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2017 saw highest rate of death due to alcohol, drugs, suicide in US history [pdf]

136 points by vector_spaces 8y ago

vectorEQ 8y ago
party hardy
SnoopNL 8y ago
Sunday funday!
lm28469 8y ago
People feeling left aside by society always find a way out, it's more of a systemic issue than an alcohol or drug one. I guess having a for profit health industry trying to prescribe as much opioid as possible doesn't help. As long as we keep putting the blame on individuals* and not on the system they live in we're doomed to fail. Putting tax on alcohol, war on drugs and banning beer sales on Sunday aren't going to fix any of the underlying problems. * which is very easy and relieving, after all I don't have to do anything if that's just how people are.
- bayesian_horse 8y ago
  The "for profit" nature of the health industry isn't the problem. The problem is that American voters let the health industry get away with stuff like the fraudulent opiate prescription practices...
  - lm28469 8y ago
    There are so many issues with the US health industry that it's hard to pin point which one is the worst. It's almost an example of what shouldn't be done. For profit isn't an issue per say, but when you add greedy executives in the mix you're in for a disaster. Look at insulin or other basic necessities, companies clearly put profit over people. I don't think that would fly in any other first world country. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-relative-size-wealth-u-s-spends-disproportionate-amount-health https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-... https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs-4064878 https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs...
    - bayesian_horse 8y ago
      Again, other first world countries don't let the health industry get away with highly fractionized buyers which are powerless against service providers.
      - vonmoltke 8y ago
        A few of the "highly fractionized" buyers are larger than most first world national health systems, so that can't be the major issue.
        bayesian_horse 8y ago
        There are probably many factors, but there seems to be too little negotiating power on the demand side, even with the bigger insurances. And I assume the bigger buyers are getting better prices, right? Are those buyers bigger by the number of insured members or just according to expense volume? Again, mostly the government should tell the industry to knock it off, mainly by empowering the demand side rather than the supply side.
- Toine 8y ago
  As long as you keep believing in your sacro-saint American Dream in which Me can achieve anything Me wants if Me wants it enough and Me works enough, too.
- wil421 8y ago
  How do beer sales and alcohol taxes have anything to do with the other things you mentioned? Sunday sales laws have been in effect for 3-4 generations it’s just a way for politicians to get the conservative Christian vote. Alcohol taxes are a valuable source of revenue for cities. The area I’m moving to is trying to incorporate. The alcohol taxes and restaurant permits will directly fund police, fire, and sanitation. It will allow us to improve services without relying on the county.
  - simonh 8y ago
    I think you're missing the point. OP is just saying that contrary to some politicians they aren't realy relevant to this issue, as you say as well, not necessarily that they are bad things as such.
- tempest-tost 8y ago
  I agree that alcohol taxes aren't enough on their own, but their effect is likely very large and positive. This meta-analysis found that doubling the alcohol tax would reduce alcohol related mortality by 35% which is an incredibly high metric in the public health world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20864710/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20864710/
  - microcolonel 8y ago
    In other words, by effectively prohibiting (legal access to) alcohol to the poor you can save them from their freedoms. This is a disturbing way to think about people. The state should not be in the business of saving people from themselves, least of all with a deeply regressive tax.
    - mikelward 8y ago
      You don't give any reason for your claim, so I'm not sure if you're serious or trolling, but I'll bite. What's wrong with trying to stop people dying? (The regressive aspect I get, but you seem to be against non-regressive measures too.)
    - moate 8y ago
      >>The state should not be in the business of saving people from themselves What should the state be in the business of exactly? It's in the business of defending people from other people. You could frame it as "saving people from themselves" or you could justifiably frame it as "saving people from companies seeking to poison them". Also, the state has account for these people in the form of emergency care and treatment when they kill themselves (and often times others on their way out). These people are unfairly burdening the tax base when they decide to kill themselves in a spectacular flaming car crash, so why doesn't it make sense for the state to protect the interests of the group as a whole?
    - tonyedgecombe 8y ago
      That would be a good argument if the state and the corporations it is in cahoots with weren’t creating the problem in the first place.
- mc32 8y ago
  Perhaps. It’s not a simple issue though. Thoroughly affluent kids get hooked. Affluent parents get hooked. Runaways get hooked, homeless get hooked. Working poor get hooked. It’s more than “society sucks.” If it really sucked people would be escaping our borders going to Mexico and Canada in droves but it’s the opposite. If a Mexican citizen is worse off on average than an American, why are Mexicans never the less less impacted by this kind of epidemic? What do people in depressed areas of Japan do, do they fall for this, why or why not?
  - robohoe 8y ago
    Well, politicians and American media tend to sell Mexico as a 3rd-world hellhole (which it isn’t) and Canada as a socialist utopia with death panels and high taxes (which it isn’t). So people find another escape while feeling helpless.
    - mc32 8y ago
      This assumes helplessness is a main cause, if it were, why aren’t helpless people in other places equally affected, say Japan, India, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, etc?
  - toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
    It’s not a simple issue, and everyone is at risk, but higher risk groups are this on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/259261/ASPEEconomicOpportunityOpioidCrisis.pdf https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/259261/ASPEEconomicOpp... (1) The prevalence of drug overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions has risen unevenly across the county, with rural areas more heavily affected. Specific geographic areas, such as Appalachia, parts of the West and the Midwest, and New England, have seen higher prevalence than other areas. (2) Poverty, unemployment rates, and the employment-to-population ratio are highly correlated with the prevalence of prescription opioids and with substance use measures. On average, counties with worse economic prospects are more likely to have higher rates of opioid prescriptions, opioid-related hospitalizations, and drug overdose deaths. (3) Some high-poverty regions of the country were relatively isolated from the opioid epidemic, as shown by our substance use measures, as of 2016. Still as 3 can attest and as you said, it isn’t simple.
- jseliger 8y ago
  If you're interested in these issues, the book Lost Connections by Johann Hari is very good: https://jakeseliger.com/2018/07/26/lost-connections-uncovering-the-real-causes-of-depression-johann-hari https://jakeseliger.com/2018/07/26/lost-connections-uncoveri...
  - cheeko1234 8y ago
    >Scanning Facebook is easier than getting a drink If only it were that easy.
boomboomsubban 8y ago
Maybe I'm missing something, but your source seems to only have data for 99-2015, and references a projection study done by the Berkeley Research Group.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
nickthemagicman 8y ago
This is a real National Emergency.
LUmBULtERA 8y ago
