Sad News about Carrie Fisher

[Canefan1]

Originally Posted by wantonebad

From what I've read Canefan1 you have lived more of this subject then any of us, so no apologies are necessary just please take care of yourself and influence others to follow your lead!! That sir will save lives which at the end is all that matters!!

I can only promise to do my best,thank you.

[Star Ferry]

Originally Posted by droptopman

Once again...You win

I did not or would not say "most". At the most, the point I was trying to make is that IMO it is underreported. Most categories of Substance Use Disorders are underreported. Too much stigma still exists which is very evident in this thread.

It is interesting that I have worked in the field for 20+ years, spoken at many national events on the subject, worked on the laws and rules that govern the topic, teach the subject at a local college, but I still get "experted" on the subject.

I think there's a lot of confusion because "cause of death" is coded on an individual basis. If a smoker dies of lung disease, their individual cause of death is lung disease. It's impossible to prove that in the absence of smoking, this one individual would not have died from the disease. They could have never smoked and still faced the same fate.

But on a broader statistical basis, it's possible to say "There were X deaths caused by lung disease, of which Y% are attributable to smoking." The CDC makes these kinds of claims about alcohol/tobacco. They say smoking "is responsible for" 480,000 deaths per year, including 41,000 from secondhand smoke. They also say "excessive alcohol use led to" 88,000 deaths per year and shortens the lives of the dead by an average of 30 years (totaling 2.5 million lost years of potential life per year).

Yet when it comes to illegal drugs (as well as the abuse of painkillers), suddenly we are only talking about overdoses rather than all related deaths. Why? I'm not sure. Good thread, though, and RIP Carrie Fisher.