More Stats Needed

I want to suggest/request that the smart folk at the Independent find some way to print some type of obituary that would be anonymous but would tell the public how many reported deaths are the direct (or adjacent) effects of drugs. This includes alcohol, since alcohol is a liquid drug — even though it is a major source of revenue for this region. (Perhaps a conflict of interest for the Independent since so many advertisers are purveyors; not different than advertising cigarettes.) Maybe once monthly provide a “black box” of anonymous statistics from the previous month?

I make this request to highlight the epidemic of drug-alcohol deaths — and Santa Barbara’s complicity in the problem. One need only Google “alcohol.” It’s a leading cause of preventable deaths, but we romanticize it.

There is no recommended amount of alcohol that is “healthy.” The fact that the Independent even has columns devoted to the lionization of the drug is proof of the problem. Why not advertise or recommend tobacco?