I have always wondered, what is our life expectancy if we removed all deaths of despair from the statistics? This is a little different than the delta from the change in the deaths of despair (e.g., the report does say that our life expectancy is decreasing because of the deaths, but I didn't see the total impact of all of them on the stat). If I know I'm not going to die because of a death of despair, how long should I expect to live?
- grenoire 8y ago
  How can you know that? Serious question.
  - Ensorceled 8y ago
    What part are you asking about?
    - CompelTechnic 8y ago
      I am not grenoire, but a large fraction of deaths in America at least are from lifestyle diseases. Heart attacks from obesity, etc. Should these be considered deaths of despair?
      - LUmBULtERA 8y ago
        The report itself uses the term deaths of despair. It's not talking about obesity.
        cheeko1234 8y ago
        I think grenoire is asking that should over-eating because one is in despair and dying due to health-related diseases be included in that statistics. What about adrenaline-junkies that might be doing it due to despair. I think your question is: Everything being nominal in an average human's life, what's the age where natural systems cause death? I think the answer is probably related to the number of cycles before the heart goes out. There some research that there is a set amount of beats per life. >Studies have concluded that all mammals get about a billion heartbeats per lifetime. http://robdunnlab.com/projects/beats-per-life/ http://robdunnlab.com/projects/beats-per-life/
pixelpoet 8y ago
Once again, alcohol listed separately from "drugs", and it's the most harmful drug of the lot. Can we even be surprised that alcoholism is such a problem when we cannot even recognise as a society that it's actually a drug?
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  Alcohol's dangers get whitewashed frequently, but they don't hold a candle to the likes ketamine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine.
  - JBReefer 8y ago
    What's wrong with Ketamine? It's not particularly addictive, and it's worst side effect is kidney damage (which can be quite severe). Are you sure you don't mean Heroin or Fentanyl? Those are the worst of the bunch.
  - pixelpoet 8y ago
    By "most harmful" I meant total harm to society, not personal harm per microgram or something. How many families have been torn apart by alcoholism? How many drunk driving deaths? And yet it still doesn't get the stigma of being "drugs" - this is the bullshit I'm referring to.
- 542458 8y ago
  In addition to what the other commenter said, it's also worth breaking alcohol out into it's own statistic since it occupies a different place culturally and in people's minds than other drugs. Combining them would just muddle the waters, and make it even harder to make a good argument as to how dangerous alcohol is.
YinglingLight 8y ago
Keep going after fentanyl. It's poisoning us.
- RankingMember 8y ago
  Fentanyl is dangerous, sure, but until we address the root issues that cause people to take up opiods in the first place (over-prescription, sometimes, but certainly also hopelessness and mental health issues), it'll be an endless game of whack-a-mole. I think the most cost-effective thing we could do right now to reduce fentanyl deaths is offer test kits free in pharmacies across the country. Anecdotally, the majority of fentanyl deaths I hear of are from people who think they're shooting heroin and don't realize their dope is laced with fentanyl.
  - jgowdy 8y ago
    No offense, but do you honestly believe most heroin users are going to buy a test kit to test their drugs and then if it tests positive not use them? The practical value of those test kits seems low to me, as I don't believe they would be heavily used and I don't believe that many herion users wouldn't continue in the fact of a positive test.
    - RankingMember 8y ago
      No, I really don't- that's why I think it's important that it'd be free. Not every heroin user is under a bridge shooting up with dirty needles; they actually go and buy/exchange clean needles believe it or not. I don't think it's a big jump from there to testing your junk so you can keep your addiction on the down-low rather than having a family member find you blue one evening.
  - YinglingLight 8y ago
    Never underestimate the power of Friction when it comes to reducing bad habits.
- TheHypnotist 8y ago
  Yes this is true but the U.S. handles these things is the worst possible way. So when you say "Going after" it - the statistics show that the current means simply does not work and in fact may actually make the situation worse.
nonbel 8y ago
I wanted to see what ICD-10 codes they used for "drugs" since I have seen similar claims before that grouped in "drug" over/under-doses in a general sense. Ie, it included stuff like deaths from blood pressure medications. I was disappointed to find that the "source" was apparently a (no longer found) Washington Post article: > "The United States is facing a new set of epidemics — more than 1 million Americans have died in the past decade from drug overdoses, alcohol and suicides (2006 to 2015).1" 1 Hohmann J. “The Daily 202: Trump over performed the most in counties with the highest drug, alcohol and suicide mortality rates.” Washington Post December 9, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/12/09/ daily-202-trump-over-performed-the-most- in-counties-with-the-highest-drug-alcohol- and-suicide-mortality-rates/584a2a59e9b- 69b7e58e45f2e/?utm_term=.d3109d2f4877 (accessed September 2017). I have trouble taking this document seriously after that.
- mr_luc 8y ago
  Per Appendix B, the source of the data is the CDC's Wonder "multiple cause of death" data, which does include the codes you mention: https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html "... The Multiple Cause of Death database contains mortality and population counts for all U.S. counties. Data are based on death certificates for U.S. residents. Each death certificate contains a single underlying cause of death, up to twenty additional multiple causes, and demographic data. The number of deaths, crude death rates, age-adjusted death rates and 95% confidence intervals for death rates can be obtained by cause of death (4 digit ICD-10 codes, 113 selected causes of death, 130 selected causes of infant death, drug and alcohol related causes of death, injury intent and injury mechanism categories) ..." The fact that a study-cum-policy-paper happens to also cite reporting on the problem is par for the course.
swiley 8y ago
If you isolate everyone the way the modern world does this shouldn’t be surprising.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
zenpaul 8y ago
And in other news, "2017 saw largest total population in US history". How about "2017 saw highest increase in death due to alcohol, drugs and suicide in US history"?
- kevinventullo 8y ago
  Headline says "rate of death", implying a correction for total population.
- darrenf 8y ago
  I'm not sure what population has to do with it. The headline and the PDF itself talk about the rate of death — the text refers to deaths per 100,000 throughout.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
nakedrobot2 8y ago
This is the hundredth nub of a massive problem of the regression and deterioration of society in the usa. Yes, opiates. Yes, for profit health care. But even those things in isolation are only part of the problem.
JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Maybe its just technology. https://www.statista.com/statistics/971676/online-alcohol-sales-growth-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/971676/online-alcohol-sa...
tha_nose 8y ago
About 1.9 million deaths in the US. About 45K or 2% of those are suicides. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm And people here are saying that is the national emergency? The US is nowhere near the top in terms of suicide rates in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... If we really wanted to help people, we'd focus more on heart disease, diabetes, etc. But I guess we don't want to tackle the food industry, soda industry, process food industry, etc. I don't who is behind all the "alcohol, drugs, suicide" scaremongering. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the "solution" will be pump people with more pharmaceuticals. I'm not saying suicide is not a terrible thing, but it certainly isn't a "national emergency" compared to heart disease, strokes, cancer or diabetes.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Interesting that Soviet republics figure so heavily on the top of that list. And they uniformly have huge male:female ratios. Also that Japan, notorious for a suicide culture, is only 30th. Maybe if they counted all the murders made to look like suicide, they would be further up.
