A recent study shows that the medical expense of intoxicated patients from minor motor vehicle accidents is more than 4 times greater than sober drivers.

The median cost for treating intoxicated patients was $5,884, compared with $1,346 for sober drivers. Treating drunk drivers cost so much more, they explain, primarily due to the differences in number of tests ordered and duration of stay… presumably because those patients were less capable of explaining to doctors what hurt and where, though the researchers don’t expressly state that. ~ Time

In one year, in one hospital, in tiny Rhode Island the difference between drunk and sober of the 1,618 patients would amount to over $7 million. Hey White House, looking for medical savings to save healthcare reform?

Hangovers, DUI’s, and shameful regret are sheepishly admitted by most people as the typical cost of overindulgence and alcohol abuse. Only in rare instances, and usually just in recovery circles is the hidden cost of alcohol openly admitted and discussed. This includes drop outs, divorce, insolvency, incarceration, neglect and abuse (and that’s the sanitized abbreviated list)- more often than not, alcohol is going to be involved or the primary culprit.

I wanted to take a break from the depressing news here in the States, so please join me for a quick getaway across the great pond I’m calling TDA’s European Inebriation (in honor of the Griswalds).

We start out in the UK where a Dorset prison had to uninstall the hand sanitizer pumps initially put in to help prevent swine flu. Apparently the prisoners discovered the cleanser was made mostly of ethyl alcohol and promptly became intoxicated.

Prison officials said,”When you get something called alcohol gel you can see what is going to happen. You don’t want drunk prisoners running around the prison.” ~ BBC

I think the guards have decided they would rather have sick than drunk prisoners. Good choice. Now on to France.

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This one comes courtesy of TDA researcher Norm who sent us this link from the French town of Neuf-Brisach where a man drove himself to the local police station to drop off AA flyers. Unfortunately he was twice the limit drunk at the time and was immediately arrested for his second DUI. Talk about a self service arrest!

The kicker of our old world tour comes from Germany where a tipsy private pilot took off from Schoengleida airfield and continued to drink while aloft. He became so drunk that he apparently couldn’t see his instruments or the airport for that matter.

The UK paper The Telegraph reports that after two hours in flight, he was unable to read the instrument panel or find his way back to the airport. He apparently knew he was still in the neighborhood, though. His conversation with the control tower included a couple of songs and a mother-in-law joke. “Come on, I know you’re down there,” he radioed. “Where the bloody hell have you hidden yourself?” ~ Aero-News.net

A rescue helicopter was dispatched to guide the wayward pilot back in where he somehow landed safely. For some reason the man was not detained so he promptly got in his car and drove away. This was quite a feat considering his blood alcohol level was 4 times the legal limit for driving- not to mention flying! Thank goodness the authorities eventually tracked the man down who will no doubt lose the legal right to both drive and fly.

While funny on the surface, each of these light hearted stories from Europe could just have just as quickly turned to tragedy. And when you consider that most of this behavior is chronic and will surely be repeated- it is just a matter of time before the laughs peter out and the pain begins.

A fairly extensive study involving 38,000 cases over a period of five years suggests that having alcohol in the blood stream may increase the chances of survival in accidents involving severe brain trauma.

“This study really brings up more questions than it answers,” says coauthor Ali Salim, M.D., the program director of the General Surgery Residency Educational Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles. “It’s a bad thing to say alcohol is good, especially since it’s responsible for so many of these injuries. But our study suggests there may be some survival advantage for people with elevated [blood alcohol] levels.” ~ CNN.com

There’s probably two guys sitting at a bar at this very moment discussing this story praising the merits of alcohol, and both will drive home smug and content that their brain is safe. Drinker’s beware though, survival rates may be higher but so are complications and recovery – in addition, it would be a pretty safe bet that alcohol was a contributing factor in most of those brain injuries where it was of “help”.

Scientists have several theories on this effect of alcohol, but I also have one they didn’t address. Ever notice how the drunk in an accident seems to be the one that survives? My thought is that they don’t go through the stress and trauma that sober people do in severe accidents avoiding both emotional and medical shock… they do not have fear or a sense of their own mortality. They are simply too drunk to die.

If you are a recovering addict/alcoholic or have a relationship with an addict/alcoholic (work, family, and friend)- then you probably already know this. A practicing alcoholic will have a tire event at least once a month; whether it be a flat, blowout, missing spare, or asking for money to replace said problem. It’s not as if the tire gods are jealous of the bacchanalian worshippers, but instead a combination of two very obvious factors.

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First, it’s a convenient excuse used liberally by those late for work or who seek quick and believable cover story… it’s not just drunks that use it, we have just used it more often. Now take that the flat card has already been played one too many times with the fact that priority is on BAC and not tread wear, inflation, or alignment and tire failure is in reality going to occur more often. While not unique or specific to substance abuse- the following warning signs usually will be apparent 1) Extreme cupping and uneven tire wear from misalignment caused by running over curbs, parking stops, ditches, and big wheels 2) just plain bald tires 3) missing spare and the worst 4) Spare mounted on vehicle and already worn out and/or flat.

It’s one of those little pleasures in life we tend to overlook in recovery- riding with new treads and a vehicle that goes straight if you loosen your grip on the steering wheel.

