Replies

To: SkyRat

Alcohol and cigarettes kills more people than crack, coke and heroin - combined!

Out and out lie. Or skewed counting. Of course there are many more people that use alcohol and cigarettes and a far smaller number that have been pulled into the drug culture.

Yet - when you add up all the drug killings, the death and abuse to others by those stoned out of their minds or working with a damaged mind, when you add in all the effects of the drug on the quality of work in every aspect of American life and the results - you would understand that idiots seeking entertainment will bring this wonderful country down year after year.

Of course, honestly looking at what the drug culture has done to America is not on your agenda. You are in denial and selfishly claiming your right to be a drug addict sucking the lifeblood from the country and pulling all your fellow Americans with you.

Don't expect me to also be a fool and believe your lame excuses or think you are hurting no one but yourself - or you are still equipped with the brain and the abilities you had when you started on your tour of the drug culture. Look at the potential for the future of those taking drugs - it is not the same as the potential when they started their pursuit of the wonders of chemical thrills.

There are some mighty fine salesmen in the drug trade and look at the results of their efforts on American life. We now have every corporation trying to protect itself from ruin with alcohol and drug programs and every citizen pays for it. We now have a WOD with millions upon millions spent to try and control the onslaught on innocent Americans and the future generation.

We have every job in the country affected by drug induced mistakes, corruption, irresponsibility and abuse. The quality output of every drug controlled employee in this country affects every single American as they merely visit doctors, hospitals, run errands, use transportation, shop.

Yet - this is of no concern to you because you see - you have no responsibility to others because you take drugs and you have the right to destroy anything or anybody in your personal gratification. You are no longer the master of your life - a chemical tells you what to do. Or will be telling you what to do should you still not be addicted yet.

Such an absolute waste of potential.

284 posted on 9/5/02 8:14 AM Pacific by ClancyJ

Alcohol and cigarettes kills more people than crack, coke and heroin - combined! Out and out lie. Or skewed counting. Of course there are many more people that use alcohol and cigarettes and a far smaller number that have been pulled into the drug culture

Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Tobacco	430,700¹
Alcohol	110,640²
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs	32,000³
Suicide	30,575⁴
Homicide	18,272⁵
All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths	16,926⁶
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin	7,600⁷
Marijuana	0⁸

(Average 1990-1994) According to the US Centers for Disease Control, from the beginning of 1990 through 1994 "2,153,700 deaths (1,393,200 men and 760-400 women; total annual average: 430,700 deaths) were attributed to smoking (19.5% of all deaths)." The CDC notes that "Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."
Source:(1996): "Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control, 1997), May 23, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 20, p. 449.
According to the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in 1996 an estimated 110,640 people in the US died due to alcohol.
Source: "Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96," National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, from the web at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/databases/armort01.txt, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001, citing Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, Saadatmand, F., Stinson, FS, Grant, BF, and Dufour, MC, "Surveillance Report #52: Liver Mortality in the United States, 1970-96" (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, December 1999).
(Average 1982-1998): According to Canadian researchers, approximately 32,000 hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000) in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to their prescribed medications.
Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998, Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.
(1998): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 1998, there were a total of 30,575 deaths from suicide in the US.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
(1998): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 1998, there were a total of 18,272 deaths from homicide in the US.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
(1998): "In 1998 a total of 16,926 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (Table 20). The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes accidents, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother's drug use." The total number of deaths in the US in 1998 was 2,337,256.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
(1996): "Each year, use of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) accounts for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the United States." (NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, and tiaprofenic acid.)
Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC; and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice," Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm, last accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement, 1992;92:21-4.
An exhaustive search of the literature finds no deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.
Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.

Yet - when you add up all the drug killings, the death and abuse to others by those stoned out of their minds or working with a damaged mind, when you add in all the effects of the drug on the quality of work in every aspect of American life and the results - you would understand that idiots seeking entertainment will bring this wonderful country down year after year.

You can add up all the homocides (assuming EVERY ONE was because of drugs) and drug deaths combined and it doesn't even equal alcohol. BTW you obviously know nothing about being 'stoned.' It makes you passive and generally just want to sit down and do nothing. Alcohol on the other hand can get people very angry.