- mbostleman 8y ago
  It's about what's trending. Recent stats on US life expectancy showed an overall drop. Heart disease and (I think) cancer trended down (as it has for years), but that was more than offset by the up trend in suicide and overdoses. I'm not sure what the definition of "emergency" is, but I'd say the data shows suicide and OD are the top concerns at the moment.
  - tha_nose 8y ago
    The data clearly doesn't not say what you claim. As for trending? I wouldn't call anything going from 1.9% of deaths to 2% of deaths as trending. Focusing on the 2% rather than the 98% seems also doesn't seem to be sensible.
    - 8y ago
DJBunnies 8y ago
It was touch and go there for a while, but I'm happy to have avoided contributing to those statistics. Every day is a gift, folks.
- ComputerGuru 8y ago
  Glad you're still with us! Surround yourself with people you can talk to.
rygxqpbsngav 8y ago
I suspect it might rise more. With a culture that predominantly revolves around party/fun culture where you drink alcohol and consume drugs, when youth of other cultures are busy planning their life and studies & career, where youth in U.S. is more inclined towards partying and porn and care free lifestyle; No wonder the numbers might rise.
- LUmBULtERA 8y ago
  Pardon? The highest increases in suicide and overdoses is in the 45-54 year old demographic (see page 23).
mr_luc 8y ago
For me, the most useful page of the linked PDF is page 22, the tables of 1999-2015 stats, without any projections. I see numbers from the CDC for general population like: Alcohol deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 7.0 10.3 47% Drug deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 6.9 16.3 136% Suicide deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 10.5 13.8 31% So, devil's avocado -- anecdotes aside, is this all just due to the opioid epidemic? Ie, the US is in the middle of a widespread opioid problem right now, and suicide and alcohol use may correlate. I would love to see some tables that compare this specific data across multiple countries over the same time frame, as that could help tease apart how much of this is really fallout from one single problem in the US, the opioid crisis -- and, if not, what factors might be involved ('are there other countries on a similar track? What do they have in common with the US?'). I wonder if OurWorldInData might be interested ... Edit: others have posted the link below, with what might be 1 of the 6 sources of data that would be helpful for this comparison: recent global suicide stats by country. (Ideally we'd have this for all 3 causes, and then also for 1999). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...
- rwmj 8y ago
  Relevant question: If someone dies and they have both alcohol and an opioid in their bloodstream, do they count against alcohol, opioid, both, or do they try to work out which one killed them?
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >or do they try to work out which one killed them? Yes, they put their best medical experts to the task... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7acD4q0lp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7acD4q0lp0
  - nonbel 8y ago
    Funnily enough, I happened to be on the page that answers this. Page 160: "Alcohol-induced deaths and drug-induced deaths are mutually-exclusive. However, these deaths may also be considered suicide deaths." Also, I can't find any more info on what is included here. They just say it doesn't use ICD-10 codes: >"NCHS has defined selected causes of death groups for analysis of all ages mortality data: Drug-Induced causes, Alcohol-Induced Causes, All Other Causes. The group code values are not actual ICD codes published in the International Classification of Diseases, but are "recodes" defined to support analysis by the Selected Causes of Death groups." https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/mcd.html#Drug/Alcohol%20Induced%20Causes https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/mcd.html#Drug/Alcohol%20I... EDIT: If I go to CDC WONDER (https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D76 https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D76) and click "Drug/alcohol induced causes" a box populates showing (presumably) ICD-10 codes: X40-44, X60-64, X85, Y10-Y14 That includes stuff you wouldn't expect: X44: agents primarily acting on smooth and skeletal muscles and the respiratory system anaesthetics (general)(local) drugs affecting the: · cardiovascular system · gastrointestinal system hormones and synthetic substitutes systemic and haematological agents systemic antibiotics and other anti-infectives therapeutic gases topical preparations vaccines water-balance agents and drugs affecting mineral and uric acid metabolism http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online2004/fr-icd.htm?gx40.htm+ http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online2004... So this could be partially due to "better access to healthcare". More people are being put on blood pressure, etc medications and are dying from over/under-dosing on them. I don't see any reason for them to include X44 in the current study besides trying to mess with the numbers... EDIT 2: Indeed, when I selected only x44 on CDC WONDER, here are the results: Year Deaths per 100k Pop 1999 1.5 2000 1.7 2001 1.9 2002 2.4 2003 2.6 2004 2.9 2005 3.3 2006 3.8 2007 4.2 2008 4.5 2009 4.7 2010 5.0 2011 5.6 2012 5.3 2013 5.5 2014 5.8 2015 6.3 2016 7.4 2017 8.1 So the death rate from normal (not addictive or recreational) medications is 5.4x higher in 2017 than in 1999.
En_gr_Student 8y ago
I have an outstanding hypothesis that suggests that even if the opoid epidemic went totally away tomorrow, this is not the steepest increase, and the increase will continue for the next 20 years. The suicide rate should bump itself up substantially above 50 per 100k, especially for younger demographics. It should then plateau for the foreseeable future. I really really really really hope that I am wrong. We have folks with no vision in charge, and they drove a big ship into the rocks: my hypothesis is that this is onset/ramp-up of body count.
delivertooling 8y ago
They should investigate why do people actually use that much alcohol, drugs or whatever. What are the roots of these problems. I know a lot of countries where they just put on some silly laws on for example alcohol consumption, but do not look at facts why people start using alcohol at first.
arandr0x 8y ago
You can actually acutely treat opioid overdose (with antagonists) and so presumably the actual issue here is people use drugs alone in locations where nobody is going to check on them for something like an hour. There may be an education campaign there so that people prescribed painkillers know to never use them alone. Also, we probably need to invest in lifestyle education for preventing depression like we do for preventing obesity. Have campaigns asking people if they've had one pleasant conversation today. Force workplaces to give people a midday break where they are allowed to leave the facility in winter. Sensitize parents to symptoms of their child developing persistent anxiety or sadness like they are to the height/weight curves. (Also, develop ways of treating mild depression that aren't SSRIs -- light therapy, animals, caffeine, sleep deprivation, whatever, but a ton of people are refusing to seek help because they don't want meds that they see as having too many problematic side effects.)
mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
