One in 20 deaths worldwide due to alcohol

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**Relapse**

I know CDC stats in this country show that it kills between 70- 88,000 people a year:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/09/21/health/global-alcohol-deaths-who-intl

**Iron_Captain**

Only one in 20? As a Russian, I must say that this means that the rest of the world clearly isn't pulling their weight.

In Russia it is about 1 in 2 deaths that are due to alcohol.
To your health!

**Nostromodamus**

Literally just finished my 2nd pint of Strongbow...

...meh.

**Relapse**

Iron_Captain wrote:
Only one in 20? As a Russian, I must say that this means that the rest of the world clearly isn't pulling their weight.
In Russia it is about 1 in 2 deaths that are due to alcohol.
To your health!

According to the WHO, in the 90’s, 75% of deaths in Russia were alcohol related.

**Nostromodamus**

Relapse wrote:
Iron_Captain wrote:
Only one in 20? As a Russian, I must say that this means that the rest of the world clearly isn't pulling their weight.
In Russia it is about 1 in 2 deaths that are due to alcohol.
To your health!

According to the WHO, in the 90’s, 75% of deaths in Russia were alcohol related.

I wouldn’t believe statistics from a band.

**NinthMusketeer**

Yes, yes, but what we really want to know is how many births are related to alcohol

**Relapse**

Nostromodamus wrote:
Relapse wrote:
Iron_Captain wrote:
Only one in 20? As a Russian, I must say that this means that the rest of the world clearly isn't pulling their weight.
In Russia it is about 1 in 2 deaths that are due to alcohol.
To your health!

According to the WHO, in the 90’s, 75% of deaths in Russia were alcohol related.

I wouldn’t believe statistics from a band.

Good un! World Health Organization.

**ChargerIIC**

I don't know why they bother. Too many people are addicted to the whole upper-downer thing to stop drinking, smoking, or making terrible purchasing decisions..

**Duskweaver**

Conservatively, 999 out of 1000 species extinctions are caused by there being far too many bloody humans. So I encourage everyone to drink as much alcohol as possible. It's our duty to the planet to kill ourselves off before we do any more harm.

**Iron_Captain**

Duskweaver wrote:
Conservatively, 999 out of 1000 species extinctions are caused by there being far too many bloody humans. So I encourage everyone to drink as much alcohol as possible. It's our duty to the planet to kill ourselves off before we do any more harm.

So, why don't you lead by example?

**John Prins**

Duskweaver wrote:
Conservatively, 999 out of 1000 species extinctions are caused by there being far too many bloody humans. So I encourage everyone to drink as much alcohol as possible. It's our duty to the planet to kill ourselves off before we do any more harm.

No, the planet made us like this. It wants us to evolve to the point where we can build ships and spread life to other worlds, because if we don't, no one else will. Mother Earth is playing the long game, the Sun will swallow this planet eventually. Humans are the only chance for ANY of Earth's species to survive that.

**chromedog**

Humans are biologically wired to get wired.

Whether it's on hooch, or something else when they aren't capable of using hooch (there are many peoples who for reason of genetics cannot metabolise alcohol, for example) use another method to get off.

Whether it's by smoking, rubbing unguents into their skin, chewing something or even - god forbid - using "prayer".

They've been doing it since history started being recorded and will doubtlessly continue to do so. It's as part of us as the petty tribalism that also defines us.

**NinthMusketeer**

ChargerIIC wrote:
I don't know why they bother. Too many people are addicted to the whole upper-downer thing to stop drinking, smoking, or making terrible purchasing decisions..

Feeling guilty about buying another new army eh?

**ChargerIIC**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
ChargerIIC wrote:
I don't know why they bother. Too many people are addicted to the whole upper-downer thing to stop drinking, smoking, or making terrible purchasing decisions..
Feeling guilty about buying another new army eh?

I'm being honest about at least two years of my kickstarter history.

"Another miniature game with low buzz, big promises, and only 400 backers? What could go wrong?!?"

Between that and renaissance faires I could never afford to get drunk or high.

**Duskweaver**

Iron_Captain wrote:So, why don't you lead by example?

Who says I'm not? Do I really sound like I'm posting sober?

John Prins wrote:No, the planet made us like this.

It was a joke, as should have been made obvious by the little winking ork.

But since you seem to be taking it seriously, this:

It wants us to...

...is arrogant, humanocentric, magical-thinking bs.

Evolution doesn't 'want' anything. It is a natural process, not a deity. It doesn't have goals or foresight. You might as well claim that plate tectonics deliberately created the current global arrangement of continents to encourage humans from Europe to develop world-spanning empires.

