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Alcohol Is Killing More Americans Than Ever


Muda69

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https://gizmodo.com/alcohol-is-killing-more-americans-than-ever-1840862638

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More and more Americans are drinking themselves to death. A new study this week finds there were around 72,000 alcohol-related deaths among people over the age of 16 in 2017—more than double the number of similar deaths recorded two decades earlier.

The study, published Wednesday in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, relies on death certificate data. It found there were almost 1 million alcohol-related deaths among people over age 16 documented in the U.S. between 1999 and 2017. In 1999, there were 35,914 such deaths, amounting to a rate of 16.9 deaths per every 100,000 people over 16 that year; in 2017, the number ballooned up to 72,558, or a rate of 25.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

For context, just over 70,000 people in the U.S. died of overdose from illicit drugs like heroin and fentanyl in 2017—a reality that’s rightly been recognized as a dire public health crisis. Across all recreational drugs, cigarette smoking is the only thing deadlier than alcohol, with an estimated half a million deaths annually.

Of these alcohol-related deaths in 2017, roughly half were attributable to liver disease or overdose, either from alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs. And mirroring the rise in overdose deaths generally, alcohol-related overdoses rose over the same time period, while deaths caused by drunk driving declined. Other alcohol-related causes included heart disease, cancer, and accidental injuries like falls.

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Other studies have found a similar uptick in emergency room visits and hospitalizations related to alcohol use during this same period, the authors noted, but this seems to be the first to provide a detailed look at alcohol-fueled mortality based on death certificate data. Bleak as the findings are, though, they’re probably selling the problem short.

“Given evidence that death certificates often do not reflect the contribution of alcohol, the magnitude of alcohol-related mortality in the United States is likely much higher than suggested from death certificates alone,” the authors said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2006 and 2010 an average 88,000 people died annually at least partly because of too much alcohol. But the authors argue that even this estimation—which relies on death certificates as well as a formula that predicts how much any particular cause of death can be tied to alcohol—is based on outdated research.

Regardless of the exact number, it’s clear that more people in the U.S. are drinking themselves to death. Given the aging population, it’s likely we’ll see that rise continue, even if our national level of drinking stays stable. Along with the other things that can plague long-time drinkers, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer, alcohol can interfere with the many medications people tend to take as they get older.

While there’s no single cause behind the trend—or a surefire way to convince people to drink less—the authors do note that relatively few doctors even ask patients about their alcohol use, especially if they’re older. Among younger people, the problem is more about stopping them from binge drinking.

Where is the outrage?  Why hasn't this insidious substance been banned outright here in the United States of America?  Oh wait, we tried that once already.......................

 

 

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3 hours ago, Muda69 said:

https://gizmodo.com/alcohol-is-killing-more-americans-than-ever-1840862638

Where is the outrage?  Why hasn't this insidious substance been banned outright here in the United States of America?  Oh wait, we tried that once already.......................

 

 

Well that and I would guess congress has their fair share of alcoholics.  

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New Evidence From Canada and the U.S. Suggests That Legalizing Marijuana Leads to Less Drinking: https://reason.com/2020/01/08/new-evidence-from-canada-and-the-u-s-suggests-that-legalizing-marijuana-leads-to-less-drinking/

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One of the most important issues for people worried about the consequences of marijuana legalization is the extent to which cannabis serves as a substitute for alcohol, which is more dangerous in several significant ways. New evidence from Canada and the United States reinforces the hypothesis that people tend to drink less when marijuana is legally available, although the issue is far from settled.

During 2019, the first full year of legalization in Canada, the volume of beer sold there fell by 3 percent as of last November, the Financial Post reports. That drop was large compared to the annual declines seen in the previous five years, which averaged 0.3 percent. Vivien Azer, an industry analyst quoted by the Post, said the accelerated slide is probably related to marijuana legalization, and she predicted that the expansion of cannabis products available from government-licensed (or government-run) sources, which as of this month include vapes, edibles, and beverages, will "perpetuate this trend."

More rigorous evidence on the relationship between marijuana use and drinking comes from a study reported in the March 2020 issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors. Based on nationwide survey data covering a 10-year period, Zoe Alley and two other researchers at Oregon State University found that college students in states where marijuana had been legalized for recreational use were 6 percent less likely to report binge drinking than college students in other states after taking into account pre-existing trends and several potential confounding variables.

