Lets see what all of you think of this.

Alcohol
The Most Dangerous of All Drugs
Mark Bedillion


Note: Alcohol-related web links appear at the end of this article.
We always hear about the war on drugs. The war on drugs will never be won.
Why? Because the most dangerous of all drugs, alcohol is not being
addressed.

Alcohol has killed and destroyed more people than any other problem known to
man. Alcohol is a gateway drug. A gateway drug is one that opens the door to
other drugs. Yet we are kept in the dark as to the fatal effects of alcohol.

I would estimate that 95% of all persons who are incarcerated are there due
to alcohol or some other drug related offense. Many people are misdiagnosed
with mental illness, when if fact alcohol is causing the bizarre behaviors.

Alcohol is a very subtle drug. The person with an alcohol problem is usually
the last to know. How dangerous is a chemical that does not allow the user
to even see they are behaving irrationally? Alcohol will tell you that you
have no problem. There is an old Chinese proverb:

The man takes a drink; The drink takes a drink; The drink takes the man.

Alcohol has destroyed many men and women and children. As a matter of fact,
alcohol has destroyed many families. The State sells alcohol then arrests
the person for the behavior produced while using it. For example, let's say
a person is charged with drunk driving. The person bought and used the
alcohol legally. All of a sudden, the person is now in jail, charged with a
crime. There was no warning label on the bottle of alcohol about the dangers
of operating a vehicle when drinking. Who is to tell the teenager that
experimenting with alcohol could cost him/her their lives, not to mention
the lives of others? This is a deadly game. All without a warning. What a
paradox. Extremely profitable from both sides, however. What is wrong with
this picture?

People rarely start off using marijuana, cocaine, heroine, amphetamines, or
any other drug. The first drug most people consume is alcohol. Alcohol is
legal, socially acceptable, and easily accessible. Once people begin using
alcohol, their inhibitions and abilities are dramatically lessened. Alcohol
impairs all the senses and is responsible for extremely poor decision
making.

Let's count some of the costs of alcohol consumption:

1.. Violence (assault, murder, rape, incest, etc.).
2.. Other sexual offenses (adultery, prostitution, pornography, etc.).
3.. Automobile accidents and deaths.
4.. Suicide.
5.. Depression.
6.. Lost work.
7.. Poor work performance.
8.. Building more jails and institutions.
9.. Mental institution admissions.
10.. Homelessness.
11.. Broken families.
What is the relationship between prevention and health care cost
containment? Twenty-five to forty percent of all Americans in general
hospital beds are there for treatment of complications of alcoholism.

There is probably no problem more critical to the future of America than
that of health care cost containment. A very large part of the national
health care bill is for alcohol and other drug-related medical expenses. For
example, as you read this, twenty-five to forty percent of all Americans in
general hospital beds are there for treatment of complications of
alcoholism.[1] We have only recently had the studies to show how great a
part of the Nation's health care cost bill ATOD problems really are.

These costs can be thought of in the following categories:

a.. Cost of alcoholism or other drug addiction treatment: This would
include detoxification, psychotherapy, counseling, methadone maintenance,
therapeutic communities, smoking cessation (including nicotine patches), and
the like.
b.. Cost of the other direct health consequences to the users of alcohol,
tobacco, and other drugs: Alcohol use affects virtually every organ of the
body, including the skin. It increases risk of liver disease, cancer, and a
variety of other diseases. Tobacco, and its relationship to cancer and heart
disease, produces costs to treat these diseases. And, illicit drug use
causes a variety of health complications, including overdoses. Ten percent
of all infant deaths are attributed to maternal cigarette smoking.
c.. Cost of medical treatment for non-using third parties: These costs
range from the treatment of drug-exposed infants to the treatment of disease
caused by passive smoking; from the trauma treatment of alcohol-related
injuries to the mental health treatment of the families and loved ones of
Americans with alcohol, tobacco, or other drug problems. Between twenty and
thirty percent of low birth weight deliveries are caused by maternal
cigarette smoking,[2] and about ten percent of all infant deaths are
attributed to the same cause.[3]
There has been no comprehensive study of all of these costs performed to
date, and such an analysis is beyond the scope of this article. As a result,
there can be no single reliable estimate of each of these three cost areas,
much less the total. The best we can do is examine some of the cost
elements. The size of these elements we will explore is so large that it
only gives us a hint of the dimension of the incredible proportion of our
national cost of health care caused by use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco,
and other drugs.

