“I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay,” sang a lumberjack in a famous song from the television program Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a song later repeated in movies and stage productions.

The truth is, all lumberjacks aren’t okay. Many struggle with alcohol and drug abuse. According to a 2009 article by the George Washington University Medical Center’s Center for Integrated Behavioral Health Policy, a survey revealed that 4.9% of the men working in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting professions had problems with alcohol.

Lumberjacks aren’t the only ones dealing with substance use disorder, of course. This same article describes that alcohol abuse for men in other industries is even higher. For example, 8.3% of males working in arts and entertainment had problems related to alcohol abuse, which was low compared to the 9.4% of men working in wholesale trade who had the same problem.

These studies are sobering, no pun intended. They demonstrate just how widespread alcohol abuse is. They demonstrate that alcoholism isn’t one of those conditions that affects very few people, it isn’t a problem that exists mainly in a very limited group. No, alcohol abuse is everywhere.

It’s safe to say that alcohol problems have probably touched most of our lives at one point or another. We might have had our own struggles with alcohol, whether it was in the form of binge drinking or prolonged alcohol abuse. We might have been hurt by others who abused alcohol, such as an alcoholic parent or partner or even a drunk driver. It’s very likely that we’ve known others whose drinking has caused problems for themselves or others.

In short, alcohol abuse—and the problems it causes—are everywhere. The 4.9% percent of men abusing alcohol in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting field might not sound like a lot of people, but that’s four or five people out of a 100. Since these people probably have relatives, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, those initial four or five people become even more people affected by alcohol.

If those four or five people are drinking on the job or driving under the influence of alcohol, they could endanger the lives of many others. Alcoholics might think that they’re only hurting themselves, but they’re dead wrong.