<http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,,1731158,00.html>
Alcohol-related illness soars as 1 in 18 addicts get treatment

Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday March 15, 2006
The Guardian

Alcohol-related illness will soar in the next decade, experts
said yesterday as campaigners warned that only one in 18 people
with a drink problem get treatment.

Hospitals are already seeing dramatic rises in cases of liver
damage, doctors said. "As a nation, we are drinking more than
for 90 years and there is a lag between consumption and
cirrhosis," said a report from the British Society of
Gastroenterology. "Already we have seen a 350% increase in
cirrhosis between 1970 and 1998, and this figure is 900% for
those under 45 years of age."

Elwyn Elias, a gastroenterologist based at University Hospital,
Birmingham, and president of the society, said: "There is a 20
to 30 year lag between what people drink and hospitals filled
with the consequences. Binge drinking can have a sudden effect,
but you can also kill yourself in 20 years, by drinking what
some people consider a reasonable amount.

"The evidence is that drinking fell away in the 1930s and 1940s
but it's been climbing since the 1960s and there's no sign of a
plateau."

The society's warnings came as Alcohol Concern called for urgent
action to address the under-funding of alcohol treatment
services.

Two years after the government launched its alcohol harm
reduction strategy, only a small proportion of the people who
need treatment are getting it - even though every £1 spent on
treatment for alcohol addiction saves the NHS £5 in dealing with
alcohol-related illness and injury.

Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity. "Every
year alcohol services help thousands of problem drinkers turn
their lives around, but the reality is that only one in every 18
people who need help get access to treatment," said Srabani Sen,
the chief executive.

Deaths from diseases of the digestive system have risen by a
quarter in the last 10 years, according to the society.

The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing and accounted
for 14,000 deaths in 2000. Oesophageal cancer has increased by
50% in the last 20 years, and the mortality rate from liver
cancer has increased by 50% in 10 years. Britain's survival
rates for gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers lag behind
the rest of Europe, the report says.

Alcohol Concern says that 8.2 million people in England have an
alcohol problem, and about 1.1 million of those are dependent on
alcohol.

Some 1.3 million children are affected by their parents' alcohol
problems. Alcohol misuse costs the economy £18bn a year.

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:28:42 +0000, Jasbird wrote:

> Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity.

Cannabis would obviously kill many times that number, if it was legal.

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

Phil Stovell wrote:

>> Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity.

> Cannabis would obviously kill many times that number, if it was
> legal.

Bullshit: check how many people dies for cannabis in Holland,
where cannabis is legal.
--
Vilco
Think Pink , Drink Rose'

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:49:11 +0000,Phil Stovell, wrote

> On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:31:56 +0000, Vilco wrote:
>
> > Phil Stovell wrote:
> >
> >>> Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity.
> >
> >> Cannabis would obviously kill many times that number, if it was legal.
> >
> > Bullshit: check how many people dies for cannabis in Holland, where
> > cannabis is legal.
>
> D'oh.

Phil was being sarcastic or ironic, I can't easily distinguish
between
the two modes of typing myself but he was being humorous.

I wonder which moduality of cannabis action would lead to death
on a large scale. Perhaps if it was really strong you would forget
to exhale? Or maybe when you bought that ounce you would spend your
food and rent money because you forgot about those vital matters and
die on the street because of the Assassin of Youth. ;^)

later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:49:57 -0800, bobbie sellers wrote:

> I wonder which moduality of cannabis action would lead to death
> on a large scale. Perhaps if it was really strong you would forget to
> exhale? Or maybe when you bought that ounce you would spend your food and
> rent money because you forgot about those vital matters and die on the
> street because of the Assassin of Youth. ;^)

I suppose you could drown in a 200 foot high inkwell after it turned you
into a bat.

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:07:35 +0000, Phil Stovell
> wrote:

>On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:49:57 -0800, bobbie sellers wrote:
>
>> I wonder which moduality of cannabis action would lead to death
>> on a large scale. Perhaps if it was really strong you would forget to
>> exhale? Or maybe when you bought that ounce you would spend your food and
>> rent money because you forgot about those vital matters and die on the
>> street because of the Assassin of Youth. ;^)
>
>I suppose you could drown in a 200 foot high inkwell after it turned you
>into a bat.

Tut, tut..., now HOW many times have I told you that irony does
not work on usenet?

On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 18:59:53 +0000, Jasbird wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:07:35 +0000, Phil Stovell >
> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:49:57 -0800, bobbie sellers wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder which moduality of cannabis action would lead to death
>>> on a large scale. Perhaps if it was really strong you would forget to
>>> exhale? Or maybe when you bought that ounce you would spend your food
>>> and rent money because you forgot about those vital matters and die on
>>> the street because of the Assassin of Youth. ;^)
>>
>>I suppose you could drown in a 200 foot high inkwell after it turned you
>>into a bat.
>
> Tut, tut..., now HOW many times have I told you that irony does not work
> on usenet?

Does coppery?
--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

How really cares? This is a food and wine group...not the AA newsgroup! ;-)

"Jasbird" > wrote in message
...
> <http://society.guardian.co.uk/drugsandalcohol/story/0,,1731158,00.html>
> Alcohol-related illness soars as 1 in 18 addicts get treatment
>
> Sarah Boseley, health editor
> Wednesday March 15, 2006
> The Guardian
>
> Alcohol-related illness will soar in the next decade, experts
> said yesterday as campaigners warned that only one in 18 people
> with a drink problem get treatment.
>
> Hospitals are already seeing dramatic rises in cases of liver
> damage, doctors said. "As a nation, we are drinking more than
> for 90 years and there is a lag between consumption and
> cirrhosis," said a report from the British Society of
> Gastroenterology. "Already we have seen a 350% increase in
> cirrhosis between 1970 and 1998, and this figure is 900% for
> those under 45 years of age."
>
> Elwyn Elias, a gastroenterologist based at University Hospital,
> Birmingham, and president of the society, said: "There is a 20
> to 30 year lag between what people drink and hospitals filled
> with the consequences. Binge drinking can have a sudden effect,
> but you can also kill yourself in 20 years, by drinking what
> some people consider a reasonable amount.
>
> "The evidence is that drinking fell away in the 1930s and 1940s
> but it's been climbing since the 1960s and there's no sign of a
> plateau."
>
> The society's warnings came as Alcohol Concern called for urgent
> action to address the under-funding of alcohol treatment
> services.
>
> Two years after the government launched its alcohol harm
> reduction strategy, only a small proportion of the people who
> need treatment are getting it - even though every £1 spent on
> treatment for alcohol addiction saves the NHS £5 in dealing with
> alcohol-related illness and injury.
>
> Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity. "Every
> year alcohol services help thousands of problem drinkers turn
> their lives around, but the reality is that only one in every 18
> people who need help get access to treatment," said Srabani Sen,
> the chief executive.
>
> Deaths from diseases of the digestive system have risen by a
> quarter in the last 10 years, according to the society.
>
> The incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing and accounted
> for 14,000 deaths in 2000. Oesophageal cancer has increased by
> 50% in the last 20 years, and the mortality rate from liver
> cancer has increased by 50% in 10 years. Britain's survival
> rates for gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers lag behind
> the rest of Europe, the report says.
>
> Alcohol Concern says that 8.2 million people in England have an
> alcohol problem, and about 1.1 million of those are dependent on
> alcohol.
>
> Some 1.3 million children are affected by their parents' alcohol
> problems. Alcohol misuse costs the economy £18bn a year.
>

bobbie sellers wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:49:11 +0000,Phil Stovell, wrote
>
>> On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:31:56 +0000, Vilco wrote:
>>
>>> Phil Stovell wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Alcohol kills 22,000 people every year, said the charity.
>>>> Cannabis would obviously kill many times that number, if it was legal.
>>> Bullshit: check how many people dies for cannabis in Holland, where
>>> cannabis is legal.
>> D'oh.
>
> Phil was being sarcastic or ironic, I can't easily distinguish
> between
> the two modes of typing myself but he was being humorous.
>

I would say it was a bitterly ironic straw man argument, but that's me...