More importantly, at the rate we're currently destroying Earth's ecosystem, we're not going to have the chance to colonise other planets (which, very optimistically, is several centuries away). I don't really want humanity to kill itself off; that was the joke. But if we are going to have any chance of eventually ending our absolute dependency on this planet, we're going to have to take better care of it until then.

But, yeah, it was a joke, not an attempt to start a serious discussion of ecology, population growth or humanity's future.

**Howard A Treesong**

I don’t worry about the amount people drink, I probably drink more than I’m supposed to myself, but I’m still responsible and reasonable, even when quite drunk. Something has to kill you after all, maybe it’s drinking or smoking, but few people have a perfect diet and you’ve got to enjoy yourself. You’re responsible for yourself so if you accept the consequences, that’s ok. It’s the impact on others that isn’t acceptable.

I despise people that become aggressive and violent when drinking and attack people or kill by driving a car. I’ve never been in a fight or barely an argument after heavy drinking, so I’ve no sympathy for those that can’t control themselves after having a few beers. People who start shouting and fighting when they’ve been drinking are obnoxious, and they always migrate to public transport where you get trapped with them.

**Relapse**

As many people in the U.S. are killed yearly by drunk drivers as are murdered in gun related crimes.

**Kanluwen**

Relapse wrote:
As many people in the U.S. are killed yearly by drunk drivers as are murdered in gun related crimes.

I was wondering when this was going to drop.

For anyone who's paid attention to Relapse's arguments over the years, he used this one a lot whenever there were debates on gun control. I was legitimately surprised this thread was allowed to continue.

Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

That doesn't mean things are comparable.

**stanman**

Kanluwen wrote:
Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

Why is it sad? Do you know the people? Are you impacted by some sort of shared suffering of spirit? I'd wager that outside of fake sympathy and feigned politeness 99.999999% of people don't care if some random person they've never met drops dead. Everybody dies at some point, other than a few close friends or family nobody cares and the world keeps turning.

Perhaps the world is better off if some losers drink themselves to death as it helps curb the idiot population. It's unfortunate or perhaps tragic when they manage to harm or kill others with their drunken behavior, but it's certainly not sad when they eventually off themselves with the bottle since nobody is forcing them to drink. It's a choice and ultimately they chose to throw their life away, so feth em.

**AlmightyWalrus**

stanman wrote:

Perhaps the world is better off if some losers drink themselves to death as it helps curb the idiot population. It's unfortunate or perhaps tragic when they manage to harm or kill others with their drunken behavior, but it's certainly not sad when they eventually off themselves with the bottle since nobody is forcing them to drink. It's a choice and ultimately they chose to throw their life away, so feth em.

Alcoholism dpesn't have to be a choice.

**Iron_Captain**

stanman wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

Why is it sad? Do you know the people? Are you impacted by some sort of shared suffering of spirit? I'd wager that outside of fake sympathy and feigned politeness 99.999999% of people don't care if some random person they've never met drops dead. Everybody dies at some point, other than a few close friends or family nobody cares and the world keeps turning.

Perhaps the world is better off if some losers drink themselves to death as it helps curb the idiot population. It's unfortunate or perhaps tragic when they manage to harm or kill others with their drunken behavior, but it's certainly not sad when they eventually off themselves with the bottle since nobody is forcing them to drink. It's a choice and ultimately they chose to throw their life away, so feth em.

Aw, why so bitter?

**Howard A Treesong**

stanman wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

Why is it sad? Do you know the people? Are you impacted by some sort of shared suffering of spirit? I'd wager that outside of fake sympathy and feigned politeness 99.999999% of people don't care if some random person they've never met drops dead. Everybody dies at some point, other than a few close friends or family nobody cares and the world keeps turning.

Perhaps the world is better off if some losers drink themselves to death as it helps curb the idiot population. It's unfortunate or perhaps tragic when they manage to harm or kill others with their drunken behavior, but it's certainly not sad when they eventually off themselves with the bottle since nobody is forcing them to drink. It's a choice and ultimately they chose to throw their life away, so feth em.

Don’t be so bloody edgy. It’s quite possible to have empathy for people you don’t know. And pretty much everyone knows someone, or a relative of a friend, that has died as a result of problems with drinking, and seen how that affects those around them.

**Ouze**

Relapse wrote:
As many people in the U.S. are killed yearly by drunk drivers as are murdered in gun related crimes.

Since we're doing "best of" classic arguments, I'll just repost what Sebster already posted previously.

sebster wrote:
Relapse wrote:
I still argue the principle of dealing with the bigger problem of 83,000 people a year dying from alcohol related causes. Yes, there is no denying 10,000 people a year is bad. 83, 000, though, should be addressed with all the vigor the gun control lobby and liberal news media uses. The thing is, though, a large amount of the population likes drinking and labor under the assumption that drinking won't affect them, even though as many people per year are killed by drunk drivers as are murdered in gun related violence.

