Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!elbereth!rutgers!seismo!rochester!ray
From: ray@rochester.ARPA (Ray Frank)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Drug Abuse - True Problem or Media Hype?
Message-ID: <21400@rochester.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 8-Oct-86 08:48:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.21400
Posted: Wed Oct  8 08:48:11 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 01:00:02 EDT
References: <720@scc.UUCP> <20756@rochester.ARPA> <463@epimass.UUCP> <55@oliveb.UUCP>
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept., Rochester, NY
Lines: 24
Xref: watmath talk.politics.misc:581 net.med:5110

In article <55@oliveb.UUCP>, prs@oliveb.UUCP (Phil Stephens) writes:
> >We all know the damage that alcohol currently does to our society.  I doubt 
> >500,000 people annualy were killed or seriously wounded during prohibition.
> 
> Ray, please include sources for shocking statistics like this, as a matter 
> of etiquette.  However, I have a figure from the Readers Digest Almanac for
> alcohol related *fatalities* at 96 K, mostly their own from related illnesses,
> accidents (20K per year traffic, and nearly as many in *other* accidents), 
> and suicides.  500 K/year *injured or* killed in alcohol related accidents
> and incidents may or may not be a little high; where did you get the figure, 
> please?
> 

  The figures I've seen quoted quite consistently for DWI incidences are:
25,000 killed yearly, with another 500,000 seriously injured.  I've
seen some reports that put the injury figure at 900,000.
Why didn't the article from Readers Digest also in addition to the fatality
figure also quote the injury figure in DWI incidences?
  Anyone I've ever known who was involved with pot ALWAYS used alcohol to 'top'
off their high.  You argue that the legalization of pot may reduce the use
of alcohol, but first hand experience shows this to be a most unlikely oc-
curance.

ray