Intensive care units in American hospitals offer much of the best that the
art and science of medicine has to offer. The cost is very great -- up to
$3,000 per patient per day, somewhat less than $50 billion per year
nationally.[4] How much of this cost is caused by alcohol, tobacco, or other
drugs? Johns Hopkins Hospital conducted a study to find out.[5] The results:

a.. 28 percent of all the admissions are alcohol, tobacco, and other
drug-related (9 percent alcohol, 14 percent tobacco, 5 percent other drugs).
b.. The ATOD-related admissions were much more severe than the other 72
percent of admissions, requiring 4.2 days in ICU versus 2.8 days.
c.. The cost per ATOD admission averaged $9,610, 63 percent greater than
the average cost for other ICU admissions.
d.. Fully 39 percent of all the costs of the ICU went to treat
ATOD-related diseases.
Now, Johns Hopkins Hospital may not be typical. Replication of the study is
needed in other parts of the country. But previous researchers have clearly
demonstrated the higher cost of intensive care of ATOD-related disease.[6]

ATOD-related intensive care unit costs exceed $19 billion annually. If the
Johns Hopkins' experience is extrapolated to the Nation as a whole,
ATOD-related ICU costs alone would account for over $19 billion annually.
Allowing for the more expensive cost structure of Johns Hopkins compared to
the average hospital, and the fact that it may have a slightly larger
proportion of ATOD-related admission, we can be conservative and take half
that figure, and estimate that ATOD-related costs for ICU admissions are
approximately $10 billion. That's more than the entire Nation spends
annually for all home health care and almost as much as much as we spend for
the construction of all the medical facilities in the United States.[7]

An indicator of how profound, yet subtle, the effect of alcoholism and other
drugs can be on our health cost is revealed by another study conducted in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[8] The study examined the health care costs of
children of alcoholics (COA's) in comparison to children who did not live
with this parental problem. Some of the results included:

a.. 24 percent increase in inpatient hospital admissions.
b.. A 29 percent greater average stay in hospital.
c.. COA hospital utilization rates were 62 percent greater than for
non-COA's.
d.. Average hospital costs were 36 percent greater than for other
children.
Hospital costs are higher for children of alcoholics. It is likely that a
similar pattern would exist for the children of illicit drug addicts as
well. There are billions of dollars being used to pay for the increased
health costs of the children of the over 10 million alcoholics and illicit
drug addicts across the nation. And there are the additional costs of
treating the children of smokers whose respiratory diseases are caused or
aggravated by the passive effects of the smoking of their parents.

Note the above cost elements are in the multi-billion dollar range. There
are dozens of cost elements that are smaller, such as the annual cost of
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which is only about $2 billion a year. [9]

Footnotes

[1] American Medical Association, Factors Contributing to the Health Care
Cost Problem, March 1993.
[2] Public Health Service, Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion
and Disease
Prevention Objectives, 1991.
[3] Ibid.
[4]T. Raffin et al., Intensive Care: Facing the Critical Choices, W. C.
Freeman &Co., 1989.
[5]W. Andrew Baldwin et al., "Substance Abuse-Related Admissions to Adult
Intensive Care," CHEST, Vol. 103, January 1993, pp. 21-25.
[6]For example, C. L. Taylor et al., "Prospective Study of Alcohol-Related
Admissions in an Inner City Hospital," Lancet, 2:265-268, 1986.
R. D. Moore et al., "Prevalence Detection and Treatment of Alcoholism in
Hospitalized Patients,
JAMA, 261:403-407, 1989.
C. A. Soderstrom and R. A. Crowley, "A National Alcohol &Trauma Center
Survey," Arch Surg,
122:1067-1071, 1987.
[7] The 1990 costs were $6.9 billion for home health care and $10.4
billion
for construction of medical facilities. U.S. Health Care Financing
Administration, Health Care Financing Review, Fall 1991.
[8] Children of Alcoholics Foundation, Children of Alcoholics in the
Medical System: Hidden
Problems, Hidden Costs, 1990.
[9] Dorothy P. Rice, et al., The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
and Mental Illness: 1985, Institute for Health and Aging, University of
California, 1990. The cost was $1.6 billion. With medical inflation the
cost
is now about $2 billion.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:52:47 GMT, Julie LaRue <Sissi_Julie@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Lets see what all of you think of this.
>
> Alcohol
> The Most Dangerous of All Drugs

If George Bush had stayed drunk, he probably wouldn't be the most
dangerous of all presidents.