Yes, we've had this conversation a bunch of times before. And I'll be honest, I'm kind of disappointed you're still repeating the exact same thoughts you had when you first raised this issue.

For starters, most people don't drink in the mistaken assumption that it won't negatively affect them. Tell a person that that drinking, epecially binge drinking, negatively impacts their long term health, and they'll likely say 'duh, you patronising dumbass'. Instead, it becomes an issue of each person balancing that long term health consequence against the fun they're going to have in having some drinks.

And that's how any of these issues need to be judged. Does the amount of fun people get out of the product justify the harm? And if it isn't justified, is that negative net result sufficient to justify government response? So for heroin, for instance, we've made a call that the harm vastly outweighs the benefit, and by enough that we believe the drug needs to be banned entirely. For drinking we think its a much closer thing, so we've put in place some laws and restrictions, but people are still able to drink. Guns are similar to drugs, with some laws and restrictions, but for the most part if you want a gun you can get it.

That's the basis on which everything is assessed. Not by ranking it against some other death toll, or anything else like that, but by comparing the amount of benefit in each product to its harm.

**Relapse**

Kanluwen wrote:
Relapse wrote:
As many people in the U.S. are killed yearly by drunk drivers as are murdered in gun related crimes.

I was wondering when this was going to drop.

For anyone who's paid attention to Relapse's arguments over the years, he used this one a lot whenever there were debates on gun control. I was legitimately surprised this thread was allowed to continue.

Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

That doesn't mean things are comparable.

I was responding to Howard’s remark about drunk drivers. Why should the thread be locked when the only person mentioning gun control is you?

On another note, according to CDC stats, in the U.S. alcohol related causes are responsible for one in ten deaths among working age adults.

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

**ChargerIIC**

stanman wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Yes, it's sad that people die from alcohol poisoning. It's sad that people die from drunk driving.

Why is it sad? Do you know the people? Are you impacted by some sort of shared suffering of spirit? I'd wager that outside of fake sympathy and feigned politeness 99.999999% of people don't care if some random person they've never met drops dead. Everybody dies at some point, other than a few close friends or family nobody cares and the world keeps turning.

Perhaps the world is better off if some losers drink themselves to death as it helps curb the idiot population. It's unfortunate or perhaps tragic when they manage to harm or kill others with their drunken behavior, but it's certainly not sad when they eventually off themselves with the bottle since nobody is forcing them to drink. It's a choice and ultimately they chose to throw their life away, so feth em.

What an excellent idea! It's not like drunk people have ever gotten other people killed ... wait ...

I personally think a society is responsible for those it's sacrifices for its own pleasures.

**Easy E**

What horrifies me the most, I don't drink and I could just as easily be that 1 in 20 because of everyone else who DOES drink.

I wish I had a citation, but I heard somewhere that at any particular time driving on the road, 1 in 5 people are the equivalent of drunk due to exhaustion, distraction, actual inebriation, under the influence, etc.

**Xenomancers**

Easy E wrote:
What horrifies me the most, I don't drink and I could just as easily be that 1 in 20 because of everyone else who DOES drink.

I wish I had a citation, but I heard somewhere that at any particular time driving on the road, 1 in 5 people are the equivalent of drunk due to exhaustion, distraction, actual inebriation, under the influence, etc.

Legitimate concerns - though in probably 20-30 years these concerns wont matter as every car will be self driving.

**Kilkrazy**

I read a thing that said people with a heavy cold or flu had the same reduction of reaction speed and cognitive function as drunk people, leading to poor driving performance.

As you say, driverless cars will help reduce this problem and others.

**Iron_Captain**

Xenomancers wrote:
Easy E wrote:
What horrifies me the most, I don't drink and I could just as easily be that 1 in 20 because of everyone else who DOES drink.

I wish I had a citation, but I heard somewhere that at any particular time driving on the road, 1 in 5 people are the equivalent of drunk due to exhaustion, distraction, actual inebriation, under the influence, etc.

Legitimate concerns - though in probably 20-30 years these concerns wont matter as every car will be self driving.

I highly doubt that, since it would require people to surrender their cars. Most people I know (including myself) vastly prefer driving themselves rather than surrendering themselves to some sort of AI.

**Kilkrazy**

You're not familiar with my family which out of five of us includes five people who will be happy to surrender driving to an AI.

My wife doesn't drive.
My daughter hasn't learned yet.
My parents are both too old, but still find car journeys convenient and too expensive (mini-cabs.)
I like driving but most of what I do is tedious commuting to work which I would be happy to give over to an AI and be able to sit out the journey reading.

The only thing that would make me happier is an AI controlled tailgun installation to blow away tailgaters.