Plus: Peer recovery system to receive more oversight to prevent abuse

Saw this on local TV yesterday. The numbers represent DEATHS! More evidence for the need for AA, but also NA. I went to NA in my early sobriety and am glad I did. I quit drugs (I was mostly a pot smoker, another legal drug now) a year before I quit drinking and just started drinking more. I could not quit drinking, so started AA. Been sober decades now. Sure hope more folks find their way to NA before they can’t.

Alcohol Related Deaths (from the National Center for Drug Abuse Stats)

In the United States alone, there are roughly 261 alcohol-related deaths everyday.

Key Findings

95k—Number of alcohol-related deaths in the United States annually.

10.5K—Number of drunk driving deaths in the United States annually.

47.5k—Number of deaths attributable to the long term health failure from drinking.

Drug Overdose Death Rates

Drug overdose deaths are up 30% year-over-year.

Key Findings

96k+—Over 96,700 people die from drug overdoses in a year.

72%—Opioids are a factor in 7 out of every 10 overdose deaths.

1M—Drug overdoses have killed almost a million people since 1999.

Saw this little gem, below, on CNN the other day about how the medical community has viewed alcohol over the years.

This is from the Feb. 4 Star Tribune about treatment centers closing, scaling back, public and private. That tells me AA/NA is even more important now than ever. Come to AA/NA, its free (only voluntary donations are requested), its every day, morning noon and night and nearly in every city!