--
AB5DB9CC

"Ron" <can@the.spam> wrote in message
news:v%e_b.245177$U%5.1645913@attbi_s03...
> On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:52:47 GMT, Julie LaRue <Sissi_Julie@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> >
> > Lets see what all of you think of this.
> >
> > Alcohol
> > The Most Dangerous of All Drugs
>
> If George Bush had stayed drunk, he probably wouldn't be the most
> dangerous of all presidents.
>
> --
> AB5DB9CC
You gotta point there. That demon rum.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:52:47 GMT, "Julie LaRue"
<Sissi_Julie@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Note: Alcohol-related web links appear at the end of this article.
>We always hear about the war on drugs. The war on drugs will never be won.
>Why? Because the most dangerous of all drugs, alcohol is not being
>addressed.

Absolutely. Whilst alcohol is legal, the so-called "war on drugs"
remains a joke. Why? Because the holier-than-thou politicians using
their hard drug "alcohol" are considered hypocritical.

Some well-known doctors in the UK have said they'd like to swap the
legality of booze and marijuana. Real-world examples have shown that
marijuana is much safer, yet it remains illegal in many western
countries. In a recent soccer tournament, the contrast in behaviour
of the fans in Holland (smoking weed) and the fans in any other
country (drinking booze) was remarkable.

That the fans in either area felt the need to drink or smoke anything
at all is a sad sociological factor that is not so easily resolved by
legal remedies.

>Alcohol is a gateway drug. A gateway drug is one that opens the door to
>other drugs.

I disagree. Alcohol is legal to buy and possess, therefore
sociologically different from other hard drugs. If it were illegal,
then it could be a gateway drug... though this notion would rather
contradict the previous paragraph which declared alcohol as being the
most dangerous... the notion of a "gateway" drug is a route to harder
drugs. For this reason, marijuana and extacy are arguably more
gateway drugs than alcohol would ever be.

I'd suggest there is one family of drugs that booze can be a gateway
to, and that would be benzos, due to the similar effect and the way
their administration is monitored by medics.

>I would estimate that 95% of all persons who are incarcerated are there due
>to alcohol or some other drug related offense. Many people are misdiagnosed
>with mental illness, when if fact alcohol is causing the bizarre behaviors.

Alcohol, benzos, and coke seem the main culprits, though I've also
seen some cases citing marijuana.

>Alcohol is a very subtle drug. The person with an alcohol problem is usually
>the last to know. How dangerous is a chemical that does not allow the user
>to even see they are behaving irrationally?

Isn't it the same with all hard drugs, and even "softer" drugs such as
MJ?

>There was no warning label on the bottle of alcohol about the dangers
>of operating a vehicle when drinking.

No, but the legality of drink-driving IS common knowledge and covered
in most driving tests, so that's really no excuse.

>People rarely start off using marijuana, cocaine, heroine, amphetamines, or
>any other drug.

That's because they're generally harder to get hold of... you have to
mix in certain circles.

>What is the relationship between prevention and health care cost
>containment? Twenty-five to forty percent of all Americans in general
>hospital beds are there for treatment of complications of alcoholism.

You mean "alcohol abuse". Alcoholism is a different matter to alcohol
abuse.

Curiously, your post made relatively little mention the other highly
addictive and even more deadly drug (though not as mind-scrambling in
the process).... nicotine.

--
Blue Moon

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:25:03 GMT, Blue Moon <mfoco@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Absolutely. Whilst alcohol is legal, the so-called "war on drugs"
> remains a joke. Why? Because the holier-than-thou politicians using
> their hard drug "alcohol" are considered hypocritical.
>
> Some well-known doctors in the UK have said they'd like to swap the
> legality of booze and marijuana. Real-world examples have shown that
> marijuana is much safer, yet it remains illegal in many western
> countries.

If marijuana was legal, it would be (almost) free. All you really need
is some dirt, some water, and a south-facing window. Alcohol is harder
to produce, and therefore more valuable in the supply/demand equation.
Politicians certainly do consider the revenue implications of such
matters:

http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/publ...conomy-pub.htm

I suppose there might be a market for boutique bud, people would create
artificial markets by hoarding seeds, etc.

I don't have a point...

--
AB5DB9CC

Bill Maher had an interesting observation:

If cocaine gave you an erection, it would be on the U.S. market in a
heartbeat...

It is all about the money. They know it is dangerous, yet promote its use
through advertising directed at the male population. Drink our beer and you
get to sleep with this supermodel. Yeah, right. I'm still waiting for them
to ring my doorbell...

Kirk S.

