Corking the Bottle

"All things will pass. But they might pass like a kidney stone." -- Mandy at an A.A. meeting in Louisville “Whether I or anyone else accepted the concept of alcoholism as a disease didn't matter; what mattered was that when treated as a disease, those who suffered from it were most likely to recover.” ―  Craig Ferguson,  American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

If I ever needed a stiff drink it's now, watching my Louisville Cardinals being disemboweled on TV by Clemson. I'm kidding about the drink but, unfortunately, not about the game. When you watch football and consider a drink because of heartbreak or celebration, don't do it. I found something else to consider. Everyone is familiar with the crime of driving under the influence. According to Alcohol Rehab Guide ( https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/crimes/ ) drinking to excess can lead to other criminal acts: About 15% of all robberies are traced to alcohol use. "Alcohol can intensify a robber's feeling of desperation and cause them to steal someone's money or property." Some 37% of sexual assaults can be traced to drinking. "For perpetrators, drinking may intensify their aggressive behavior. This can make them become more forceful when someone tries to resist them." Approximately 27% of aggravated assaults are committed by people who ha...

A few years ago, I was charged with drunk driving and spent the night on the floor in a crowded jail cell. I was humiliated and, upon release, embarrassed beyond words. I was pulled over just down the road from my house. It was late morning. I hadn't had a drink since sometime the night before. I had no way of knowing my BAC was above the .08 legal limit. I felt fine. I thought. I checked out a website this morning ( https://www.factretriever.com/drunk-driving-facts ) and learned a few things: A driver with a BAC of .08 g/dL is 11 times more likely to be in a fatal accident than a driver who has consumed no alcohol. Drugs other than alcohol (such as marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of fatal collisions, usually in combination with alcohol. Drinking just three or four beers for a 170-pound male is enough to make him too drunk to drive. For an average-size woman it may take just one to three. The country with the highest rate of drunk driving deaths is So...

Drinking is expensive. If you do it or did it, you know that. If you don't imbibe, you're paying a price anyway. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that excessive alcohol consumption costs the U.S. about $250 billion a year, mainly due to losses in workplace productivity, health care expenses, criminal justice costs, motor vehicle crashes, and property damage. ( https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/data-stats.htm#economicCosts ) If you are a binge drinker (four or more drinks per occasion for women, five or more for men) you were responsible for 77% of the cost of drinking alcohol. Whether you drink or not, federal, state, and local taxpayers got stuck with $2 of every $5 of those economic costs. The CDC has the costs of intoxication broken down by state, if you're interested. States where I lived or have many Facebook friends include Kentucky (cost per capita $736), Pennsylvania ($751), Idaho ($726), Washington ($863), California ($940), Ohio ($739), Texas ($748), and...