The number of drugs prescribed to treat alcoholism has increased by almost 75 per cent in less than a decade, new figures show.
A goodly part of which is that we now use drugs as a treatment for alcoholism more than we used to. Medical treatments do change over time.
Almost £3 million was spent by the NHS last year on drugs to treat such problems, including Antabuse, which causes nausea and vomiting when alcohol is consumed
It\’s still a pittance compared to the £8 billion in tax that booze brings in.
In 2011/12, there were 1,220,300 hospital admissions in England attributed to drinking – a sharp increase from 2002/03, when the figure stood at 510,700.
We\’ve changed the method of calculating what is a \”booze admission\” over that time.
Plus, of course, the number of admissions to hosptials has risen over that time. Substantially, too.
But never mind, this will do its job. That the bill for anti-booze drugs is still smaller than the DoH mineral water bill can be used to scream that there must be more restrictions on people supping a pint or two of an evening. Which is the point here, nothing else.
…..The number of drugs prescribed to treat alcoholism has increased by almost 75 per cent in less than a decade, new figures show……
….We used to treat 4 people and now we treat 7……
I always treat percentages in the press with suspicion on the basis that lots of people do not understand them, so the writer is probably trying to over state something.
Welcome to the second Victorian Era.
That is my catchphrase.
(EJ Thribb)
But don’t forget – all admissions to hospital are assessed for the contribution that alcohol has made to the particular malady. Even if you are a teetotaller, if the statistics say that 50% of admissions with your disease are due to alcohol, that will go down in the statistics…..
Many years ago, a story in the San Francisco Chronicle–a newspaper wedded to statist sensationalism–claimed that 10,000 ppl a year died from smoking related causes in SFO.
The pop. of SFO is 700,000. Back of the envelope maths suggests that they ALL died from smoking-related causes.
What might we come to believe from that?