Posted on 12/22/2025 4:58:03 AM PST by MtnClimber
America’s “deaths of despair” - fatalities from drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, and suicide - have climbed for more than two decades, reaching levels unseen in modern times.
The long-run trend is stark. After mid-century stability, the curve bends sharply upward after 2000, driven first by drugs and later joined by alcohol and suicide. The data, drawn from the Senate Joint Economic Committee’s “Long-Term Trends in Deaths of Despair” report shown below, are clear. The deeper question is why.
COVID made a bad situation worse. Lockdowns and restrictions stripped away social contact, church gatherings, family support, and purpose. Economic uncertainty due to rising inflation, erratic labor markets, and a government staggering under debt has pushed people further into anxiety.
During 2020 and 2021, overdoses and alcohol-related deaths surged, while depression and loneliness became near-universal.
But the pandemic was merely an accelerant. The roots reach much further down.
1. A lethal drug supply
America’s overdose crisis began with prescription opioids, evolved to heroin, and now centers on fentanyl -- cheap, potent, and deadly. This is less a behavioral shift than a supply-chain revolution. When the street dose becomes unpredictable, one relapse or tainted hit can mean death. The ubiquity of fentanyl reflects more than policy failure; it exposes how easily despair finds chemical refuge.
2. Alcohol’s quiet rise
While drugs dominate headlines, alcohol quietly exacts its own toll. Alcohol-induced deaths hit record levels during the pandemic. We glamorize drinking while ignoring that alcohol is one of our most addictive and accessible drugs, not only to adults but to teens as well. In hard times, it becomes self-prescribed anesthesia.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
BTW, we make a big row of people pronouncing ask as axe, please tell me what language the word "caint" is from?
In addition, we have sheer American stubbornness on our side, a determination to win by not quitting.
This is really the heart of the matter. The Democrat Party is filled with people who want to be seen as rulers (in spite of their No Kings claims, that is really just a ruse). They want God to be removed from public thought, so they can be seen as the intelligent and wise guides of society. They want people to indulge in their destructive habits and pursuits because it keeps them ignorant and unfocused on what's really happening.
That party is no less than the devil in action, and well-organized.
Ditto the leftist media.
They skyrocketed because of the covid reaction. And nobody has been arrested for it. #FireKash
It might be nice if we had some of them "educators" filling their screens too, yeah? Instead of Tuckers and Candaces.
Ford Foundation projects...
Huh.. This is something Kirk talked about a bunch, especially amongst today’s womenfolk!
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