Let me guess, isolation - both social and physical, brought about by cell phones and social media cancer is making people lonely and depressed. They turn to alcohol but that doesn’t quite do it so they turn to opioids and then decide to take their life. Perhaps I’m just pulling on unrelated strings to make a rope, or perhaps there is some truth to it?
- 1auralynn 8y ago
  Social media and cell phones are the partial solution to the isolation brought about by the way we design our communities - sprawl, no town centers, etc. Also, drunk driving becoming more penalized (rightly so) so less gathering in bars, people becoming less religious. Isolation is the cause of the rise of social media, not the opposite, in my opinion.
  - mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
    It’s peobably both, cause and effect. I agree with everything else you said. It’s just hard not to be depressed when I see everyone staring at their phone. I imagine back in the day people would strike up conversations and make random friends. Can anyone who was an adult pre-phones confirm this? There is no reason to make conversations with strangers anymore as anything you read online is likely more interesting and you can “pause” any time. I am guilty myself, and have to remind myself constantly that there is more to being in public than hiding behind a screen. Maybe I’m the weirdo who occasionally makes too much eye contact.
redleggedfrog 8y ago
I hate to say this, but we brought this on ourselves. It's just one aspect of the decline of America. At one time, we could identify with, "Land of the free, home of the brave." I remember my Grandpa, saying that to me, and then telling me, "So kid, stay free, and be brave about it. I did my best, and when you grow up, do yours, right? You're an American." Of course, I'm like 10 and know nothing of the world, but I honest felt like I was part of a greater thing, that I was now going to be following in the footsteps of Grandpa. Then I grow up, and America slowly gives away her freedoms. Not just personal freedom, but the freedom to excel. The middle class slowly fades, education becomes prohibitively expensive. Upward mobility wanes. Then 911 happens and America loses it's shit. We're shown to just be a bunch of pansies. We react by becoming a (worse) global bully, frightened and trying to control the uncontrollable. And we trade freedom for perceived safety. Ever think the Patriot Act will be allowed to expire? Then of course we get the perfect to represent the coward bully that is now all of us. And oh boy do we like our guns and drugs. Now that's the new America. That's our refuge. More guns, and more drugs. We suck down so many drugs that the rest of the world works really hard to keep us supplied. We work hard to keep us supplied (Afghanistan). And then lastly, we isolate ourselves, unable to make friends, interacting over the internet instead of in person. We shape our world and ideas with constant confirmation bias. We work hard to reinforce our prejudices. Nation of tribal haters. The charade of Democrat and Republican and Ford vs. Chevy and Cowboys vs Patriots. Choose a side, get angry, espouse. So what's left in an America like that for a man? Sure, it affects women to, much the same, but as a man I particularly feel it. This ain't my America, the one I read about from our past. It's seriously depressing. This might seem like pining for the old days. "Things are better than ever now!" you say. So, really? Why are people opting out in record numbers then?
- theplague42 8y ago
  Political choices matter.
  - triviatise 8y ago
    political choices are completely irrelevant to your ability to have a happy life. People living in garbage dumps are able to figure out to be happy.
lorinm 8y ago
I wonder what is the impact of social media in this rate increase. People are getting more and more addicted to it, thus making people more depressed about their lives which in turn find their relief in drugs and alcohol. I am not saying that social media is to blame for everything but as a former heavy user of Snapchat and Instagram, it must be up there as one of the main causes. The sad and hopeless part is that its all by design...
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  I suspect it's more the opiods that are the problem. I could be wrong though.
- DanBC 8y ago
  Social media is also an important way to connect for people who are socially isolated, so we should avoid demonising it. We need to worry about promotion of self harm and suicide being distributed on social media, but most companies are taking action on the worst content.
odiroot 8y ago
The most interesting part of this report is the huge difference between the numbers for men and women. Are there any programs in the US helping solve this enormous divide?
triviatise 8y ago
Despair is the absence of hope. People have been given an unrealistic view of what life should be and when it is so much worse than their expectations they fall into despair. The media hurts because we are exposed to the "lifestyles of the rich and famous". Im gen X which seems to have the suicide problem. Gen X was raised with "greed is good" and glamorized miami vice. That is a hollow empty promise even when fulfilled. I think another of the key problems is a lack of life philosophy (spirituality?) where people can find meaning in their lives outside of material goods. This is partially due to the death of religion. There also is a lack of understanding that life is fundamentally unfair and there somehow is the expectation that it should be fair. Without religion people are missing a clear moral compass that guides their life to find meaning. There needs to be a new modern philosophy that has moral underpinnings, but incorporates science, without necessarily having a deity. Finally, children (including my generation) have been sheltered from lifes daily challenges by being given too much. I suspect when they become adults they simply can't handle what their lives actually are. I think the current generation of kids are being raised to try to change the world and to seek meaning in helping other people. However they are also being raised to think that life should be fair and they are going to be bitterly disappointed.
- airza 8y ago
  The material conditions of life have been annihilated in the areas that have been ravaged by the opioid epidemic. My brother died of a drug overdose on one of them, and it wasn't because of a lack of moral underpinning. It was because almost nobody who is born and grows up in one will ever have a chance of a stable life. No steady access to income, healthcare or a chance of escaping the working class. Hoping for the chance to lead a stable middle class life isn't a moral failing.
  - triviatise 8y ago
    Im sorry about your brother. I never said it was a moral failing. What I did say is that people lack a values system to find meaning in their life. Even if you are poor, you can find meaning in your life, yet our society is completely geared around material goods= meaning. Religion used to fill that role. That hole is often times filled with meaningless partying that can include experimentation with drugs. Of course many people get addicted via actual prescriptions. I havent done much research, but the article below suggests that few people are getting addicted via prescriptions. why do people start using opioids in the first place? https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/a3z98b/big-pharma-didnt-cause-the-opioid-crisis-most-pain-patients-dont-get-addicted https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/a3z98b/big-pharma-didnt... <<The research actually shows that people who developed new addictions in recent years were overwhelmingly not pain patients. Instead, they were mainly friends, relatives, and others to whom those pills were diverted—typically young people. Among the older patients, many who appeared to be newly addicted had actually relapsed or never recovered from prior addictions: some faked pain to get pills from well-meaning doctors; others got them from pill mills where shady physicians wrote prescriptions for cash.>>
gambler 8y ago
Why is the title title phrased as if 2017 was special, when most of the previous years also seen highest death rates from those causes? A lot of charts in the paper end at 2015.
FatDrunknStupid 8y ago
Lumping together alcohol, drugs and suicide is useless damn lies and statistics.

