Alcohol - Abuse
by: Jerry Price - Mar 13, 2006 - comment
According to the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, approximately 15 percent of the national health care budget is spent each year treating people with alcohol related problems. “Lost productivity, accidents, injuries, property damage, violence and higher utilization of health, social and criminal justice systems contribute to this significant financial burden.” Other observations include:
- Alcoholism is a disease of the brain that transforms the judgment and behavior of usually caring and responsible people and turns them into uncaring, irresponsible, and often, aggressive and violent people. Alcohol is found in the offender, victim or both in almost half of all homicides and serious assaults, as well as in a highage of robberies, sex-related crimes and incidents of domestic violence.
- Drinking alcohol when pregnant may cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effects. It is the leading known environmental cause of mental retardation and one that is entirely preventable.
- On average, people with untreated alcoholism require increased general health care, including for illness and injury. These health care costs are estimated to be at least 100 percent higher than for people who do not have alcoholism.
Cost of Alcohol Abuse [Accessed November 1, 2005]
“Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is one of the leading preventable causes of birth defects and childhood disabilities in the United States. The adverse effects associated with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) range from growth deficiency, brain structure and function anomalies, and abnormalities of the head and face. In 2000, the cost of treating FAS-affected infants, children, and adults was over $2.8 billion. The lifetime cost per child affected with FAS is estimated to be $1.4 million.” Some facts and statistics related to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are:
- More than one in ten pregnant women report current alcohol use.
- In 1995, four times as many pregnant women consumed alcohol frequently as in 1991. Researchers speculate that the increase in alcohol consumption by pregnant women may be attributed to widespread reports on the health benefits of moderate drinking. While the overall rate of any alcohol use (at least one drink) among pregnant women has declined since 1995, rates of frequent and binge drinking remain at high levels.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 130,000 pregnant women per year in the U.S. consume alcohol at levels shown to increase the risk of having a baby with FAS or other alcohol-related condition.
- Of the women who reported drinking during their pregnancy, 23 percent reported drinking in their first trimester; 6 percent reported drinking in their third trimester. FAS occurs in an estimated one to two live births per every 1,000 in the U.S. each year.
- FAS occurs in an estimated one to two live births per every 1,000 in the U.S. each year.
- Fetal Alcohol Effects (a less severe set of alcohol-related abnormalities) is estimated to occur in three to five live births per every 1,000 in the U.S. each year. Although the physical symptoms of FAE are less obvious, the neurobehavioral disorders are just as severe, the risk for secondary disabilities is higher, and therefore the outcome for FAE can be more serious than FAS.
- According to the birth defects monitoring program, FAS rates among American Indians occur in three live births per every 1,000. This is compared to a rate of 0.6 per 1,000 live births among African Americans and 0.1 per 1,000 live births among Caucasians.
- FAS is not just a childhood disorder; exposure to alcohol as a fetus can cause a wide range of lifelong physical and mental disabilities, including mental retardation, learning disabilities, and serious behavioral problems.
- Fetal alcohol exposure may increase the risk for later alcohol, tobacco, and drug dependence in adults.
Fact Sheet: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Alcohol Policies Project, (Centers for Science in the Public Interest) [Accessed October 27, 2005]
The economic and social costs of drinking already far exceed alcohol tax revenues. Federal tax revenues from alcoholic beverages totaled nearly $7.7 billion in 2001. The brewing industry’s proposed 50 percent beer tax cut would rob the U.S. treasury of about $1.75 billion each year and the 22 percent tax cut proposed by distilled spirits producers would cost the treasury $860 million in lost revenue. Such cuts are unwarranted considering that alcohol problems cost American society more than $184 billion per year in health care, criminal justice, social services, property damage, and loss of productivity expenses. Alcohol is a factor in as many as 105,000 deaths annually in the United States and a primary contributor to a wide array of health problems and human suffering. These include various cancers, liver disease, alcoholism, brain disorders, motor vehicle crashes, violence, crime, spousal and child abuse, drownings, and suicides.
“Fact Sheet: Cutting Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages Is Bad Fiscal and Public Health Policy,” Fax from Coalition for the Prevention of Alcohol Problems, January 8, 2003
“Doctors and substance abuse specialists say these are the questions you should ask yourself if you suspect that you or a loved one may have an alcohol problem:
- Are you uneasy about your drinking behavior? Does drinking make you feel guilty or ashamed? Do you sometimes think you should quit?
- Has someone close to you spoken to you about your drinking behavior?
- Do you drink at most social occasions you attend, such as parties, dates or informal get-togethers?
- Do you sometimes think that you need to drink to have a good time?
- Do you feel like you have more courage to meet and talk to people when you have had a few drinks?
- Do you feel more yourself, more the person you would like to be, after you’ve had a few drinks?
- Have you ever taken a few drinks before going to class, to work or before dates or appointments to bolster your courage or to calm yourself?
- Do you keep a bottle in your apartment or car so it will always be handy if you need it?
- Do you do things when you drink that you wouldn’t do if you were sober?
- When things go wrong with work, school, in your home life or with your parents, do you drink to forget about it or to make yourself feel better?
- Do you sometimes forget things that happen while you were drinking?”
Doug Worgul, Recognize Alcohol Abuse Signs (South Bend Tribune), October 25, 2005
“Alcohol and drug abuse has been estimated to cost American businesses roughly $81 billion in lost productivity in one year—$37 billion due to premature death and $44 billion to illness. Of these estimated costs, 86 percent is attributed to drinking.”
Excerpted from Phillip Yates, Study: Drugs, Alcohol Costs Businesses Billions (Gwinnett Daily Post), November 1, 2005
Further Learning
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