Alcohol Kills!

photo credit: http://jojostruys.com/

I just read an interesting article on the dangers of alcohol. Click here for the full article.

While alcohol is not an illicit drug, it is well known to cause intoxication and can lead to dangerous situations like drinking and driving. Some of the statistics surprised me and might surprise you as well!

For example:

Alcohol leads to 3.3 million deaths per year worldwide, accounting for 1 death every 10 seconds. (More than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and murder combined).
Drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and diseases cause 1 in 20 deaths per year, worldwide.
While alcohol is known to cause more than 200 diseases including liver cirrhosis and cancer, most alcohol related death is due to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The second most common cause of alcohol related death is car accidents. (see image below.)

Click on the image to enlarge! Image credit: http://blog.thomsonreuters.com/

It's statistics like these that seem to drive the debate regarding whether marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol. Drinking in moderation is not likely to cause significant harm but drinking in excess can lead to premature death and put public safety in peril. It is important to identify if you are drinking too much and a previous post can help you do that. Click here to access the previous post.

If you have trouble cutting down or quitting, speak to your primary care doctor or seek out a psychiatrist with addiction training for assistance. This article, with data from the World Health Organization, makes the consequences of excess alcohol very apparent.

Best,

Dr. Goldenberg
docgoldenberg@gmail.com
docgoldenberg.com

Author

Matthew Goldenberg, D.O. Matthew Goldenberg D.O. is double Board Certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry and is a certified Medical Review Officer (MRO). He is an expert in the evaluation and treatment of mental health disorders and is an addiction specialist for adults in his private practice in Santa Monica, California. Dr. Goldenberg also provides addiction psychiatry consultations to some of the nation’s top residential and outpatient treatment programs in the Los Angeles area and is experienced in the evaluation and treatment of professionals working in safety-sensitive positions. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Goldenberg is an active author, researcher and invited speaker at local and national conferences. He also volunteers his time as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

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