136 points by vector_spaces 8y ago

vectorEQ 8y ago

party hardy

SnoopNL 8y ago

Sunday funday!

lm28469 8y ago

People feeling left aside by society always find a way out, it's more of a systemic issue than an alcohol or drug one. I guess having a for profit health industry trying to prescribe as much opioid as possible doesn't help. As long as we keep putting the blame on individuals* and not on the system they live in we're doomed to fail. Putting tax on alcohol, war on drugs and banning beer sales on Sunday aren't going to fix any of the underlying problems. * which is very easy and relieving, after all I don't have to do anything if that's just how people are.

bayesian_horse 8y ago
The "for profit" nature of the health industry isn't the problem. The problem is that American voters let the health industry get away with stuff like the fraudulent opiate prescription practices...
- lm28469 8y ago
  There are so many issues with the US health industry that it's hard to pin point which one is the worst. It's almost an example of what shouldn't be done. For profit isn't an issue per say, but when you add greedy executives in the mix you're in for a disaster. Look at insulin or other basic necessities, companies clearly put profit over people. I don't think that would fly in any other first world country. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-relative-size-wealth-u-s-spends-disproportionate-amount-health https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-... https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs-4064878 https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs...
  - bayesian_horse 8y ago
    Again, other first world countries don't let the health industry get away with highly fractionized buyers which are powerless against service providers.
    - vonmoltke 8y ago
      A few of the "highly fractionized" buyers are larger than most first world national health systems, so that can't be the major issue.
      - bayesian_horse 8y ago
        There are probably many factors, but there seems to be too little negotiating power on the demand side, even with the bigger insurances. And I assume the bigger buyers are getting better prices, right? Are those buyers bigger by the number of insured members or just according to expense volume? Again, mostly the government should tell the industry to knock it off, mainly by empowering the demand side rather than the supply side.
Toine 8y ago
As long as you keep believing in your sacro-saint American Dream in which Me can achieve anything Me wants if Me wants it enough and Me works enough, too.
wil421 8y ago
How do beer sales and alcohol taxes have anything to do with the other things you mentioned? Sunday sales laws have been in effect for 3-4 generations it’s just a way for politicians to get the conservative Christian vote. Alcohol taxes are a valuable source of revenue for cities. The area I’m moving to is trying to incorporate. The alcohol taxes and restaurant permits will directly fund police, fire, and sanitation. It will allow us to improve services without relying on the county.
- simonh 8y ago
  I think you're missing the point. OP is just saying that contrary to some politicians they aren't realy relevant to this issue, as you say as well, not necessarily that they are bad things as such.
tempest-tost 8y ago
I agree that alcohol taxes aren't enough on their own, but their effect is likely very large and positive. This meta-analysis found that doubling the alcohol tax would reduce alcohol related mortality by 35% which is an incredibly high metric in the public health world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20864710/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20864710/
- microcolonel 8y ago
  In other words, by effectively prohibiting (legal access to) alcohol to the poor you can save them from their freedoms. This is a disturbing way to think about people. The state should not be in the business of saving people from themselves, least of all with a deeply regressive tax.
  - mikelward 8y ago
    You don't give any reason for your claim, so I'm not sure if you're serious or trolling, but I'll bite. What's wrong with trying to stop people dying? (The regressive aspect I get, but you seem to be against non-regressive measures too.)
  - moate 8y ago
    >>The state should not be in the business of saving people from themselves What should the state be in the business of exactly? It's in the business of defending people from other people. You could frame it as "saving people from themselves" or you could justifiably frame it as "saving people from companies seeking to poison them". Also, the state has account for these people in the form of emergency care and treatment when they kill themselves (and often times others on their way out). These people are unfairly burdening the tax base when they decide to kill themselves in a spectacular flaming car crash, so why doesn't it make sense for the state to protect the interests of the group as a whole?
  - tonyedgecombe 8y ago
    That would be a good argument if the state and the corporations it is in cahoots with weren’t creating the problem in the first place.
mc32 8y ago
Perhaps. It’s not a simple issue though. Thoroughly affluent kids get hooked. Affluent parents get hooked. Runaways get hooked, homeless get hooked. Working poor get hooked. It’s more than “society sucks.” If it really sucked people would be escaping our borders going to Mexico and Canada in droves but it’s the opposite. If a Mexican citizen is worse off on average than an American, why are Mexicans never the less less impacted by this kind of epidemic? What do people in depressed areas of Japan do, do they fall for this, why or why not?
- robohoe 8y ago
  Well, politicians and American media tend to sell Mexico as a 3rd-world hellhole (which it isn’t) and Canada as a socialist utopia with death panels and high taxes (which it isn’t). So people find another escape while feeling helpless.
  - mc32 8y ago
    This assumes helplessness is a main cause, if it were, why aren’t helpless people in other places equally affected, say Japan, India, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, etc?
- toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
  It’s not a simple issue, and everyone is at risk, but higher risk groups are this on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/259261/ASPEEconomicOpportunityOpioidCrisis.pdf https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/259261/ASPEEconomicOpp... (1) The prevalence of drug overdose deaths and opioid prescriptions has risen unevenly across the county, with rural areas more heavily affected. Specific geographic areas, such as Appalachia, parts of the West and the Midwest, and New England, have seen higher prevalence than other areas. (2) Poverty, unemployment rates, and the employment-to-population ratio are highly correlated with the prevalence of prescription opioids and with substance use measures. On average, counties with worse economic prospects are more likely to have higher rates of opioid prescriptions, opioid-related hospitalizations, and drug overdose deaths. (3) Some high-poverty regions of the country were relatively isolated from the opioid epidemic, as shown by our substance use measures, as of 2016. Still as 3 can attest and as you said, it isn’t simple.
jseliger 8y ago
If you're interested in these issues, the book Lost Connections by Johann Hari is very good: https://jakeseliger.com/2018/07/26/lost-connections-uncovering-the-real-causes-of-depression-johann-hari https://jakeseliger.com/2018/07/26/lost-connections-uncoveri...
- cheeko1234 8y ago
  >Scanning Facebook is easier than getting a drink If only it were that easy.

boomboomsubban 8y ago

Maybe I'm missing something, but your source seems to only have data for 99-2015, and references a projection study done by the Berkeley Research Group.

deleted 8y ago

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nickthemagicman 8y ago

This is a real National Emergency.

