If University of Queensland’s Associate Professor Jason Connor and Professor Wayne Hall are to be believed, alcohol is Australia’s deadliest drug, and it should not be overlooked by all the social activism around substance abuse.
Alcohol the ‘biggest killer’ of them all
According to an article on the UQ website, Dr. Connor says that compared to other drugs, alcohol may not be as quick to take hold on your life, but it is “the biggest killer” of them all. Both Dr. Connor and Professor Hall are researchers for the university’s Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, and have done extensive research on alcohol use disorders. They have been recently commissioned by medical journal The Lancet to publish a ‘seminar series’ aiming to monitor and update over the next four years alcohol use disorder research.
Apart from being a deadly drug, they also said alcohol has cost Australia more than $15 billion a year in lost productivity, medical costs, policing and legal expenses from alcohol-related crimes.
To address the worsening alcohol situation, Dr Connor and Professor Hall suggested that Australians have to reassess what was safe drinking behaviour, as well as tighten controls on the drug.
We at Frontline Diagnostics wholeheartedly agree that alcohol is a major public health threat. A number of workplace injuries and deaths can also be blamed on this deadly but absolutely legal drug. Its sale needs to be more tightly controlled as suggested by Dr Connor and Professor Hall, and employers should strictly implement a workplace alcohol policy before it further ruins more lives.
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