Adverse Reactions to Alcohol – Statistics

Later this week I will publish a second article on alcohol titled: “Alcohol – A Dangerous Addictive Drug (Part 2).” Below are a few statistics to show just how dangerous the consumption of alcohol is.

• 25% of all emergency room admissions, 33% of all suicides, and more than 50% of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol related.

• Forty percent of ninth-grade students reported having consumed alcohol before they were age 13.

• Teens under 15 who have ever consumed alcohol are twice as likely to have sex as those who have not.

• More than 40 percent of individuals who start drinking before the age of 13 will develop alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence.

• Underage drinking costs the United States more than $58 billion every year.

• Among drivers aged 15 – 20, fatal crashes involving a single vehicle at night are three times more likely among those consuming alcohol.

• According to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, there are 105,000 annual alcohol related deaths due to drunk drivers.

• Beer is the drink most commonly consumed by people stopped for alcohol-impaired driving or involved in alcohol-related crashes.

• One in every 130 licensed drivers in the United States has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

• In one study, almost one-fourth of ninth graders reported binge drinking (having had five or more drinks on one occasion) in the month.

• Sixty-seven percent of eighth graders and 83 percent of 10^th graders say that alcohol is readily available to them for consumption.

• 3 million Americans over the age of 60 are alcohol-dependent

• 20% of the people who drink heavily eventually develop cirrhosis of the liver.

• In the United States the correlation between the battering of women and alcohol is staggering.

• More than 40% of separated or divorced women were married to or lived with a problem drinker.

• Up to 40 percent of industrial fatalities and 47 percent of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption.

• In 1995, there were 51,737 federal prisoners and 224,900 state prisoners who were incarcerated because of alcohol or drug abuse.

• One hundred thousand Americans die of alcohol problems each year.

• Current cost of alcohol abuse in America is over $150 BILLION annually.