LUmBULtERA 8y ago

I have always wondered, what is our life expectancy if we removed all deaths of despair from the statistics? This is a little different than the delta from the change in the deaths of despair (e.g., the report does say that our life expectancy is decreasing because of the deaths, but I didn't see the total impact of all of them on the stat). If I know I'm not going to die because of a death of despair, how long should I expect to live?

grenoire 8y ago
How can you know that? Serious question.
- Ensorceled 8y ago
  What part are you asking about?
  - CompelTechnic 8y ago
    I am not grenoire, but a large fraction of deaths in America at least are from lifestyle diseases. Heart attacks from obesity, etc. Should these be considered deaths of despair?
    - LUmBULtERA 8y ago
      The report itself uses the term deaths of despair. It's not talking about obesity.
      - cheeko1234 8y ago
        I think grenoire is asking that should over-eating because one is in despair and dying due to health-related diseases be included in that statistics. What about adrenaline-junkies that might be doing it due to despair. I think your question is: Everything being nominal in an average human's life, what's the age where natural systems cause death? I think the answer is probably related to the number of cycles before the heart goes out. There some research that there is a set amount of beats per life. >Studies have concluded that all mammals get about a billion heartbeats per lifetime. http://robdunnlab.com/projects/beats-per-life/ http://robdunnlab.com/projects/beats-per-life/

pixelpoet 8y ago

Once again, alcohol listed separately from "drugs", and it's the most harmful drug of the lot. Can we even be surprised that alcoholism is such a problem when we cannot even recognise as a society that it's actually a drug?

vonmoltke 8y ago
Alcohol's dangers get whitewashed frequently, but they don't hold a candle to the likes ketamine, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine.
- JBReefer 8y ago
  What's wrong with Ketamine? It's not particularly addictive, and it's worst side effect is kidney damage (which can be quite severe). Are you sure you don't mean Heroin or Fentanyl? Those are the worst of the bunch.
- pixelpoet 8y ago
  By "most harmful" I meant total harm to society, not personal harm per microgram or something. How many families have been torn apart by alcoholism? How many drunk driving deaths? And yet it still doesn't get the stigma of being "drugs" - this is the bullshit I'm referring to.
542458 8y ago
In addition to what the other commenter said, it's also worth breaking alcohol out into it's own statistic since it occupies a different place culturally and in people's minds than other drugs. Combining them would just muddle the waters, and make it even harder to make a good argument as to how dangerous alcohol is.

YinglingLight 8y ago

Keep going after fentanyl. It's poisoning us.

RankingMember 8y ago
Fentanyl is dangerous, sure, but until we address the root issues that cause people to take up opiods in the first place (over-prescription, sometimes, but certainly also hopelessness and mental health issues), it'll be an endless game of whack-a-mole. I think the most cost-effective thing we could do right now to reduce fentanyl deaths is offer test kits free in pharmacies across the country. Anecdotally, the majority of fentanyl deaths I hear of are from people who think they're shooting heroin and don't realize their dope is laced with fentanyl.
- jgowdy 8y ago
  No offense, but do you honestly believe most heroin users are going to buy a test kit to test their drugs and then if it tests positive not use them? The practical value of those test kits seems low to me, as I don't believe they would be heavily used and I don't believe that many herion users wouldn't continue in the fact of a positive test.
  - RankingMember 8y ago
    No, I really don't- that's why I think it's important that it'd be free. Not every heroin user is under a bridge shooting up with dirty needles; they actually go and buy/exchange clean needles believe it or not. I don't think it's a big jump from there to testing your junk so you can keep your addiction on the down-low rather than having a family member find you blue one evening.
- YinglingLight 8y ago
  Never underestimate the power of Friction when it comes to reducing bad habits.
TheHypnotist 8y ago
Yes this is true but the U.S. handles these things is the worst possible way. So when you say "Going after" it - the statistics show that the current means simply does not work and in fact may actually make the situation worse.

nonbel 8y ago

I wanted to see what ICD-10 codes they used for "drugs" since I have seen similar claims before that grouped in "drug" over/under-doses in a general sense. Ie, it included stuff like deaths from blood pressure medications. I was disappointed to find that the "source" was apparently a (no longer found) Washington Post article: > "The United States is facing a new set of epidemics — more than 1 million Americans have died in the past decade from drug overdoses, alcohol and suicides (2006 to 2015).1" 1 Hohmann J. “The Daily 202: Trump over performed the most in counties with the highest drug, alcohol and suicide mortality rates.” Washington Post December 9, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/12/09/ daily-202-trump-over-performed-the-most- in-counties-with-the-highest-drug-alcohol- and-suicide-mortality-rates/584a2a59e9b- 69b7e58e45f2e/?utm_term=.d3109d2f4877 (accessed September 2017). I have trouble taking this document seriously after that.

mr_luc 8y ago
Per Appendix B, the source of the data is the CDC's Wonder "multiple cause of death" data, which does include the codes you mention: https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html "... The Multiple Cause of Death database contains mortality and population counts for all U.S. counties. Data are based on death certificates for U.S. residents. Each death certificate contains a single underlying cause of death, up to twenty additional multiple causes, and demographic data. The number of deaths, crude death rates, age-adjusted death rates and 95% confidence intervals for death rates can be obtained by cause of death (4 digit ICD-10 codes, 113 selected causes of death, 130 selected causes of infant death, drug and alcohol related causes of death, injury intent and injury mechanism categories) ..." The fact that a study-cum-policy-paper happens to also cite reporting on the problem is par for the course.

swiley 8y ago

If you isolate everyone the way the modern world does this shouldn’t be surprising.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

zenpaul 8y ago

And in other news, "2017 saw largest total population in US history". How about "2017 saw highest increase in death due to alcohol, drugs and suicide in US history"?

kevinventullo 8y ago
Headline says "rate of death", implying a correction for total population.
darrenf 8y ago
I'm not sure what population has to do with it. The headline and the PDF itself talk about the rate of death — the text refers to deaths per 100,000 throughout.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

nakedrobot2 8y ago

This is the hundredth nub of a massive problem of the regression and deterioration of society in the usa. Yes, opiates. Yes, for profit health care. But even those things in isolation are only part of the problem.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Maybe its just technology. https://www.statista.com/statistics/971676/online-alcohol-sales-growth-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/971676/online-alcohol-sa...

