Drinking Kills 3 People Per Hour in LOS!

[Takiap]

All this talk about drinking related deaths has got me panicking so I'm off for a cold beer just in case

[Big Boy]

To put this thread into context, does anybody have any comparative stats for other countries? I'm thinking, UK, USA, Skandi countries, Germany etc.

[E-Dork]

I would think that if the 'drink of choice' was shown for those that are dying/have died of a drink related illness it would show that an enormously high amount of the deaths are due to 'Lao Kao'.

'Lao Kao' is poison in a bottle. I have witnessed a couple of guys in their thirties succumb to this deadly drink. Cheap, not so cheerful, acid for your insides.

[PeteC]

All this talk about drinking related deaths has got me panicking so I'm off for a cold beer just in case

Don't forget to wear your helmet. Pete

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[Spitfire]

^^I would probably agree with that E-Dork. There is a massive difference between hard liquor and say.......beer.

Also, all of these cheap crap local excuses for liquor that they call whisky/brandy/white spirit Lao Kao type stuff is pretty badly manufactured and way worse than say....Smirnoff vodka/JW Whisky etc for an easy example.

Mekong Whisky isn't exactly Chivas of course and will be even less conducive to your organs than the brand name stuff.

Have to be careful with spirits, period.....and even more so with moonshine, as that what the local stuff is really, just mass produced as so many folks don't have the money for anything else.

As with many countries, be careful with the local brews, Thailand is no different.



Regarding number of deaths per hour/day etc, bet there are plenty of more dangerous places with higher numbers rates than that, try driving or riding a scooter. Kitchen might also be more be dangerous than drinking too.

[crazy88]

A study of 11 and 12 year old school kids, showed that those who demonstrated an awareness of beer ads, held more positive beliefs about drinking and intended to drink more frequently when they grow up
By the time most teenagers get to 15-16 years old, around 80% have already used alcohol and 65% of those have been drunk
In the US it was reported that about 2.6 million binge drinkers were between the ages of 12-17 in 2002. In the U.K alcohol consumption has doubled in the last 10 years in young women
Hospital admissions linked to alcohol use have more than doubled in the UK over the last 10 years, to over 200,000 in the last year, and there has been a 20% increase in GP’s making prescriptions for alcohol dependency in the last 4 years
Around 95% of alcoholics die from their disease and approximately 26 years earlier than their normal life expectancy
The cost of untreated drug and alcohol abuse in the U.S. is estimated at $276 Billion a year in lost productivity, law enforcement costs, health care, and welfare programs
The annual cost of drug abuse in the UK is around £19 billion
Drunk driving is responsible for approximately 50% of motorway deaths
Close on 20 million people over the age of 12 use drugs in the US and around 20,000 people a year die from their addiction
In the UK, around 10% of adults aged 16-59 had used illicit drugs in the last year and for only 15 year olds, 29% reported taking drugs in the last year

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1091

Numbers of deaths where selected substances were mentioned on the death certificate in England and Wales, 2006[5]
Drug Deaths
Heroin and morphine 713
Methadone 241
Cocaine (including crack) 190
All amphetamines 92
(of which MDMA/ecstasy) 48
Cannabis 17
Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) 7
All benzodiazepines 177
Zopiclone/Zolpidem 39
Barbiturates 17
All antidepressants 336
Paracetamol (including compound formulations) 287
Codeine (non-compound formulation) 60
Dihydrocodeine (non-compound formulation) 96
Aspirin 22
Tramadol 81
Alcohol* 6,627
Tobacco** 86,500


Crazy 88

[Dr Mike]

Statistics from death certs are notoriously unreliable--- you used to be able to say--Natural Causes when very old people died, now you cant, so often Heart Failure is the stated cause--because after all when you die your heart sops, but it may be due to the effect not the cause.

Cannabis and road traffic accidents--- it may not be intoxication that is the cause--long term habitual users of cannabis have a high rate of RTAs. It may be something to do with lack of perception of speed or depth perception.

[Big Boy]

Thanks Crazy, that puts the UK at 3 deaths every 4 hours due to drinking. OK, the Thai population is about 10% greater than the UK, but this comparison does show Thailand in a poor light.

[Spitfire]

Yeah, and that's only the stats that they can come up with here, how many escape the net?

They struggle to perform a census properly here, these kind of stats are probably still not even close to the real deal. How many pass away in the middle of nowhere and never get recorded?

The local government in the rural areas all over Thailand are still a bit 'yahoo' in this sort of section, accurate record keeping can be a moot point on many fronts for many reasons.

And, as a relevant point, a disproportional number of people becoming stats on this front probably piss-it-all-away in the rural areas and drink themselves into the grave as there is not much else to do.

Big problem here I reckon and hard to record with any real figures that are even slightly close.

I suppose it's what we would call a 'guess-timate' at best.

[PeteC]

No one mentions that they are once again pointing fingers elsewhere and not at themselves. They rant at a possible increase in imported spirits but fail to mention that only middle class Thais and above, and by definition more responsible drinkers IMO, can afford those products. They're scared of and intimidated by the Thai brewers and distillers therefore say nothing about those groups who supply the cheap stuff to the poorer classes who I will bet my bottom dollar make up the bulk of those statistics, and the bulk of DUI deaths on motorcycles as we see each holiday period. Pete

[Spitfire]

No one mentions that they are once again pointing fingers elsewhere and not at themselves. They rant at a possible increase in imported spirits but fail to mention that only middle class Thais and above, and by definition more responsible drinkers IMO, can afford those products.

Absolutely man!

It's the local moonshine that's the major killer, as I hinted at in my last post, most (80%) of the average population cannot afford imported liquor.

It's the old saying of "Perhaps they should look in the mirror first" before blaming everything on the evil foreign influence etc.

Think that's called 'denial'.

[Big Boy]

As a slight aside, I noticed during my last visit that my Thai family and friends were drinking something called Blend 285. Where does this stuff sit in the league table of quality alcohol?

Personally, I rarely drink spirits - I drink them too fast and in too large a quantity, and would probably have added to the above statistics by now.

[Spitfire]

As a slight aside, I noticed during my last visit that my Thai family and friends were drinking something called Blend 285. Where does this stuff sit in the league table of quality alcohol?

That fits into the "Blend yahoo!" section BB.

However, they may believe that to be an average or dare I say it, a 'hi-so' whisky, which it isn't. Not worth saying anything but don't indulge yourself unless you're up for some moonshine, otherwise, leave them to it, unless you're feeling naughty.

[PeteC]

You'll find 285 and others below. Pete

http://www.thaibev.com/en08/product.aspx?sublv1gID=12

[Big Boy]

don't indulge yourself unless you're up for some moonshine, otherwise, leave them to it, unless you're feeling naughty.

The last time I had a drink of Thai spirits was 5 Oct 1989 - I haven't been naughty since then