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

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

#261

Post by mpclark »

tigershark wrote: post #217
0x8BADF00D wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be a huge benefit to society if we could find a (relatively safe from abuse) mechanism to treat people who are "functional" yet too mentally ill to stop their self-destructive behaviors. I'm not sure how that would/could work, but it's a worthwhile goal. There is a way. When I was lost, dealing with my own problematic issues with drinking, I found another path. Taking a single dose of LSD-25 made me examin…

Great, let’s give LSD to everyone instead of alcohol. /s

Sounds like it’s worth looking into...

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

#262

Post by capableweb »

yason wrote: post #206

This is completely off-topic but... The article in question gave an accidental glimpse of a better world or, well, better web. The cookie and data protection dialog asks the usual question. The choices are to agree and continue, or "Decline and Visit Plain Text Site"! What? Someone still does plaintext sites? And to get the plaintext version you also get the privilege of not having to accept any of this: "...use cook…

The only negative with their implementation is that if you click on the plaintext link, it takes you to https://text.npr.org/, it doesn't take you to the article you tried to read.

Otherwise, Thanks a lot NPR for doing plain text at all!

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

#263

Post by xnyan »

cactus2093 wrote: post #156

I'm not at all trying to lessen all the stories of alcoholism in the thread. I know everyone's experience is different, and addiction and alcoholism are genuine diseases that become incredibly physiologically difficult to overcome. But I find it a complicated topic. I've had so many great times drinking - sitting around with friends, late into the night, making real connections, debating things, laughing, and not bei…

Thank you for sharing your story, I wanted to add a somewhat related perspective in the same train of thought.

My grandfather was a severe alcoholic, beat my father, the whole 9 yards. My father was obsessed with not becoming an alcoholic and his children from not drinking to the point of, I would say near insanity in the way he talked to us and ranted against alcohol continuously.

Anytime anyone would drink alcohol around him, he would spew the most horrible vitriolic language about them and make all kinds of personal judgements about them while not knowing them at all. He also physically abused us to without even the excuse of alcohol like his grandfather.

Today I never speak to him and happily drink in moderation sometimes. Maybe that’s not right for everybody but perhaps just a little reminder that everything can go too far including worry about drinking.

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

#264

Post by guerby »

likemybooze wrote: post #169
sibeliuss wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time thinking there's a problem here. I mean, if three beers a night will kill a person in the long run then the authorities need to be clear about that. It seems like that guideline is more due to the fact that alcohol is dangerous in excess -- excess meaning drunk -- and also addictive, which feeds into the danger, in excess. I go months at a time without drinking, and generally stay between 2-4 drink…

I am now realizing when doing the math I misremembered and the US CDC unit of alcohol is 14g, so I am consuming 3 units/day whereas their guidelines are no more than 2 units/day. The UK in contrast says a unit is 8g, and suggests no more than 2 units a day (so slightly more than half the US guideline). Some countries call a unit 10g. If I recall correctly France suggests no more than 40g/day, so around 2/3rds of a bo…

From France official health insurer web site :

https://www.ameli.fr/assure/sante/themes/alcool-sante/defini...

"No more than 10 glass a week, with no more than two glass a day."

A glass = 10g alcohol, so 14g/day.

The web site also say there is no alcohol consumption without risk.

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

#265

Post by mpclark »

dpark wrote: post #155
nimbius wrote: post #16

Full disclosure: both my parents are alcoholics. Ive always been suspicious that alcohol in the United States is basically a thinly veiled means to privatize social interaction. I spent 16 years drinking regularly and certainly the dangers werent explained in LMFAO's song "shots" when i was young, or by James Bond's seven martini car chases. The industry is large enough to require more oversight in my opinion, but st…

> Ive always been suspicious that alcohol in the United States is basically a thinly veiled means to privatize social interaction. What does this mean?

Wherever two or more people assemble, somebody gets to make a profit from it?

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

#266

Post by dpark »

mpclark wrote: post #265
dpark wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ive always been suspicious that alcohol in the United States is basically a thinly veiled means to privatize social interaction. What does this mean?

Wherever two or more people assemble, somebody gets to make a profit from it?

Okay? But that doesn’t make any sense because most assemblies (see: employment) of people don’t involve alcohol.

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

#267

Post by emmelaich »

cactus2093 wrote: post #156

I'm not at all trying to lessen all the stories of alcoholism in the thread. I know everyone's experience is different, and addiction and alcoholism are genuine diseases that become incredibly physiologically difficult to overcome. But I find it a complicated topic. I've had so many great times drinking - sitting around with friends, late into the night, making real connections, debating things, laughing, and not bei…

Drinking can be an important part of relationships to the extent that we miss it deeply when it's gone.

This is a good read

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/fashion/a-glass-all-empty...

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

#268

Post by kerkeslager »

quickthrowman wrote: post #106
kerkeslager wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cocaine, methamphetamine don’t impact your ability to drive well, but they may make you drive more impulsively. I'm very skeptical of this claim. Do you have any evidence? Note that impressions of ones own performance while on drugs are not necessarily accurate.

As it turns out, I was using my own experience as a guide, but this meta study[0] supports my claim. Lab tests imply better driving skills while real word experience shows the opposite. Cocaine and methamphetamine increase impulsivity, and “real users” (addicts) of meth in particular are prone to stay up for extremely long periods of time, long enough where the meth wouldn’t counteract the physical exhaustion, which…

> I still maintain that cocaine or meth would improve the driving skills and response times for a rested person.

Yeah, it does look like the evidence supports that. Interesting stuff.

If restedness is the real factor, it becomes pretty difficult to regulate that. There are two problems I can think of:

1. I don't think that someone being on meth or cocaine meets the burden of proof to say they aren't rested.

2. People drive without adequate rest, even without stimulants. If someone is hasn't slept in 48 hours, it seems like it would be better for them to be on stimulants than not.

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

#269

Post by samcodes »

dhconnelly wrote: post #126
bradlys wrote: post #122

My father is an alcoholic. (in his case, he went to rehab and doesn't drink much anymore but he is still an alcoholic) I used to think that I was going to drink at one point. I remember thinking, "if I was of age I'd like to buy that lady a drink." But by the time I turned of age and could, I decided I wouldn't touch it. I'd never really been offered alcohol growing up - so maybe that helped settle in the habit. But,…

My father is also an alcoholic, went to AA for a while, has had two divorces since because of drinking. My sister is an alcoholic, my mother is a prescription drug addict. The way this manifests in me is that I'm obsessed with Not Being An Alcoholic. So I drink. Because it's Not A Problem! Sometimes I drink too much, sometimes it lasts for months. And then I Prove To Myself that I'm not an alcoholic, and I stop for a…

Whoa, great description of this dynamic. Is the desire to drink consistent, or does it vary? Does it vary with the cycles of healthy / unhealthy consumption, or with a different period?

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

#270

Post by wallace_f »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #230
wallace_f wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like my whole life is a series of addictions designed to prevent me from drudging through the extreme anger and sadness I have in my life. At least, luckily, I don't like to drink so excessively.

I've been there. Have you figured out how to work through those deep seated emotional states?

No. Yes? That's what I mean, my whole life is a way of dealing with them by using escape mechanisms. HN is one of them. Lesser one.
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