tha_nose 8y ago

About 1.9 million deaths in the US. About 45K or 2% of those are suicides. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm And people here are saying that is the national emergency? The US is nowhere near the top in terms of suicide rates in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r... If we really wanted to help people, we'd focus more on heart disease, diabetes, etc. But I guess we don't want to tackle the food industry, soda industry, process food industry, etc. I don't who is behind all the "alcohol, drugs, suicide" scaremongering. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the "solution" will be pump people with more pharmaceuticals. I'm not saying suicide is not a terrible thing, but it certainly isn't a "national emergency" compared to heart disease, strokes, cancer or diabetes.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Interesting that Soviet republics figure so heavily on the top of that list. And they uniformly have huge male:female ratios. Also that Japan, notorious for a suicide culture, is only 30th. Maybe if they counted all the murders made to look like suicide, they would be further up.
mbostleman 8y ago
It's about what's trending. Recent stats on US life expectancy showed an overall drop. Heart disease and (I think) cancer trended down (as it has for years), but that was more than offset by the up trend in suicide and overdoses. I'm not sure what the definition of "emergency" is, but I'd say the data shows suicide and OD are the top concerns at the moment.
- tha_nose 8y ago
  The data clearly doesn't not say what you claim. As for trending? I wouldn't call anything going from 1.9% of deaths to 2% of deaths as trending. Focusing on the 2% rather than the 98% seems also doesn't seem to be sensible.
  - 8y ago

DJBunnies 8y ago

It was touch and go there for a while, but I'm happy to have avoided contributing to those statistics. Every day is a gift, folks.

ComputerGuru 8y ago
Glad you're still with us! Surround yourself with people you can talk to.

rygxqpbsngav 8y ago

I suspect it might rise more. With a culture that predominantly revolves around party/fun culture where you drink alcohol and consume drugs, when youth of other cultures are busy planning their life and studies & career, where youth in U.S. is more inclined towards partying and porn and care free lifestyle; No wonder the numbers might rise.

LUmBULtERA 8y ago
Pardon? The highest increases in suicide and overdoses is in the 45-54 year old demographic (see page 23).

mr_luc 8y ago

For me, the most useful page of the linked PDF is page 22, the tables of 1999-2015 stats, without any projections. I see numbers from the CDC for general population like: Alcohol deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 7.0 10.3 47% Drug deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 6.9 16.3 136% Suicide deaths per 100,000 1999 2015 Pct Increase 10.5 13.8 31% So, devil's avocado -- anecdotes aside, is this all just due to the opioid epidemic? Ie, the US is in the middle of a widespread opioid problem right now, and suicide and alcohol use may correlate. I would love to see some tables that compare this specific data across multiple countries over the same time frame, as that could help tease apart how much of this is really fallout from one single problem in the US, the opioid crisis -- and, if not, what factors might be involved ('are there other countries on a similar track? What do they have in common with the US?'). I wonder if OurWorldInData might be interested ... Edit: others have posted the link below, with what might be 1 of the 6 sources of data that would be helpful for this comparison: recent global suicide stats by country. (Ideally we'd have this for all 3 causes, and then also for 1999). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...

rwmj 8y ago
Relevant question: If someone dies and they have both alcohol and an opioid in their bloodstream, do they count against alcohol, opioid, both, or do they try to work out which one killed them?
- coldtea 8y ago
  >or do they try to work out which one killed them? Yes, they put their best medical experts to the task... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7acD4q0lp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7acD4q0lp0
- nonbel 8y ago
  Funnily enough, I happened to be on the page that answers this. Page 160: "Alcohol-induced deaths and drug-induced deaths are mutually-exclusive. However, these deaths may also be considered suicide deaths." Also, I can't find any more info on what is included here. They just say it doesn't use ICD-10 codes: >"NCHS has defined selected causes of death groups for analysis of all ages mortality data: Drug-Induced causes, Alcohol-Induced Causes, All Other Causes. The group code values are not actual ICD codes published in the International Classification of Diseases, but are "recodes" defined to support analysis by the Selected Causes of Death groups." https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/mcd.html#Drug/Alcohol%20Induced%20Causes https://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/mcd.html#Drug/Alcohol%20I... EDIT: If I go to CDC WONDER (https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D76 https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D76) and click "Drug/alcohol induced causes" a box populates showing (presumably) ICD-10 codes: X40-44, X60-64, X85, Y10-Y14 That includes stuff you wouldn't expect: X44: agents primarily acting on smooth and skeletal muscles and the respiratory system anaesthetics (general)(local) drugs affecting the: · cardiovascular system · gastrointestinal system hormones and synthetic substitutes systemic and haematological agents systemic antibiotics and other anti-infectives therapeutic gases topical preparations vaccines water-balance agents and drugs affecting mineral and uric acid metabolism http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online2004/fr-icd.htm?gx40.htm+ http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online2004... So this could be partially due to "better access to healthcare". More people are being put on blood pressure, etc medications and are dying from over/under-dosing on them. I don't see any reason for them to include X44 in the current study besides trying to mess with the numbers... EDIT 2: Indeed, when I selected only x44 on CDC WONDER, here are the results: Year Deaths per 100k Pop 1999 1.5 2000 1.7 2001 1.9 2002 2.4 2003 2.6 2004 2.9 2005 3.3 2006 3.8 2007 4.2 2008 4.5 2009 4.7 2010 5.0 2011 5.6 2012 5.3 2013 5.5 2014 5.8 2015 6.3 2016 7.4 2017 8.1 So the death rate from normal (not addictive or recreational) medications is 5.4x higher in 2017 than in 1999.

En_gr_Student 8y ago

I have an outstanding hypothesis that suggests that even if the opoid epidemic went totally away tomorrow, this is not the steepest increase, and the increase will continue for the next 20 years. The suicide rate should bump itself up substantially above 50 per 100k, especially for younger demographics. It should then plateau for the foreseeable future. I really really really really hope that I am wrong. We have folks with no vision in charge, and they drove a big ship into the rocks: my hypothesis is that this is onset/ramp-up of body count.

delivertooling 8y ago

They should investigate why do people actually use that much alcohol, drugs or whatever. What are the roots of these problems. I know a lot of countries where they just put on some silly laws on for example alcohol consumption, but do not look at facts why people start using alcohol at first.

arandr0x 8y ago

You can actually acutely treat opioid overdose (with antagonists) and so presumably the actual issue here is people use drugs alone in locations where nobody is going to check on them for something like an hour. There may be an education campaign there so that people prescribed painkillers know to never use them alone. Also, we probably need to invest in lifestyle education for preventing depression like we do for preventing obesity. Have campaigns asking people if they've had one pleasant conversation today. Force workplaces to give people a midday break where they are allowed to leave the facility in winter. Sensitize parents to symptoms of their child developing persistent anxiety or sadness like they are to the height/weight curves. (Also, develop ways of treating mild depression that aren't SSRIs -- light therapy, animals, caffeine, sleep deprivation, whatever, but a ton of people are refusing to seek help because they don't want meds that they see as having too many problematic side effects.)

mrhappyunhappy 8y ago

Let me guess, isolation - both social and physical, brought about by cell phones and social media cancer is making people lonely and depressed. They turn to alcohol but that doesn’t quite do it so they turn to opioids and then decide to take their life. Perhaps I’m just pulling on unrelated strings to make a rope, or perhaps there is some truth to it?