BBC reporter Jonathan Charles says he was kept hidden for almost two decades and forced to bear children or at least that what it sounds like! Surely this man is a professional journalist and probably very good at his job, but for hundreds of thousands that watched this viral video he will be the BBC blooper of the year. I have no doubt this would not be the moment Mr. Charles would have chosen to define his life’s work and character… but it could be much worse.

When alcohol is involved, it is almost always much worse.

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Take Donald Ramsey for instance, 66 year-old Mr. Ramsey should enjoying his retirement in obscurity but instead finds himself being publicly ridiculed because of a drunken “what-was-he-thinking” moment which ended up with his arrest for DUI. Doesn’t matter if she was mild mannered or the perfect mother before, from now on Dena Ellington will be thought of by most people as the monster who attempted to drive her kid to school while intoxicated at almost four times the legal limit. And then there is Jack Alvord, bank VP and prominent business man no longer; instead Mr. Alvord is now known as the felony hit and run DUI driver that RAN OVER A BLIND MAN!

Don’t let alcohol define you- have a happy and SOBER weekend everybody.

A DUI driver in Suffolk County NY must have been approaching 100 mph as he missed a turn, hit a berm, and launched his Jeep into the second story of a house. Thankfully no one was seriously injured even though the owner of the house was home and asleep at the time and the jeep actually crashed twice- once into the house, and then a second time as it fell through to the first story foyer.

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Most people would rather not think of the more serious repercussions of substance abuse, as a society we have a they are only hurting themselves mentality. If this home invasion would have been committed by armed thugs the whole community would have been up in arms demanding extra patrols and increased public safety measures. Yet a drunk launches a 2 ton projectile through an occupied house and even the owner seems unfazed; equally dangerous, but alcohol related incidents are just “accepted”.

Over the holiday weekend thousands of drivers will be charged with DUI, get to spend the night in jail, and most will have their licensed suspended… if they are lucky. This DUI home invasion is just one of the obvious examples of the collateral damage from substance abuse and alcoholism. Employment trouble often occurs because people without driver’s licenses are unreliable, others get into more trouble because they keep driving, some get depressed and drink even more, all these things affect the family and then there are the cases where the driver is seriously injured or worse- when the innocent are hurt.

How will substance abuse invade your home?

Drinking onset at 16 and younger, versus 21 and older, appears to double the likelihood of alcohol-related driving or unintentional injuries, as well as the risk for alcohol dependence or abuse, the investigators report. ~ Reuters

Like a kid being denied entrance to a carnival ride because of the minimum height requirement, I know the age limit for drinking must seem arbitrary and unfair to underage would-be imbibers. Lines have to be drawn somewhere though, and considering the much greater chance for accidents and abuse for those that begin drinking early I have no problem whatsoever supporting the minimum age limit of 21.

I don’t care how smart, responsible, or mature you are, your brain must be 21 to get on this ride.

In Los Angeles, a car smashes through the front of a liquor store and kills one and injures two.

Cruz says detectives are investigating what caused the crash in the city south of Los Angeles but have determined alcohol was not a factor. ~ Fox News

With alcohol ruled out as a contributing factor my first thought about this “alcohol related” death was “what are the odds?” If not taken rhetorical the answer is actually heartening, back in the seventies the odds were 2 out of 3 that a traffic fatality was alcohol related- now it’s closer to 1 out of 3. Still too much, but it is substantial progress.

The youngest pitcher playing in the major league, Nick Adenhart, threw the best game of his career last night while his dad proudly watched from the stands. The dream come true was replaced by a nightmare just a few hours later when his dad was notified that his son had been killed by a drunk driver. Only one out of the four people in Adenhart’s car survived the crash yet the driver suspected of DUI still managed to flee the scene on foot before being apprehended. Not only was he way over the legal limit, but he didn’t even have a license because of a prior offense.

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Nearly 100,000 people die in alcohol related incidents each year in the US and almost half of all fatal traffic accidents involve alcohol. Nick Adenhart’s poignant story has gotten quite a bit of press, but an even greater tragedy is the fact that this story is repeated daily and hardly anyone ever notices.

How many people will have a few beers in the sports bar tonight and lament the passing of a young player and yet still drive home that night impaired? Studies estimate that there are 88 instance of impaired driving for every arrest made suggesting the only time most people take impaired driving seriously is while reflecting upon a high profile tragedy. The daily deaths attributed to alcohol are just bland stats, no faces or gripping stories for an ESPN write-up and no one ever thinks that it could happen to themor their loved ones.

Sara Longwell of the American Beverage Institute (ABI) is at it again defending the people’s “right” to drive intoxicated as long they are not caught or just sloppy drunk. In this latest interview, she is demonizing the use of ignition interlocks as punishment for those convicted of DUI. Protecting the ABI’s cash cow, imbibing bar patrons and diners, is her real objective- but as usual she acts as if she were defending a constitutional right.

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She wants judges and law enforcement to “distinguish between someone who has one sip over the legal limit and someone who has had ten drinks prior to driving”, arguing that someone with a .08 BAC should be punished less than someone with a high BAC. Attention Mrs. Longwell, you are thinking like an alcoholic; only concerned about punishment if caught instead of the repercussions and lives lost caused by driving under the influence.

I’ll make a deal with you Ms Longwell; I’ll push for reduced punishment of those convicted of DUI for just barely being drunk when you convince the coroner’s office to start classifying those DUI victims as just barely dead. Get a grip ABI- and just push for designated drivers that abstain from alcohol totally.