Alcohol is everywhere: breweries on every corner, advertisements, social gatherings, memes & more. We talk about how society seems to romanticize drinking along with some statistics that may surprise you.
Alcohol is everywhere: breweries on every corner, advertisements, social gatherings, memes & more. We talk about how society seems to romanticize drinking along with some statistics that may surprise you.
Aloha and welcome to 12 ounces, a sobriety podcast. I'm pat sharp here with my fabulous cohost Robbie Carson. Welcome. Welcome. , today we're recording on a Monday. , we're going to talk today about society's influence, , and thoughts really, truly around alcohol.
We'll get into that. Some bigger news. I know Carson, you cross the 90 day mark. This weekend, I crossed the four month mark and Robbie. You're getting very close to six months. So we're doing well. We're, we're progressing along as we should be. , I'm feeling pretty good. You know, this is the longest I've made it sober so far.
I know it is for you Carson, because it's your first time getting sober and Robbie you're. You got a little waste to go to make it the longest you've ever made it sober. You were sober for a couple months before or a couple years, right? No, no, this is my first time. I think this is my, actually my first time.
At this point. Oh, oh, nice. Nice. That's the same with me. So, so we're all at record high. That's awesome. Mm-hmm . That is so we're gonna try to keep it up and, and hopefully that will help you guys, you know, continue journey. I would really like if everybody that's listening. Comment or, , review our podcast and, and in the review or comment, just put how many days sober you are and if you're not an addict at all, and you're just listening to us to listen, just say, I'm listening just to listen, but I'd like to see kind of where everybody is that is listening.
, maybe put your location in there too, because we're at 250 cities, , in the country they're listening in 14 different, , countries as well. , which is awesome. Appreciate the support. Robbie, you went outta town. This weekend went to a concert up in Asheville. How did that go? The concert was awesome.
, You know, I really didn't find that I had any triggers. Um, you know, I, I even saw beer and stuff like that, and it didn't really cross my mind. , the, the most, I guess, triggering, you know, sort of situation is just being in such a tight crowd. , you know, the, the plentiful PBRs that were hanging around at the beach house concert were.
You know, they were a sight, but I didn't feel that they were tempting very much. Well, and that's the thing. I mean, anywhere we go anymore and kind of going into our topic today, there's alcohol everywhere. I mean, and it's gotta the point anymore. Even like cracker barrel now serves beer and wine, and that was our safe Haven.
Yeah. And it's like, well, is there a place that you can get away from it? It's no. And so being sober, you just have to get used to being around it because it's impossible to escape. Right. I remember I traveled over to Europe. This was about seven years ago and I was in a, I was at a layover in the Ireland airport, in the Dublin airport.
And I went to burger king, which I know it's kind of a weird time to go to burger king, but I was just grabbing something real quick and they asked me if I would like to upgrade my meal. Uh, to get a pint for just an extra couple euros. And at the time I was like, hell yeah, I thought it was the coolest thing.
I'm like, all right, I'm sitting here, I'm eating a, you know, a hamburger with a, with a pint. I just thought I was so cool. But now. That is so common and it's slowly coming over to America as well. And I'm like, okay, let's, let's put a hold on this. It's it's, it's really everywhere. Well, I know probably 80% of the podcast I listen to are sponsored by alcohol beverage companies.
Yeah. And. You watch TV, their ads are everywhere. I mean, you watch YouTube videos. There's alcohol a, I mean, the ads are endless. They're literally everywhere. And now any place you go to eat has alcohol. You know, really like I was saying, there there's no escaping it. And so that's what you gotta use your coping skills for.
And, and time will help, you know, the longer I'm sober, the, the easier it gets and the more comfortable I get being around it, but I'm not gonna go, you know, go to a restaurant and sit at the bar and eat. I'll still sit in the restaurant side and. but I can be around it. You know, I play golf guys that are out there golf and they drink and whatever, you know, I had my, as we said, last podcast, my diet, Pepsi, my water with me and stick to that.
And just try, not even to think about the, the beer that somebody else is drinking. Yeah. And speaking of golf, I'm glad you brought that up. , I played golf on my. 90th day of sobriety this past weekend. And typically I, you know, normally indulge quite a bit in alcohol during the round. , and I've always just, I've never been happy with the way I play.
, but I've played it fully sober and I broke 90 for the first time in my life. So is that a coincidence? I think not. See, it's taken me a little while to get used to playing golf, sober. , it, it was tough for me. I play a lot and it early on it, it was a struggle as far as not, not talking about the, not drinking, I'm talking about the actually playing the game and the mental part of it because the drinking would kind of help relax your brain a little bit and not overthink things, but I'm kind of getting through that now.
And, and that's a lot better. You know, when it comes to society and drinking, you know, you look at the summertime, we just got through 4th of July weekend, everybody drinks for that. I mean, alcohol's everywhere you think of 4th of July, you think of the lake, the beach, the barbecues, all of that. In, in your head, you picture cans of beer, sitting around, things like that.