In a second analysis that excluded data from the 2017-18 academic year, when there was a sharp drop in binge drinking among college students in states that had legalized marijuana (regardless of whether legalization had just taken effect), the main result was no longer statistically significant for college students in general. But the researchers found a statistically significant 9 percent decline in binge drinking among students 21 or older, the cutoff for legally purchasing marijuana.

This apparent substitution effect, the authors note, is consistent with earlier studies that found "reductions in alcohol consumption (especially binge drinking in young adults) and alcohol related traffic accidents" following the legalization of medical marijuana. A causal connection is plausible in those studies if we assume that some ostensibly medical use is actually recreational (or that some drinking is functionally medical), such that cannabis consumption would displace the use of alcohol. Another possibly relevant consideration, in addition to marijuana's less dramatic impact on driving ability, is that drinking is more apt to happen in public settings, making driving under the influence more likely.

"For students ages 21 years and over, binge drinking decreased following" recreational legalization, Alley et al. conclude. "A prior national study of how marijuana and alcohol use change in the years before and after turning 21 may put the present findings in context: Although substance use generally declines across this age period, there is a pronounced decrease in marijuana use that coincides with marked increases in alcohol use after minors reach the legal drinking age. This suggests that once alcohol is more accessible and its use is no longer prohibited, young adults may substitute an illegal substance (marijuana) with a legal one (alcohol). We speculate that legalizing recreational marijuana use may temper this effect, such that college students over the age of 21 who otherwise would have engaged in binge drinking continue using marijuana instead."

These kind of studies must make the anti-drug warriors out there heads spin.  

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4 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

just like pretty recent articles such as these cause heavy weed user's head to spin.....well, thats a bad description.....let's try cause them to take notice.....well, that's probably not true being stoned.  Heck, maybe someone gets a tad concerned.......that we simply don't know it all when it comes to long-term health effects.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/marijuana-is-more-dangerous-than-you-think-11546527075

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/marijuana-may-be-worse-teen-brains-alcohol-study-finds-n916296

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/14/is-marijuana-as-safe-as-we-think

Hello, Willie Neslon?

And Keith Richards is the poster child for heroin use.

 

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On 1/10/2020 at 12:26 PM, TrojanDad said:

just like pretty recent articles such as these cause heavy weed user's head to spin.....well, thats a bad description.....let's try cause them to take notice.....well, that's probably not true being stoned.  Heck, maybe someone gets a tad concerned.......that we simply don't know it all when it comes to long-term health effects.

It all comes down to the principle that government should have no business dictating what an adult individual can or cannot put into their body.   Actions have consequences, and if an individual values personal freedom then they don't want government protecting them from those consequences.

 

 

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7 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

My response had nothing to do about government regulation.

You provided a link to an article that provided a supposed positive benefit of legalized weed.  (less alcohol consumption)

I provided articles about negative health benefits and unknowns.

My statement about this issue from the very beginning is that we don't know at this point the magnitude of health impacts...much like tobacco decades ago.  That's all.  I am not talking about anything about regulation.

I think anyone with half a brain understands that smoking any substance probably isn’t good for you. Ingesting edibles, who knows, but I would be willing to bet ingesting edible THC products is probably less harmful to you than lunch at McDonald’s. There’s only one was to gain long term data, and if adults make that decision for themselves, why not?

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2 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Interesting concept. Wonder if that approach could work with pharmaceuticals?  Get it out there on the market and let use determine safety risks.....

Ultimately isn’t that the end of current FDA drug trials?  Edibles aren’t a new discovery.

Look into why Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug. Among some of reasons were because marijuana usage caused black men and white women to have sex, this gem from FDR’s tax scheme. It’s current form has more to do with hippies and the anti-war movement.

Long term affects, we all know long term users, like most people we know there are some winners and some losers.

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1 hour ago, TrojanDad said:

I’m not sure if you read the links I attached or not. If long term effects include impacts to teens previously not known, that changes the equation. At least in my opinion. 

My original points was that weed was legalized without understanding impacts. I was being facetious about pharmaceuticals. I’m glad we don’t take a similar approach.

Look, at the end of the day, I was just responding to Muda’s postive claim about weed reducing alcohol consumption by proving balanced view of positive and concerning long term impacts. Not making any arguments about legalization. 

I did not read any of the links, I completely missed your point. What can I say, my son brought me a bottle of Vodka Sunday and the Caucasians were going down smooth last night. Hey at least I didn't drunk text anyone! 

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10 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Interesting concept. Wonder if that approach could work with pharmaceuticals?  Get it out there on the market and let use determine safety risks.....

Whatever happened to the concept of Caveat Emptor?  Or does government have to protect us from everything?

 

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