"Blue Moon" <mfoco@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c42750354a70c89fdad50bd6252aea20@news.teranew s.com...
> On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:52:47 GMT, "Julie LaRue"
> <Sissi_Julie@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >Note: Alcohol-related web links appear at the end of this article.
> >We always hear about the war on drugs. The war on drugs will never be
won.
> >Why? Because the most dangerous of all drugs, alcohol is not being
> >addressed.
>
> Absolutely. Whilst alcohol is legal, the so-called "war on drugs"
> remains a joke. Why? Because the holier-than-thou politicians using
> their hard drug "alcohol" are considered hypocritical.
>
> Some well-known doctors in the UK have said they'd like to swap the
> legality of booze and marijuana. Real-world examples have shown that
> marijuana is much safer, yet it remains illegal in many western
> countries. In a recent soccer tournament, the contrast in behaviour
> of the fans in Holland (smoking weed) and the fans in any other
> country (drinking booze) was remarkable.
>
> That the fans in either area felt the need to drink or smoke anything
> at all is a sad sociological factor that is not so easily resolved by
> legal remedies.
>
> >Alcohol is a gateway drug. A gateway drug is one that opens the door to
> >other drugs.
>
> I disagree. Alcohol is legal to buy and possess, therefore
> sociologically different from other hard drugs. If it were illegal,
> then it could be a gateway drug... though this notion would rather
> contradict the previous paragraph which declared alcohol as being the
> most dangerous... the notion of a "gateway" drug is a route to harder
> drugs. For this reason, marijuana and extacy are arguably more
> gateway drugs than alcohol would ever be.
>
> I'd suggest there is one family of drugs that booze can be a gateway
> to, and that would be benzos, due to the similar effect and the way
> their administration is monitored by medics.
>
> >I would estimate that 95% of all persons who are incarcerated are there
due
> >to alcohol or some other drug related offense. Many people are
misdiagnosed
> >with mental illness, when if fact alcohol is causing the bizarre
behaviors.
>
> Alcohol, benzos, and coke seem the main culprits, though I've also
> seen some cases citing marijuana.
>
> >Alcohol is a very subtle drug. The person with an alcohol problem is
usually
> >the last to know. How dangerous is a chemical that does not allow the
user
> >to even see they are behaving irrationally?
>
> Isn't it the same with all hard drugs, and even "softer" drugs such as
> MJ?
>
> >There was no warning label on the bottle of alcohol about the dangers
> >of operating a vehicle when drinking.
>
> No, but the legality of drink-driving IS common knowledge and covered
> in most driving tests, so that's really no excuse.
>
> >People rarely start off using marijuana, cocaine, heroine, amphetamines,
or
> >any other drug.
>
> That's because they're generally harder to get hold of... you have to
> mix in certain circles.
>
> >What is the relationship between prevention and health care cost
> >containment? Twenty-five to forty percent of all Americans in general
> >hospital beds are there for treatment of complications of alcoholism.
>
> You mean "alcohol abuse". Alcoholism is a different matter to alcohol
> abuse.
>
> Curiously, your post made relatively little mention the other highly
> addictive and even more deadly drug (though not as mind-scrambling in
> the process).... nicotine.
>
> --
> Blue Moon

>Curiously, your post made relatively little mention the other highly
>addictive and even more deadly drug (though not as mind-scrambling in
>the process).... nicotine.
>

The true gateway drug, in my opinion.

"Christine" <ctbean3@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040223230410.20524.00000257@mb-m28.aol.com...
> >Curiously, your post made relatively little mention the other
highly
> >addictive and even more deadly drug (though not as mind-scrambling
in
> >the process).... nicotine.
> >
>
> The true gateway drug, in my opinion.

Jeez, I thought it would be obvious that food is the most dangerous of
all drugs!

Food keeps people doing all sorts of dastardly things they would
certainly cease doing without it.

Bob the faster.

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 15:09:41 GMT, stuart <fred@outerspace.jetsons> wrote:
>
> "Ron" <can@the.spam> wrote in message
> news:v%e_b.245177$U%5.1645913@attbi_s03...
>> On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 03:52:47 GMT, Julie LaRue <Sissi_Julie@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>> >
>> > Lets see what all of you think of this.
>> >
>> > Alcohol
>> > The Most Dangerous of All Drugs
>>
>> If George Bush had stayed drunk, he probably wouldn't be the most
>> dangerous of all presidents.
>>
> You gotta point there. That demon rum.

I'm a lot more afraid of the righteous than the damned.

--
AB5DB9CC

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 02:24:30 GMT, Ron <can@the.spam> wrote:

>If marijuana was legal, it would be (almost) free. All you really need
>is some dirt, some water, and a south-facing window.

That's all you need for mushrooms too (apart from the window). Yet
most people still buy mushrooms in stores, and governments still take
sales tax from the customers, and corporation tax from the producers,
the packaging company and the retailer.

--
Blue Moon