If someone were to ask you to name dangerous drugs, what would you say? Heroin, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, OxyContin? How about alcohol? Many people don’t consider it to be worthy of concern, because it’s legal and everyone does it. There’s no stigma against drinking (unless, perhaps, you’re embarrassing yourself in public). You can buy alcohol everywhere from gas stations to sporting events to most restaurants. So how dangerous can it really be? The answer might surprise you. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, in 1999, less than 20,000 people died from alcohol-induced deaths (alcohol-induced deaths for the purposes of this study means deaths that are a direct result of health problems caused by drinking alcohol – so things like liver disease, hepatitis, heart disease, strokes, cancer – and doesn’t include car crashes or other injuries), but that number grew by 2015, to more than 33,000. When accounting for population, that’s seven out of every 100,000 people in 1999 and 10.3 of every 100,000 in 2015.
For comparison, the number of deaths linked to opioid overdoses increased from two out of every 100,000 people in 1999 to 9.8 out of every 100,000 people in 2015, or fewer than 6,000 to more than 33,000. According to these numbers, although opioid overdose deaths increased more sharply, alcohol appears to have killed more people overall during that period. (Keep in mind, however, that these numbers are from 2015, and that the opioid crisis has continued to get worse.)
It’s possible that these two sets of data have actually been feeding each other, as opioids and alcohol worsen each other’s risks when taken together. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, taking just one oxycodone tablet at the same time as consuming even a small amount of alcohol can increase the risk of a potentially life-threatening side effect known as respiratory depression, which is when breathing becomes extremely shallow or stops altogether. Researchers at the Anesthesia and Pain Research Unit at Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands, examined 12 healthy young volunteers (ages 21 to 28) and 12 elderly volunteers (ages 66 to 77) after giving them one 20 mg oxycodone tablet and a slowly increasing amount of alcohol. Their minute ventilation – the amount of air they breathed per minute – was reduced by 28 percent at the smallest alcohol intake. When the amount of alcohol was increased, the minute ventilation was reduced by a total of 47 percent.
It’s arguable that the reason there are more alcohol-related deaths than from many other drugs is because it’s legal. Still, we’ve seen that prohibition isn’t terribly effective, and the focus should be on education and treatment relating to alcohol abuse and dependence. Experts have also suggested higher alcohol taxes and tougher licensing requirements.
If you or a loved one need help with quitting drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504 to get started.
