legalage

Just been wondering about this lately. If you look for AA meetings in your area, there are beyond several. The activity on this site is always buzzing (despite the fact this is a global interaction interface). Step into a liquor store and you are bound to see a couple if you are there for any time at all. We aren't that hard to spot when we are actively drinking; the red face, red eyes, blank stare, and the general look of despair. Anyway, I am just wondering everyone's thoughts on this.

FlyerFan

Millions I'd say. I think the problem is many people do not even know they're alcoholics, or they do know and are in denial.

Alcoholism is a sickness which many people are still unaware about. And here in the U.S. there is so much pressure on young people to drink, what with the whole "21st birthday celebration" and such. I don't remember my 21st birthday, or several before that, because I was already an alcoholic.

It is scary when we think about it as a whole isn't it?

BackToSquareOne

It's like that old saying "Theres a sucker born every minute". For every one that knocks it off for good there is a whole new batch just getting their drinking credentials.

There are 7 billion people in the world, google says 1 in 13 adults could qualify as alcoholics. I'd say there were quite a few.

Scolova

If it were 1 out of 10 there would be 700,000,000 (700 million) alcoholics worldwide... not all active... 1 in 13 is still a lotta drunks as well.

laurie6781

Basically most Institutions and NIH say alcoholism affects about 10% of the population world wide, with some countries like Russia having a higher and others have a bit lower rate.

And they (Institutions and NIH) are still saying that out of 37 alcoholics only 2 will die having seen any sobriety at all.

So I encourage anyone seeking recovery to try ALL that is available out there, not just AA, to learn after you take the alcohol away how to deal with the ISM (I, Self, Me) and live comfortably in sobriety.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

dawnie24

Way to many but half of them don't admitt they have a problem with drink

Boleo

IMNSHO the percentage of the population that has an addiction problem is going up fast. In the past, they estimated that about 10% of the general population was addicted to some substance, typically alcohol. Now thanks to the variety and availability of both legal and illegal drugs, young people are poisoning their organs (including brains) faster than ever before.

Where it used to take a drunk or addict 20 years to burn their biological candle from both ends, today's youth can do the job in a couple months. The stats for 30 year-olds & up may be the same as it has been historically, but I would bet money on the under 30 crowd having addiction problems in the 20%-30% of the population range.

Another problem showing up in the older population is abusing scripts. Most people don't look at the warning labels very carefully before mixing booze with pills. Some scripts cant be mixed with alcohol in the same 24 hour period. How many people will take a pill at 7 AM then think it is safe to drink alcohol at 7 PM?

Justfor1

Flyer fan, there is another group of alcoholics that know they have a problem & don't care. At the end of my "alcohol career" I had given up. If ya want to see a lot of alcoholics just look outside a liquor store when they first open. A few folks might work the overnight shift but most are alcoholics waiting to get the first drink of the day. I use to be angry when the liquor store owner was running late & it wasn't open at 9AM. Now I'm sometimes the first customer of the morning in Starbucks.

FlyerFan

Ah, Starbucks is too expensive for me, lol. (funny that I never minded spending half my paycheck on Jack Daniels?) Where I live we have Wawa so I swing by there every morning at 6:30 sharp for my french vanilla coffee.

Kialua

This brought back memories. When I was in high school I would sometimes step into the corner bar to keep warm in the winter while waiting for the 7 am bus. It was half full, and very very dark.