I’m ANGRY. Angry about the reports that came out last week that young Americans are dying painfully, senselessly, and in abject humiliation. Angry at the 60 percent increase in deaths from cirrhosis of the liver since 1999. Angry that the biggest increase is among millennials. That the biggest increase is among millennials and women.

I’m ANGRY that this will most likely be swept under the rug. AGAIN.

Swept under the rug like the reports in 2015 that middle aged white Americans were dying early, at alarming rates, because of alcohol related disease and suicide. Swept under the rug like the reports last year in Cosmopolitanand on CNN that alcohol use disorder had risen by 49% in the first decade of this century.

I’m ANGRY that this will most likely be hidden under a pile of quasi-scientific reports on the health benefits of whisky, wine and tequila. It’ll be suggested that it COULD be about nutrition or it COULD be about obesity or it COULD be about health care or it COULD be about poverty.

It’s about DRINKING. It’s about BINGE drinking . It’s about HABITUAL drinking . It’s about an industry that is making a fortune selling the idea that drinking A LOT has no consequences.

I’m angry that it has become uncool to suggest that dinking has consequences.

Since the first reports came out around the year 2000 that wine was heart healthy and should be included in our daily diet , the liquor section at the grocery store has grown and grown. We now celebrate our healthy appetite for all things alcohol with flavored vodkas, and infused gins, with spiked seltzers and high alcohol beer. Our wine glasses have gotten bigger and bigger and it’s no wonder that people are confused about the size of an actual serving. Magnums of wine, 5 liter tetra packs, six packs of full size champagne bottles.

Super Size Me Happy Hour!

Even Sake is served in jumbo cups now … excuse me but YUCK!

NBC reported yesterday that alcoholic liver cirrhosis and liver cancer are rising at an alarming rate in the United States. NPR focused on the statistics for the younger generation and Reuters highlighted the growing numbers of women dying for a drink. All three articles that I read suggested shock on the part of the researchers at the statistics. How can it be happening that so many more young people and women are dying of binge drinking ?

It’s because the Alcohol Industry and Media is Allowed to Bully us. The people who have been making an absolute fortune off selling you the NEED to drink daily have created a culture where we bully each other with the idea that everyone should be able to drink like a sailor, or like a mommy! It’s “mommy’s wine time” RELAX ! You deserve a bottle or two of wine for everything you do all day! Let’s do shots! It’s wine wednesday!

It’s killing us and it’s killing our kids but we can fight back against the drinking has no consequences hard sell.

Drinking like that has consequences.

Drinking like that is addictive. Encouraging habitual binge drinking creates the best, most reliable consumer on the market . It creates addicts. Addicts who in our culture are driven into isolation by the shame of being the one in ten who cannot ” handle” it. The one in ten who becomes addicted. BULLSHIT!

I don’t think it’s one in ten anymore and it’s time to start talking about it openly.

It’s time to stop talking only about the disease of alcoholism, as if it is a cross that a minority must bear, and start talking more about a progressive addiction that MANY of us find ourselves falling into, a behavior that we are SOLD aggressively and gleefully every single day.

This is the soft sell. It’s pink. It’s pretty. It’s bubbly. It’s Homey and Comfortable and Friendly and it’s right there at the check out for last minute impulse buy!

This is the hard sell .

and this

and this

If you feel like you NEED to drink it’s time to take a break for a while and figure out how to live without it. You CAN! Life is great without alcohol. It is low drama and high passion. It is everything that we dreamed of being as adults when we were kids. It’s strong and responsible and kind. It’s better health and a brighter brain and EVERYTHING you FEEL you feel more vibrantly. Get my drift? Sobriety is Clarity, it’s creativity, and it is FREEDOM from the NEED to drink. Freedom from the NEED to NUMB.

You’ve been conned. People are dying. People are making a lot of money off selling people addiction.

Fight back!

It starts with each one of us saying I have had enough! I am enough!

If you’re binge drinking too much too often come talk to us. Alcohol is the only drug that people question you for NOT using but you don’t HAVE to drink. Don’t stay trapped because the stigma of not drinking seems worse than the cost of drinking to much. Anonymous, independent, free community support.

Boom Community Rethink the Drink

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