Saturday, September 12th

Statistics are Everything

According to my best calculations, my average year of drinking was costing me approximately $4,000. This does not include the cost of cabs, lost keys, lost days of work, hangover remedies, or cigarettes smoked while intoxicated. Multiply that number by 15 years and that’s a lot of money down the drain. Saving that money, along with the $1,500 or so that I was spending each year on cigarettes was, in fact, a prime motivator for me to stay sober.

But what is alcoholism costing all of us? The guy at work who works at half-speed because he is hungover, or the girl who fails to come in at all are both costing every one of us. The increased healthcare costs for every single alcoholic affects our monthly insurance premiums. The payouts made to survivors of alcohol-related car accidents are paid for by our automobile insurance payments. We all pay the price for every alcoholic wandering around our country.

The government states that there are 14 million Americans currently abusing alcohol. The cost to our country is huge – over $150 billion in lost productivity and health-related expenses. - all because of alcoholism.

If you think the alcohol companies are concerned about this number, you are mistaken. From 2001 to 2005, alcohol companies embarked on a “responsibility” advertising campaign, stressing the responsibility of drinkers and the necessity to be 21 if you do drink. The amount spent on that campaign amounted to approximately $100 million, less than 2% of their budget during that time period. Alcohol companies spend approximately $6.80 per drinker to woo them onto the bottle.

Think of this during Super Bowl Sunday when we all sit in anticipation of the next Budweiser commercial, or wait to see what Heineken will come up with over the holidays. They aren’t just selling alcohol, they are selling alcoholism, and we are all paying the price for it.

Getting the word out: