Alcohol Will Destroy Your Life

Proverbs 20:1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

The statistics don't lie dear reader. Booze is nothing to mess around with or take lightly.

Excessive alcohol use causes about 178,000 deaths annually in the U.S., with two-thirds from chronic conditions like liver disease and cancer, and one-third from acute incidents like overdoses and accidents. Alcohol-related deaths have increased significantly, with men accounting for 67.1% of these deaths. SOURCE

Booze is becoming a serious problem across the United States...

The death toll has risen 29% in five years

Federal data tracks approximately 178,000 Americans dying from excessive alcohol each year — equivalent to one death every three minutes, around the clock. That toll rose 29% between 2016–17 and 2020–21, climbing from an average of 137,927 annual deaths to 178,307. The pace has accelerated sharply: deaths jumped 23% in the most recent measured period, nearly four times the 5% rate recorded in the prior years.

Women represent the fastest-growing group. Female alcohol-related deaths climbed 35% over this period, outpacing the 27% rise among men.

These deaths are not just premature — they are dramatically premature. On average, each person who dies from excessive alcohol use loses 24 years of potential life. Across the full death toll, that amounts to approximately 4 million years of potential life lost every year in the United States.

The five leading causes are alcohol-associated liver disease, heart disease and stroke, accidental poisonings (including combined alcohol-drug overdoses), falls and crashes, and alcohol-related cancers — particularly colorectal and breast cancer. Alcohol now accounts for 44.5% of all liver disease deaths in the United States, and contributes to roughly 5.6% of all US cancer cases.

Alcohol also plays a significant role in other forms of violent and accidental death. In 2022, alcohol was a factor in approximately 16% of drug overdose deaths, and an estimated 21% of suicide decedents had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% or higher at the time of death. SOURCE

It is disturbing knowing that 178,000 Americans are still dying each and every year because of alcoholic beverages and yet nothing has been done to stop it. When two teenagers shot up a high school in San Diego a couple weeks ago, over one hundred police officers responded to the incident. The media went into a frenzy. Interviewed neighbours demanded change. Yet, only three people were killed. Why is it that we freak out over three deaths, while totally ignoring the annual death of 178,000 Americans because of Liquid Devil? We're crazy!

The old adage is still true: You cannot take two drinks of beer if you don't take the first.