The number of deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in 2017 hit the highest level since the collection of this type of federal mortality data started in 1999, according to an analysis by two public health nonprofits, the Trust for America’s Health and the Well Being Trust. To reach their conclusion, the two groups parsed the latest available data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These causes killed more than twice as many as they did in 1999.
More than 150,000 Americans died from alcohol and drug-induced fatalities and suicide in 2017. Nearly a third — 47,173 — were suicides.
“There are two crises unfolding in America right now,” said Dr. Benjamin Miller, the chief policy officer for Well Being Trust and the founding director of the Eugene S. Farley Jr. Health Policy Center in Aurora, Colo. “One is in health care, and one is in society.”
Dr. Miller attributed the increasing disparities in health care and inequalities in income as crucial factors in the feelings of despair, loneliness and a lack of belonging that contributed to suicides among many Americans.
Sureshot006 on January 15th, 2020 at 01:47 UTC »
Thats what happens when you live to work. Even people who make 80k a year is feeling milked 2 days off a week isn't enough
Bergamo122 on January 14th, 2020 at 21:28 UTC »
Beats cancer and Alzheimers.
Shahadem on January 14th, 2020 at 21:09 UTC »
Nice! People are working hard and playing harder!!!!