1auralynn 8y ago
Social media and cell phones are the partial solution to the isolation brought about by the way we design our communities - sprawl, no town centers, etc. Also, drunk driving becoming more penalized (rightly so) so less gathering in bars, people becoming less religious. Isolation is the cause of the rise of social media, not the opposite, in my opinion.
- mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
  It’s peobably both, cause and effect. I agree with everything else you said. It’s just hard not to be depressed when I see everyone staring at their phone. I imagine back in the day people would strike up conversations and make random friends. Can anyone who was an adult pre-phones confirm this? There is no reason to make conversations with strangers anymore as anything you read online is likely more interesting and you can “pause” any time. I am guilty myself, and have to remind myself constantly that there is more to being in public than hiding behind a screen. Maybe I’m the weirdo who occasionally makes too much eye contact.

redleggedfrog 8y ago

I hate to say this, but we brought this on ourselves. It's just one aspect of the decline of America. At one time, we could identify with, "Land of the free, home of the brave." I remember my Grandpa, saying that to me, and then telling me, "So kid, stay free, and be brave about it. I did my best, and when you grow up, do yours, right? You're an American." Of course, I'm like 10 and know nothing of the world, but I honest felt like I was part of a greater thing, that I was now going to be following in the footsteps of Grandpa. Then I grow up, and America slowly gives away her freedoms. Not just personal freedom, but the freedom to excel. The middle class slowly fades, education becomes prohibitively expensive. Upward mobility wanes. Then 911 happens and America loses it's shit. We're shown to just be a bunch of pansies. We react by becoming a (worse) global bully, frightened and trying to control the uncontrollable. And we trade freedom for perceived safety. Ever think the Patriot Act will be allowed to expire? Then of course we get the perfect to represent the coward bully that is now all of us. And oh boy do we like our guns and drugs. Now that's the new America. That's our refuge. More guns, and more drugs. We suck down so many drugs that the rest of the world works really hard to keep us supplied. We work hard to keep us supplied (Afghanistan). And then lastly, we isolate ourselves, unable to make friends, interacting over the internet instead of in person. We shape our world and ideas with constant confirmation bias. We work hard to reinforce our prejudices. Nation of tribal haters. The charade of Democrat and Republican and Ford vs. Chevy and Cowboys vs Patriots. Choose a side, get angry, espouse. So what's left in an America like that for a man? Sure, it affects women to, much the same, but as a man I particularly feel it. This ain't my America, the one I read about from our past. It's seriously depressing. This might seem like pining for the old days. "Things are better than ever now!" you say. So, really? Why are people opting out in record numbers then?

theplague42 8y ago
Political choices matter.
- triviatise 8y ago
  political choices are completely irrelevant to your ability to have a happy life. People living in garbage dumps are able to figure out to be happy.

lorinm 8y ago

I wonder what is the impact of social media in this rate increase. People are getting more and more addicted to it, thus making people more depressed about their lives which in turn find their relief in drugs and alcohol. I am not saying that social media is to blame for everything but as a former heavy user of Snapchat and Instagram, it must be up there as one of the main causes. The sad and hopeless part is that its all by design...

bilbo0s 8y ago
I suspect it's more the opiods that are the problem. I could be wrong though.
DanBC 8y ago
Social media is also an important way to connect for people who are socially isolated, so we should avoid demonising it. We need to worry about promotion of self harm and suicide being distributed on social media, but most companies are taking action on the worst content.

odiroot 8y ago

The most interesting part of this report is the huge difference between the numbers for men and women. Are there any programs in the US helping solve this enormous divide?

triviatise 8y ago

Despair is the absence of hope. People have been given an unrealistic view of what life should be and when it is so much worse than their expectations they fall into despair. The media hurts because we are exposed to the "lifestyles of the rich and famous". Im gen X which seems to have the suicide problem. Gen X was raised with "greed is good" and glamorized miami vice. That is a hollow empty promise even when fulfilled. I think another of the key problems is a lack of life philosophy (spirituality?) where people can find meaning in their lives outside of material goods. This is partially due to the death of religion. There also is a lack of understanding that life is fundamentally unfair and there somehow is the expectation that it should be fair. Without religion people are missing a clear moral compass that guides their life to find meaning. There needs to be a new modern philosophy that has moral underpinnings, but incorporates science, without necessarily having a deity. Finally, children (including my generation) have been sheltered from lifes daily challenges by being given too much. I suspect when they become adults they simply can't handle what their lives actually are. I think the current generation of kids are being raised to try to change the world and to seek meaning in helping other people. However they are also being raised to think that life should be fair and they are going to be bitterly disappointed.

airza 8y ago
The material conditions of life have been annihilated in the areas that have been ravaged by the opioid epidemic. My brother died of a drug overdose on one of them, and it wasn't because of a lack of moral underpinning. It was because almost nobody who is born and grows up in one will ever have a chance of a stable life. No steady access to income, healthcare or a chance of escaping the working class. Hoping for the chance to lead a stable middle class life isn't a moral failing.
- triviatise 8y ago
  Im sorry about your brother. I never said it was a moral failing. What I did say is that people lack a values system to find meaning in their life. Even if you are poor, you can find meaning in your life, yet our society is completely geared around material goods= meaning. Religion used to fill that role. That hole is often times filled with meaningless partying that can include experimentation with drugs. Of course many people get addicted via actual prescriptions. I havent done much research, but the article below suggests that few people are getting addicted via prescriptions. why do people start using opioids in the first place? https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/a3z98b/big-pharma-didnt-cause-the-opioid-crisis-most-pain-patients-dont-get-addicted https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/a3z98b/big-pharma-didnt... <<The research actually shows that people who developed new addictions in recent years were overwhelmingly not pain patients. Instead, they were mainly friends, relatives, and others to whom those pills were diverted—typically young people. Among the older patients, many who appeared to be newly addicted had actually relapsed or never recovered from prior addictions: some faked pain to get pills from well-meaning doctors; others got them from pill mills where shady physicians wrote prescriptions for cash.>>

gambler 8y ago

Why is the title title phrased as if 2017 was special, when most of the previous years also seen highest death rates from those causes? A lot of charts in the paper end at 2015.

FatDrunknStupid 8y ago

Lumping together alcohol, drugs and suicide is useless damn lies and statistics.