We got football season coming up. They're, you know, the NFL is sponsored by, you know, a beer company. I believe. I think they still are. And all the commercials are alcohol driven, you know, anymore. And so it's just, it, it's crazy in the crazy part of it. And kind of what I want to get into a little bit is we know how dangerous and deadly alcohol is, but it's like society doesn't care.
Yeah, we keep pushing it and pushing, I think alcohol is the third leading cause of death. Third or fourth leading cause of death. Third. Yep. Third. Yeah, the third leading cause of death in America. But yet we act like it is the greatest thing for you and it's addictive, it doesn't get the treatment that cigarettes do and tobacco does, which, and it's just as deadly, if not more.
Right. And, and you bring up holidays and that's such a good point. A lot of holidays. Take advantage of and used as an excuse to drink two off the top of my head are St. Patrick's day and Cinco de Mayo. Now, if you are Irish Catholic, or you have ancestors in Ireland, sure. That is. Very valid reason to celebrate St Patrick's day.
But think about how many of the millions and millions of people in this country have no affiliation whatsoever, but they go to bar crawls. They go to, you know, these Irish pubs and they just get shitty for 12 hours straight. And the same with Sango de Mayo, no, everyone loves tacos and tequila. They're not really celebrating the actual reasons for that day.
They're just using it as an excuse to drink. And that is seen more and more often as we continue to, you know, go. 100% and you okay. Especially you brought up St. Patrick's day. I mean, you think of like Savannah, which is only a few hours away from here and it's like the biggest party of the year and everything goes on in Chicago.
They turn the whole damn river green. Yeah, they do in Savannah too. And. all it is, is a holiday for people to go drinking at. Yeah. When I used to sell beer and I sold beer in downtown, , Charleston, the amount of Guinness and that we would sell that week was just insane as busiest week of the year. And nobody's Charleston didn't have that big of an Irish population.
It's just became. Drinking holiday and everybody just, you know, considers that, oh, who cares? You know, you're supposed to go out and get drunk. Right? You think about super bowl parties too. I mean, it's not a, it's not a holiday, but the day after the super bowl is the number one most taken off day in America that Monday.
And so many people, they, they. Throw the most enormous, you know, super bowl parties. And I love football. It's, it's my favorite thing to watch, uh, during the NFL season. It's uh, but how many people get together? They eat the food, they love the commercials and they drink their faces off. How many people are actually watching the game?
I mean, let's be honest. It it's, it's a, probably a, a very low percentage because they're just getting shit faced the entire time. Well, I watch it, my love football, right? Me. And, you know, another, if you look at like that part of society, you know, people are expected to do that. Look at college, people that go to college, everybody just anticipates that, you know, you go to college to party and you drink.
And I mean, there is almost every newspaper or magazine out there puts out like the top party school list every year, Arizona. Um, I think that's number one. I don't know if it is or not. Yeah. It's there. I used to look, but it's became like, that is what you're supposed to. Well, you're supposed to graduate high school and then go to college and drink your face off and get a degree hopefully.
And you know, people wonder why the graduation rate in this country is 35%. Yeah. 35% of incoming, fresh. Get a four year degree, is it? And alcohol has a ton to do with that? Absolutely. I, I went to UNC Charlotte and our, we didn't have a football team when I started back in 2015, but two years later we had our inaugural football season and, you know, they made the stadium and it was really great.
But they didn't have alcohol sales, , at the time they didn't sell it in the stadium. So you just have to, you know, drink from 8:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Cuz we weren't a very good team. So our games were at noon. So we made best with what we had. But uh, right after I graduated, they, uh, eventually started selling alcohol just to capitalize on all that money.
And it was ridiculous and I'm like, oh my God, these kids are gonna die because you can, you, you get in there, you're already drunk. And then just more and more. And that's all you're doing. You're not even watching the game. You're just sitting there drinking and then you get a night cap in that's that's a Saturday in college.
Yeah, a hundred percent. I remember when I was in college and going, you know, to other colleges to go to football games, waking up and starting to drink at 7:00 AM. Oh yeah. You know, and everybody was everybody's already tailgating or going to the Panthers games we would use get there eight or nine o'clock in the morning.
So we could drink for three and a half, four hours before we went into the game. You know, it's crazy. And you went to what? You went down school down in new Orleans. Yeah. I'm sure there was of a party city and even look at the whole festival of Mar Graw. Yeah. Everyone's headbutting each other. Yeah. What's your experience with that and that alcohol scene.
So I went to Loyola and Tula actually spent a year in dental school at, at LSU. And, , in those times, you know, it's funny that, , , you know, Loyola was a big drink, you know, drink in school and, and really in the sense of it had a big music scene, you know, it's a liberal, liberal arts school and, , we'd go to have shows drink.
