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There's a downside to being America's Drunkest City
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Comments
No disclosure?
He should be honest and disclose his neoprohibitionism ... particularly in the "normal drinking habits" sneer at people who have a beer a night. There is little physiologic basis for cause and effect there - one drink (so long as it is one drink ...) is not enough to impair someone, and sober elders fall all the time.
People who work in areas of medicine where they see extremes accumulate often lose perspective, and lose sight of the epidemiology of the larger whole. Like the pediatric cancer surgeon who thinks any child is doomed to the geneticists who don't have kids out of fear (I've known both in my personal and professional life).
Why is he referencing a magazine article? Because it supports his rant about alcohol and how "bad" we all are for drinking any of it based on seeing the extreme end of what happens when people drink. There are better sources of information on relative alcohol consumption (such as the CDC data that the rankings referenced) and the role of alcohol in auto accidents and other injuries that he could - and should - consult for a sense of perspective. I think I'll send this to a high school friend - and injury epidemiologist for a huge health care plan who works with this very issue - and see what she has to say about this article.
Also have experience as a brain injury clinician
And I'd say that a large number of the brain injuries we saw involved heavy drinking paired with other risky behavior that wasn't uncharacteristic of the person before the accident. A lot of our families would describe what sounded to me like AD/HD that they hadn't had the awareness and/or resources to get treatment for. Some people's families described a childhood full of trauma and pain, followed by a young adulthood of untreated addiction.
Yes, I agree that we need to do more education and outreach around the drunken young-adult party scene, but I think I saw maybe one brain injury that was in the context of an otherwise-healthy young person who got pressured into the party scene and became unconscious and choked off her brain. I saw a lot more of the people whose lives were full of reckless behavior and/or pain, for whom alcohol abuse was a symptom of underlying issues.
If we outlawed alcohol and these people didn't have any, they wouldn't be magically fine. They'd still be people with problems, and they'd harm themselves and their loved ones with gambling, blowing out of jobs, ruining relationships, eating disorders, self-injury, whathaveyou. The solution is to continue to invest in our communities so that everyone can have education, skills, healthcare, a support network, professional help for troubled families when they need it.
Bingo! eeka, thanks for a
Bingo!
eeka, thanks for a thoughtful, comprehensive reply.
Whoa...
Good thing I smoke weed then!
In 2011, about 17000 Mexicans
In 2011, about 17000 Mexicans were murdered operating the supply chain for drugs going to the US. And that is the official number... some groups not affiliated with the Mexican Gov't say the number is much higher. About 50% of cartel revenue comes from pot.
Of course, those murdered were mostly poor Mexicans... if more of the murdered were urban hipsters, I'd bet you wouldn't be boasting here of smoking weed.
Is this the lack-of-understanding-cause-and-effect threat?
People are being murdered in the drug trades, so the solution is for hipsters and rappers and frat boys to stop going "hurr hurr hurr I smoked a fatty?"
Wouldn't it make more sense for the U.N. and world leaders to work toward a global legal and regulated drug trade? There aren't murders en masse as part of any of the other legal commerce to and from Mexico.
First off...
The overwhelming violence in Mexico wouldn't have anything to do with the demand in the US for what is stupidly considered an illegal drug, would it? You obviously have no problem with the ridiculous marijuana laws in this country.
Also, my weed comes from local growers, not Mexico, so I'm contributing to the local economy. And as far as dead hipsters go, I don't really want them dead, I just want them to grow up sooner so they realize how stupid they look.Especially with those hats.
Methinks you need to light up, then lighten the fuck up.
i used to have that thing
.. getting stoned and then talking like a b movie script using bogus Elizabethan colloquialism. Methinks LOL.
Wow..
Way to sell that argument! Your use of the modern colloquialism "LOL" certainly shows a more advanced intelligence then mine. I'm glad to see all those years at the Sorbonne paid off.