January 21, 2020: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that 72,558 Americans died from alcohol-related deaths in 2017.^[1] That same year, 72,224 deaths were attributed to drug overdoses (including opioids).^[2] In other words, alcohol was responsible for 334 more deaths than drug overdoses.

Since 1999, the number of alcohol-related deaths in the United States more than doubled. Alcohol now plays a role in 2.6% of all U.S. deaths.^[1]

“Nearly half of alcohol‐related deaths resulted from liver disease (30.7%; 22,245) or overdoses on alcohol alone or with other drugs (17.9%; 12,954).”^[1]

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Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

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