Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990 TAG: 9005080381
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
While the federal government pours billions of dollars into fighting illegal drugs, most people seeking treatment for chemical dependency are abusers of legal alcohol, said Wayne Thacker, director of substance abuse services for the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
"Most people think that illicit drugs are the big problem," Thacker said. "But the number of people dying from alcohol abuse far exceeds the number of people dying from all other drugs together."
Sixty-two percent of the 14,290 people who underwent substance abuse treatment in state-supported community services programs last year were alcoholics, he said. About half of the alcohol abusers also used other drugs, he said.
Cocaine is the second most often used drug, followed by marijuana and heroin, he said.
Nationally last year, the cost of alcohol abuse was $136 billion, Thacker said. Most of the costs are in lost production and lost employment, he said.
The toll from alcohol abuse is especially high when measured by deaths caused by ingestion, highway fatalities, teen-age drinking, lost productivity from work and babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome, said state officials and workers in treatment programs.
For example, last year in Virginia:
A total of 398 people died from alcohol ingestion, while 19 died from ingestion of all other drugs. The figures don't include suicide or accidental poisoning, according to information compiled from death certificates by the Virginia Department of Health's Center for Health Statistics.
Alcohol-related crashes on the state's highways killed 522 people and injured 14,172 others, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. There are no statistics available on drug-related crashes.
Arrests for drunken driving, violation of liquor laws and public drunkenness totaled 114,372. Arrests for the sale, manufacture and possession of drugs totaled 16,054, according to the Virginia State Police.
Nearly three-fourths of high school seniors drank alcohol. Also, 47.3 percent of the seniors said they had used alcohol during the 30 days preceding the survey, released recently by Attorney General Mary Sue Terry.
Marijuana was the second most often used drug by high school seniors. About 37 percent of the seniors said they had tried it.
About 550 babies were born with fetal alcohol syndrome, the third leading cause of mental retardation and birth defects, according to the state Mental Health Department.
Alcohol is easy to abuse, said people who work in drug treatment centers.
"It's legal. It's so available. It's so acceptable," said Jean Wittkamp Hughes, director of the detoxification unit at Stuart Circle Hospital in Richmond.
"Alcohol seems like a food to many people," said Dr. Ronald O. Forbes, a physician at St. John's Hospital in Richmond. "It's part of the meal along with cake and ice cream."
Hughes said parents should take a harder stand against their children drinking.
"I would like for parents who are preaching to their children about smoking pot to start preaching about alcohol, too," she said. "Alcohol can lead to just as serious problems."
by CNB