It seems, to me at least, that a rather obvious driver of this rising mortality could be something that occurred long ago, when many of these at-risk white men

It seems, to me at least, that a rather obvious driver of this rising mortality could be something that occurred long ago, when many of these at-risk white men were young and careless teenagers and 20-somethings. And what could that be, in the early-to-mid 1980's, that was a game changer for many of these "victims"? Well, of course, the most obvious driver would the be huge crack cocaine epidemic of the 80's that pretty much hit like the proverbial ton-of-bricks and caught almost everyone in my generation by surprise. I'll admit...I got caught up it too...so much so I spent 45 days in an inpatient treatment center in 1985, and flunked out of a highly regarded Engineering university in east central Florida with only 17 credits to go (out of 195). Who knows the damage I've done to myself and my body with all the garbage I've ingested over the decades since...