Alcohol Worse Than Opioids?
C_M_
Posts: 3,230
When the truth is told, "Happy Hour" is a deadly hour. CM
Worse than opioids: Alcohol deaths soar among the middle aged, women
Alcohol kills more people each year than overdoses through cancer, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis and suicide, among other ways.
Author: Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY
Published: 8:34 PM EST November 17, 2018
Updated: 8:35 PM EST November 17, 2018
The last time lawyer Erika Byrd talked her way out of an alcohol rehab center, her father took her to lunch.
"Dad, I know what alcohol has done to me," she told him that day in January 2011. "I know what it has made me do to you and mom. But that wasn’t me."
By the time she died three months later, Byrd had blocked her parents' calls because they kept having her involuntarily committed. They once had a magistrate judge hold a hearing at her hospital bed. He ordered herto undergo a month of in-patient treatment.
As opioid overdoses, which kill about 72,000 people a year, grabbed America's attention, the slower moving epidemic of alcohol accelerated, especially in Southern states and the nation's capital. About 88,000 people die each year from alcohol.
Making matters worse, alcoholism is trickier to treat – and criticize – than opioid addiction.
"Culturally, we’ve made it acceptable to drink but not to go out and shoot up heroin," Miller says. "A lot of people will read this and say 'What's the problem?' "
It might be a more socially acceptable addiction, but alcoholism is at least three times costlier to treat than opioid addiction, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it's a far more complicated midlife crisis to address.
The proven approaches – taxes on alcohol and limits on where and when alcohol is sold – are often rejected because the liquor industry has considerable clout with policymakers.
Ron Byrd says his daughter Erika was "beautiful inside and out."
To him, there's no question about what caused her death.
That's despite the fact there was no alcohol in her system when she was found dead at home. She was so sick, Byrd says, she hadn't been able to eat or drink for days.
"The death certificate never says alcoholism," he says. "It said heart arrhythmia and heart valve disease. But nobody in our family had heart problems."
Attorney Lisa Smith has been in recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction for a decade. The New York City woman wrote the memoir "Girl Walks Out of a Bar" and co-hosts the podcast Recovery Rocks.
Smith speaks at legal conferences and law firms such as Byrd's about the hazards of lawyers' high-stress days and booze-fueled dinners with clients. But she's fighting forces far larger than her profession.
"It is poison, and we’re treating it like it's something other than that because there‘s big corporate money behind it," she says. "A lot of people are getting really rich on something that is toxic to us."
Deaths of despair
In its Pain in the Nation report this year, the Well Being Trust called losses from drugs, alcohol, and suicide "despair deaths."
We need to rethink our counsel to teens and personal consumption of alcohol. CM
Comments
Some say booze is the gateway drug to other drugs.
Dave,
Base on the above article, it's "the gateway drug to" DEATH! The Bible is true once again, see Prov. 20:1. Why is it that so many still rationalizes its promotion and recreational usage. Parents and the US Government are the two biggest cheerleaders. CM
Jesus and the disciples drank wine....
I agree and don't use any drugs including medicine.
Which you can't find anywhere in Scripture....
I'm blessed.
???
The Lord has blessed me with good health.
Watch it! Jesus used Grape Juice. It was the "fruit of the vine". There were two wines in the Bible-- Fermented and Unfermented. Jesus used the latter. CM
There is absolutely ZERO evidence that Jesus' wine was grape juice.
I'm saying when wine is used in the Bible it is always talking about fermented drink.
Why would he not? It is not prohibited anywhere in Scripture.
See my thread and posts "Good-Wine -vs- Bad-Wine". After a careful read my thread/posts what is your view now? If different, what is your justification? Come on, be serious. CM
That link doesn't work...
Go to home or type in wine in the find box. Look for the thread "Wine Usage in the Bible: Encouraged or Be avoided at all cost?", stroll down to "Good-Wine -vs- Bad-Wine" post. CM
Or I could just study the Greek
You still can't find it? CM
I didn't look because I don't really care. It wasn't grape juice, there is zero evidence culturally or textually for it being grape juice.
If it was grape juice why does the Bible specify to not be drunk with wine? Grape juice can't get you drunk so why would it make this distinction?
Never once does the Bible prohibit the consumption of alcohol except in very specific situations (such as the Nazarite vow). It simply says do not be drunk. You don't get drunk after a single drink.
Reformed,
Wow, what great humility!
You pretend to want to know but just couldn't find it. Quite misleading. This is the Bible, not politics.
Regardless, the answer to your most recent question is in that thread. This is all the more that you need to read what the Bible says. What are you afraid of, the truth or you may have to change your views and maybe drinking habits? CM
I have read the Bible which is why I don't really care about your post. I have studied the Greek and the culture. It was fermented whether you like to think it was or not.
Sorry, Mr. Know it all. CM
Ok, to appease you I did a search for it and cannot find this thread. Please give the exact link. But I assure you, there is zero evidence to suggest this was anything less than fermented drink.
Stay tuned! CM
Ok, when you find the working link let me know.
See the thread: "Wine Usage in the Bible: Encouraged or Be avoided at all cost?" Please read all of it, to follow the flow.
https://www.christiandiscourse.net/discussion/comment/8721#Comment_8721
See especially, my post, "The two types of wines are: BAD WINE ------ GOOD WINE".
Thanks for that. Where do you get your two headings Good Wine and Bad Wine? I don't see any evidence for this you just made two headings and put your statements under each and then expect everyone to accept it despite there being no textual evidence for such distinctions.
Reformed,
Please read the entire thread.
Take your time. CM
I read through the thread. And still, I have the questions I asked. The Greek/Hebrew is clear that when wine is spoken of in Scripture it is talking about fermented wine, not grape juice. Please give textual evidence to the contrary or stop this nonsense.
Reformed,
Is this not two wines of the Bible?
On the one hand, the Bible strongly disapproves the use of wine:
On the other hand, the Bible fully approves the use of wine as a divine blessing for people to enjoy:
In the 18th and 19th Centuries most churches and influential preachers like John Wesley boldly taught total abstinence as biblical, moral imperative.
With a deeper look, three major explanations are generally given for the drinking of Alcohol or wine:
Recent research has shown the “one wine” theory, by showing that the Hebrew and Greek words (Yayin and Oinos) which are uniformly rendered “wine” throughout the Scripture, can refer to either unfermented grape juice or to fermented wine.
Which of these applies to you or your church? CM
Taken out of context.
Again, out of context.
And again to no surprise, taken out of context.
When you read these in full context you see that not a single one of these verses actually prohibits the use of alcohol.