Hardly a day goes by when the "opioid crisis" doesn't make the news. But as you'll see, alcohol causes far more damage in terms of addiction, health problems, deaths, and economic impact yet is rarely mentioned. Why the discrepancy? It just doesn't add up.
prohibition
There's a war going on between the Department of Justice and Walmart over (what else) opioids. The DOJ -- which claims that the retail giant "fuel[ed] the opioid crisis by encouraging its pharmacists to fill prescriptions" – overlooks that they were actually legally written by health care practitioners. ACSH advisor Dr. Jeffrey Singer takes a look at this important case.
Dr. Jeffrey Singer takes issue with a Cincinnati Enquirer article touting a recent CDC report of a 30% drop in opioid prescriptions in 2016-17, compared to 2010-11. Our ACSH advisor maintains that the restriction of the drugs has no impact on their misuse, but does force pain patients to use ineffective and dangerous alternatives. In other words, prohibition.
Completely banning alcohol would only prevent about 3.5% of cancer deaths. That, of course, means the other 96.5% of fatal cancers are caused by things other than alcohol. Given that cancer is the #2 leading cause of death in America, there's a good chance that you're going to die of cancer no matter what you do. So chill out and have a drink.