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U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

npr.org

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Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#81

Post by big_chungus »

awb wrote: post #10
big_chungus wrote: post #4

Opioid issues are easy PR, which is why they get the limelight. The perception is that only junkies abuse opioids, but lots of people drink alcohol; it's "normal", unlike opioids. As someone who doesn't drink, I've personally had a difficult time for not doing so (professionally, socially, etc.) because there's very much an expectation that everyone does. It's the typical "other guy is bad" strategy, and serves as a…

> I've personally had a difficult time for not doing so (professionally, socially, etc.) It was the same for me for about 6 months, maybe a year. Then people stopped offering drinks or asking why I didn't drink and things felt normal again. I think part of it was not going in to how bad it is for you because people who drink already know. I don't get uncomfortable without a drink, but if I feel like other people are…

Honestly I've always been uncomfortable around inebriated people when sober. It's like a corny campfire song, fun only when everyone does it together. This is mostly because most people act stupid under the influence and though it's a bit funny at first, unless one is also drunk, it quickly becomes uncomfortable.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#82

Post by freeone3000 »

ab_testing wrote: post #15
claudeganon wrote: post #11

Between this, the spike in suicides across the US, and the opioid crisis, the US appears to be experiencing a kind of “die off” whose only analogue I can think of is post-Soviet Russia. I wonder if we’ll be able to correct course or continue to believe that things like rising GDP, unmoored from the material reality of most people, can paper over these trends.

The US is not experiencing a die-off. The net population growth in the US is still positive. More births and deaths. Combined that with a net positive immigration, the US is not susceptible to falling population levels like those of in Japan and Russia

Why does population need to constantly increase? Or, posit that this is true: Then what?

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#84

Post by carapace »

ronnier wrote: post #12

The state of men in the US is really deteriorating. Men are drugging, drinking, and smoking theirselves to death. And sometimes the death is very explicit, being by suicide which is climbing to rates higher than ever. Prisons are filled with men, universities are increasingly seeing fewer men than women. Men are increasingly sexless much longer than females. Seems we have a big problem on our hands.

At least we still have our penises.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#85

Post by mensetmanusman »

downerending wrote: post #54
umvi wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From TFA: "Some of the greatest increases were found among women ..."

On a percentage basis, yes. In terms of absolute numbers, it appears that men are still "winning". I do expect women to catch up--despair is ultimately an equal-opportunity killer.

Prohibition was the result of women fed up with drunk men the first time around

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#86

Post by smileysteve »

paulcole wrote: post #71
pfortuny wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Addiction is a sickness. Saying that the person “wants” to drink (or do heroin) is missing a huge part of the problem.

I have diabetes and if I decide I don't want to take my insulin because I'm fed up with the hassle, I shouldn't have to go to court over it. It's my choice and my life.

If this is strictly a patient's choice; then health insurance providers, especially the government (medicare, medicaid) or future government programs should also have a similar choice of requiring pre-consent for DNRs and to some extent bypass quality of life considerations (amputations for diabetes complications) for costs.

It's also arguable that state regulated or state run health insurance should require some degree of self insurance for people making these detrimental choices.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#87

Post by dave_b »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #80
jokowueu wrote: post #2

>The research shows that in 2017, alcohol proved to be even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol, >Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol: More than 480,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of smoking-related illnesses. I didn't realise how much worse this is compared to the opioid epedemic…

This is an abuse of statistics. I'm not trying to minimize alcohol, but it is like saying "putting up Christmas tree lights is more dangerous than BASE jumping" On a population basis, putting up Christmas lights kills far more people than BASE jumping. But the danger from each activity in isolation isn't comparable at all. Far more people drink and smoke than use opioids. The relationship between opioids and cigarett…

I’d also argue that, on average, the negative impact of an opioid-related death is greater than that of a smoking-related death. The latter tends to manifest as chronic health issues that extend into old age. Terrible, yes, but these people have at least had relatively full lives with the opportunity to have children and be productive for most it. It’s more akin to obesity than a drug overdose.

Opioid-related deaths tend to involve the rapid destruction of lives, often of young people full of potential, culminating in sudden death due to overdose. Their friends and family then have to live with that horror for the rest of their lives. In terms of lost potential and the psychological trauma inflicted, there’s no comparison. It’s understandable that people consider opioids to be a worse problem than smoking.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#88

Post by elliotec »

wjossey wrote: post #66
elliotec wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What legal recourse were you looking for? What court battle would you have gotten into around this?

We were able to work with the local county sheriff, as well as social services, to get him forced into a hospital due to him being a danger to himself. In Ohio, where he was located, this is called a pink-slip law. He was forced to go to a hospital, where he went into a brief 72 hour coma while he was withdrawing from alcohol. From there, he was hospitalized for another 7 days, and then forced to transfer to a physic…

Interesting, thanks for the insight.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#89

Post by apta »

carapace wrote: post #79
apta wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite an eye opener. Yet, due to the enormous amount of money generated by the alcohol and smoking businesses, no one dares to go after them. Who care about people dying when there's so much money to be made?

> no one dares to go after them. Prohibition doesn't count? What about all the no-smoking-in-bars etc. laws? And the warnings on the packaging? The manufacturers don't do that voluntarily. C'mon now.

With the numbers mentioned in the article, it's nowhere near sufficient to ban smoking in bars or other areas. It should be permanently banned from everywhere, and production should be ceased. Let's see them pass legislation to do that.

And prohibition was later repealed when they wanted the tax money, even though it had overall health benefits to society.

Re: U.S. alcohol-related deaths have doubled, study says

#90

Post by apta »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #80
jokowueu wrote: post #2

>The research shows that in 2017, alcohol proved to be even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol, >Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol: More than 480,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of smoking-related illnesses. I didn't realise how much worse this is compared to the opioid epedemic…

This is an abuse of statistics. I'm not trying to minimize alcohol, but it is like saying "putting up Christmas tree lights is more dangerous than BASE jumping" On a population basis, putting up Christmas lights kills far more people than BASE jumping. But the danger from each activity in isolation isn't comparable at all. Far more people drink and smoke than use opioids. The relationship between opioids and cigarett…

> Far more people drink and smoke than use opioids.

Probably because they're seen as socially acceptable behavior, and are readily available for anyone to purchase.

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