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From: jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.med
Subject: Re: Re: A new call for ignorance
Message-ID: <585@hadron.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Sep-86 10:16:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: hadron.585
Posted: Tue Sep 30 10:16:41 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Oct-86 09:42:51 EDT
References: <424@hsi.UUCP> <1173@oliveb.UUCP> <385@fai.UUCP> <1037@gilbbs.UUCP>
Reply-To: jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao)
Organization: Hadron, Inc., Fairfax, VA
Lines: 36
Xref: watmath net.followup:7058 net.med:5030
Summary: Numerology at ... work?

This article is not really expressing an opinion in either of the
two camps (since i don't think either is wholy right), but to comment
on the use of statistics (as in, "lies, damn lies, and ...).

In article <1037@gilbbs.UUCP> mc68020@gilbbs.UUCP (Thomas J Keller) writes:
>In article <385@fai.UUCP>, ronc@fai.UUCP (Ronald O. Christian) writes:
>> I may be ignorant myself, but I can't reconcile two figures
>> 1)	Drugs claim about 500 lives a year.
>> 2)	The US government wants to spend (is spending?) 2 to 3
>> 	billion dollars a year to combat the problem.
>   Yup.   $6,000,000 per death.   Strange priorities.

Strange priorities indeed.

That 500 figure puzzles me.  Perhaps that's the number that can be
unequivocally attributed to OD's?  I don't have any figures on drug-
related mortality with me.  But,
It surely cannot be argued that the number of drug users is much,
much more.  This is not one of my areas of specific interest, so
I don't have exact numbers.  Of those, many are addicted to the
substance which they are abusing.  (Some may not admit it, just
like smokers who insist they can quit.)  The addicts I have seen
have always had their general health and resistance debilitated
by their abuse of drugs.  I grant that I am only likely to see or
become aware of an addict when that is the case.  Still, the number
of people who die of diseases that are aggravated by an addiction
surely ought to swell that first number.  And a good number of
addicts, it seems, do not quit until their (early?) deaths.

Also the straight division diverts one from the truth, which is
that Reagan's primary concern seems not to be with the dying,
but with the loss of productivity suffered by American industry.
-- 

	Joe Yao		hadron!jsdy@seismo.{CSS.GOV,ARPA,UUCP}
			jsdy@hadron.COM (not yet domainised)