Quick, after tobacco, what’s the most-abused substance in the United States? Is it heroin? Is it marijuana? Is it methamphetamine?
Although those are all good guesses, alcohol is the second-most abused substance in the United States, according to government reports.
It seems like every day, there are reports on news programs and articles in newspapers about the widespread use of drugs. Stories about opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone (OxyContin), Vicodin, and methadone dominate the news. Stories about marijuana, legal and illegal, medical and recreational, also abound, as do stories that discuss methamphetamine, a drug catapulted into the popular consciousness in part by the success of the television program Breaking Bad.
Such stories are useful and needed. They discuss drugs and addiction, two subjects that people in the past often ignored or were afraid to discuss. But the stories also obscure the fact that people still abuse alcohol more than illicit (illegal) drugs. The stories obscure the damage that alcohol can cause.
What kind of damage can alcohol do? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the costs of drinking too much alcohol are
- around $224 billion
- around $25 billion for health care costs
In comparison, the use of illicit drugs cost
- about $193 billion
- about $11 billion for health care costs
The costs were just in the United States alone. People in other countries struggle with alcohol abuse, which creates all kinds of costs.
These costs are societal. Governments pay for health care related to alcohol abuse, for legal and law enforcement costs associated with alcohol-related accidents.
These costs are also personal. Alcohol abuse wreaks havoc on a person’s body and mind. It also affects relationships, careers, educations, and futures. Unfortunately, people and society both pay the heavy price of excessive alcohol use.
