The following commentary will be published in The Washington Times on Saturday, but readers of Right Truth are getting a chance to read it a day ahead, thanks to the author John E. Carey at Peace and Freedom II:
This is a nationwide imminent danger alert from Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 1900 GMT until Monday, February 4, 2008 at 1500 GMT. This will be the most dangerous period of time for citizens of the United States since the New Year’s Eve and Day holiday. This is “Super Bowl” Weekend: statistically the most dangerous weekend year-to-year in America.
We are facing a crisis of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction in America. And no day in the American calendar underscores the trouble more than “Super Bowl Sunday.”
Due to drunk driving, Super Bowl Sunday is the single most deadly day on America’s roads, followed by New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
On “Super Sunday,” police around the nation make more DUI arrests than on any other day.
On “Super Sunday” (and the Monday after,) hospital emergency rooms are crowded with overdoses, alcoholics in relapse and occasional drinkers and drug users who have just gone way over the line.
My friend, physician and recovering alcoholic Len, took me for a post-party tour of a big city hospital emergency room on January 1, 2008.
“Look at the carnage following the biggest annual drinking binge Americans wink at every year. It will look like this the Monday after the Super Bowl, too,” Len told me. “It will be even worse on and after ‘Super Sunday,’ statistically, but to the doctors and nurses every day is made more stressful by alcohol and drugs.”
In fact, experts say “Super Bowl Sunday” is the biggest day for drinking in America because it is an all-day party. And the Center for Science in the Public Interest claims that beer and alcohol advertizing for the Super Bowl targets underage drinkers.
Len invited me into his work environment after reading a Washington Times commentary I wrote for the December 27, 2007 editions. That article discussed the time of year when many recovering alcoholics and drug abusers relapse and end up in the hospital: the “holiday” season between Thanksgiving and January 1.
On January 1, 2008, in almost every hospital emergency room across America, at several individuals can be found suffering from Delirium Tremens (DTs), milder tremors, seizures and other alcohol and drug-related overdose symptoms.
“For all sorts of reasons, many of the addicted who are in recovery and making progress crash and burn during the holidays. I think the pressure and chaos of buying too many presents and acting like a boy scout drives some in recovery back into really bad and sometimes fatal habits,” Len said.
Len is a recovering alcoholic who attends daily Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meetings. Len is not his real name. We agreed to protect his anonymity in keeping with A.A. traditions and guarantees.
As an emergency room physician, Len has gained invaluable insight into the disease of the mind called addiction. He is also an expert in how many of his colleagues treat alcoholics and the drug addicted.
“Several things seem to crash together during the holidays and ‘Super Sunday’ to push people toward the ‘perfect storm’ of drug and alcohol abuse which reaches a crisis level: peer pressure, advertizing, a feeling the overuse is ‘O.K.,’” Len said.
“So combine the addicted who crash and burn with the casual users who go nuts on days like ‘Super Sunday’ and you have docs and cops stressed to their limits.”
Even on normal days in the U.S., alcohol and drug treatment centers are almost overwhelmed by the number of patients seeking help. And hospitals are straining at their limits to provide treatment and detoxification to the severely impaired.
While we observed a hospital physician treating a severely impaired with alcohol patientthe doctor told us, only after asking for anonymity, “Normally you’ll be lucky if this man can see a physician’s assistant or a nurse. There are not enough doctors available.”
Physician care is at such a premium, several doctors told us, that medicating patients often allows doctors to move on to the next individual faster.
But more doctors may not necessarily make things better.
“Calling for more doctors, like prescribing more drugs [to treat patients], for an already overmedicated patient, may only make things worse,” said Dr. David Goodman, a professor of pediatrics and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, which researches heath care quality and costs.
He says as the American population grows and the “baby boomers” enter their retirement years, more doctors writing more prescriptions and seeing more patients only escalates the costs of an already exorbitantly expensive medical system. He favors more study and analysis before anyone jumps to conclusions on how to solve the multi-faceted dilemma of our medical system’s future.
The National Football League may not want to hear it, but “Super Bowl Sunday” highlights the need for a more thorough review and study of medicine in America, addiction and the cultural path we are on that contributes to a crises in unnecessary deaths, destruction and strain on our medical and legal systems.
This Sunday is a good time to think about more than just football.
By John E. Carey
A version of this commentary will be published in The Washington Times on Saturday.John E. Carey is a frequent contributor to The Washington Times, a former senior U.S. military officer and president of International Defense Consultants, Inc.
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Also check out the Pro America Store Blog and their State of the Union comments
Posted at Real Clear Politics so if you like it go vote, thanks.
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Trackposted to guerrilla radio, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Celebrity Smack, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, The Pet Haven, CORSARI D'ITALIA, A Newt One, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, Adeline and Hazel, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I,M THINKIN I,LL SKIP ALL THE BOWL PARTIES THIS YEAR. I,LL PROBALY WATCH THE LAST QUARTER AND THAT,LL BE IT. PROBALY GO SKIING INSTEAD. STORM, I,M ALSO THINKING THE GIANTS WILL PROBALY WIN...... BUT HEY WHAT DO I KNOW???????????
Posted by: PALADIN | February 01, 2008 at 06:33 PM
But who does Mohammed think will win the Super Bowl?
GO GIANTS!
Posted by: Stormwarning | February 01, 2008 at 02:28 PM