiment, she did not return to drinking. She began speaking openly about it and its effects.

After the first publications, private messages started to arrive. From acquaintances near and far: “I really support you, but let this stay between us. I don’t want anyone to think I have a problem with alcohol”. Initially, the project was kept in the shadows. That’s why Jaskulska, when working with people who want to change their relationship with alcohol, does not start with the question “Are you addicted?”. She asks different questions: “Does alcohol serve you?”. The first question closes. The second opens.

Warsaw will introduce a ban on alcohol sales in stores between 10 PM and 6 AM starting June 1, 2026. The capital joins about 180 Polish municipalities that have implemented such restrictions since 2018, including Kraków, Poznań, Olsztyn, and Gdańsk. Wąsowicz and Jaskulska believe this is a good step.

– But it should be like that across Poland. And also apply to gas stations and shops along tourist routes. Recently, I saw a beer stand at the summit of Rysy. Alcohol is being pushed into every corner – says Wąsowicz.

The idea of such restrictions has real social support. In a IBRiS poll conducted for PAP in September 2025, 68 percent of Poles supported a night ban on alcohol sales in their town.

Jaskulska sees more than just fewer disturbances and police interventions in the night ban. – The invisibility of the habit will disappear, the unreflective use and purchase of alcohol – she says. – Since buying will have to be planned, we will see our own drinking patterns. We will also notice people who need alcohol in the middle of the night. And they will start to notice it themselves.

The first such summer

The World Health Organization recommends three things to member states: a complete ban on alcohol advertising, a multiple reduction in points of sale, and raising the minimum price. Poland has not implemented any of these.

The latest report from the State Agency for Solving Alcohol Problems (as of January 1, 2022, the agency was incorporated into the newly created National Center for Counteracting Addiction), conducted in 2021 in cooperation with the Warsaw School of Economics, showed that the state earns about 13 billion PLN annually from alcohol excise taxes. The social costs of excessive drinking are estimated at over 93 billion PLN.

According to the 2022 EZOP II population survey, Poland had 583,000 people meeting the criteria for alcohol dependence. Earlier expert estimates reached one million. About 100 people in Poland die daily from alcohol-related diseases.

Robert Rutkowski, a certified addiction psychotherapist and co-author of the book Alkoiluzja. Wyjście z alkoholowej sekty, said in Karol Paciorek’s Imponderabilia podcast that alcohol is the most difficult drug to quit. Harder than heroin and fentanyl. The most enslaving because it is the most common.

And yet, something is happening. Data from the National Center for Counteracting Addiction shows that alcohol consumption in Poland is decreasing for the third consecutive year – most notably in the beer segment, and most strongly among young people. A SW Research survey for Fritz-kola in November 2024 showed that among those up to 24 years old, 40 percent of respondents reduced their alcohol intake. Among 25-34-year-olds, over half. Alcohol-free parties like coffee raves are gaining popularity. More and more public figures declare they do not drink. Actors appearing in alcohol commercials face increasing criticism.

– I am sure that alcohol will follow the fate of nicotine – says Jaskulska – It will just take much longer. Once, doctors advertised cigarettes as a way to lose weight. Presenters smoked on TV. Today, when someone smokes, they are more likely to be pitied.

Wąsowicz is not seeking a revolution. – I don’t fight. I don’t want to change the world and people by force. I want to create this piece of the world simply in my own way – she says. Her travel schedule is filling up rapidly. Many participants return for the third time in a row. For some, it’s the first vacation since they’ve been sober.

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Aleksandra Wiśniewska – graduate of the Polish School of Reportage. Winner of the Voice Impact Award 2025. Her texts have appeared in “Tygodnik Powszechny”, Foreign Department, and “Magazyn Psychologiczny Charaktery”. She combines a global perspective – having spent seven years in Asia – with sensitivity to local exclusions. She is interested in the human entangled in the system.

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