Recognize Addiction: Alcohol Addiction Facts

TV commercials to the contrary, alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse are problems that face this society at every level. What are some statistics on alcohol addiction to date?

The Atlanta Recovery Center Drug Rehab in Georgia released these facts about alcohol abuse:

• More money is spent on alcohol advertising than on any other product.  (What most people forget is that alcohol is the most widely abused drug on the planet.)

• Alcohol addiction is one of the toughest to overcome, especially with televisions making alcohol look tasty, sensuous, sexy, or even smart.  (The irony here is that if you have a drunk person, they are none of these things.  How is a stumbling and slurring person who has had too much to drink sexy or smart?)

• The statistics of alcohol abuse are that it leads to permanent damage of vital organs, several different types of cancer, gastrointestinal irritations, nausea, diarrhea, ulcers, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies, sexual dysfunctions, high blood pressure, and lowered resistance to diseases.  (They don’t tell you these things in their commercials.)

• It is estimated 6.6 million children live in homes with at least one alcoholic parent.

• Eighty percent of American high school students have tried alcohol and sixty-two percent of these teenagers have been drunk.

• There are approximately 14 million people addicted to alcohol in the United States alone.

• Alcohol kills 65 people per day on our roads; this accounts for 50% of all crashes.

• Almost half of all murders, suicides and accidental deaths involve alcohol.

Executive Director, Mary Rieser says, “These are the facts.  They are quite different than what is portrayed by the marketing and advertising agencies.  The truth is that 1 of every 13 Americans is addicted to alcohol, and we see more and more people suffering from alcoholism everyday.”

For more information on drug addiction rehabilitation or drug education, call The Atlanta Recovery Center of Georgia at 1-877-236-3981