I was in a band at the time I drank a ton. , and then, you know, like a tool lane tooling, you know, it's funny, cuz the stereotypes come into play. Two lanes got a lot of people from New York and they happen to have a lot of cocaine there too. , you know, that's a, that's a common drug up there. , and then dental school, you know, a lot of people are coming from fraternity sororities and a lot of 'em are coming from LSU, which is a, is, you know, kind of considered a party school too.
, you know, it's a hard subject for me to, to talk onto a certain degree. , you know, a lot of those people that do do that party drinking and stuff, they're still in, you know, a lot of 'em are still able to manage, , some of 'em don't even drink that hard. , or at least they didn't drink. Like I did, , a lot of 'em and, you know, I even in the sense of a guess to a certain degree, , people's recreational drug use, recreational drinking.
you know, there's this idea that, you know, alcoholism is a self diagnosing disease, , or addiction. I, I get that to a certain degree. Like there's definitely brain stuff going on to that that can determine probably whether or not you're an addict or an alcoholic, but, uh, you know, I still believe it's self diagnosing in the sense that.
If you're not doing anything to get help, if people aren't forcing you to get help, then am I, you know, who am I to say that it's really affecting you? negatively. I mean, at least that that's up to you. Uh, do you feel like your life is more fulfilled using, do you feel like it's less fulfilled? Is it taking away from it?
,
. . Yeah. Well, and it, and part of that goes to the, like with, you said recreational drug culture too, and the drinking, you know, the drinking and the cocaine that people do and, and these, you know, college atmospheres, it's almost like, oh, it's okay. They're just experimenting there in college. kind of to Robby's point, you know, some of us are predisposed to alcoholism.
You know, there are some issues going on in our brains and you know, and you, and you go to school and you think you're just having a good time, but then you're leaving with a, a full-fledged drinking problem because you're already predisposed to the alcoholism. And you might just overdo it a little bit thinking you're just having a fun, good time because that's expected of you.
Mm-hmm and. Then all of a sudden, you know, you start out in the real world and, and you're drinking every day and that's your only coping skill to deal with life is kind of, I think what happens a lot of times is, is, you know, and that happened to me. I didn't know how to deal with anything. I. My answer to everything was to drink.
Now. What's what's Mardi GRA I mean, you think of Mardi Graw that everybody thinks of just the biggest party ever, and obviously a ton of drinking, probably a ton of drugs, a ton of, you know, everything going on. What was what's that like being around that, growing up in new Orleans? , yeah, growing up, you see at least.
you're just surrounded by a lot of adults that are drinking. , not every adult drinks there. , you know, there's families that do their own little thing, but then there's, there's people that get really shitty, , you know, in high school, you know, when I was in eighth grade, I think I started drinking at, at Mardi GRA for example, then, you know, ninth grade more, you know, that's what you do.
And then up through high school, I mean, . I was not one of just a few that did that, you know, so you see it. And it was weird seeing it once I got like out of high school and stuff and was a little bit older seeing, you know, young teenagers, like just hammered and, and that, that goes right into what we're talking about.
That it's almost accepted that well as Mar GRA you'll be fine and that it's okay to just go and, and drink and party. and I don't think, you know, and then we are talking about all the, you know, with alcohol being the, the third leading cause of death, but nobody will take really takes it that seriously.
Yep. You know, there's a huge problem with underage drinking in this country, and I'm not gonna say I didn't partake in underage drinking. We all did. And then, you know, you look at college and how it's drinking is glamorized and the amount of drinking I did in college. And then it just kind of snowballs into your real.
and all of a sudden, you don't know how to do anything without drinking and you get to a point where, you know, we were, and granted I get it. Like, I was probably a little bit more predisposed to alcoholism as it kind of runs in the family as a lot of people do. But some people don't, you could still, you know, I could probably make somebody an alcoholic if I said, Hey, I'm gonna teach, you know, make you drink every single day, give it enough time that person's gonna be an alcoholic, whether you know, it's in their DNA or not.
Yeah. The poor habits that we tend to develop in high school and in college being surrounded and at being so romanticized, they're very easily translatable into the quote unquote, real world. So to your point, you're exactly right. It's you stop college, you get your degree hopefully, but those bad habits are very hard to break.
And so you just bring it on to the next phase of life. And I remember, you know, I'm sure most of us. You know, like whether it be the dare program or different programs that would come into our elementary schools or our middle schools and say, you know, they'd hammer in that don't do drugs and don't drink, and this is bad for you.
But we were so little at that time, we weren't even exposed to it really, for the most part. I mean, with the exception of a certain amount of people. Yeah. I remember like the dare coming in when I was like in third grade. Yeah. Like I didn't even know what the hell drugs were. We didn't care then, you know, I don't know what it is.
I don't know what pot is and it needs to be addressed at a later time in life. I think. We just grew up and we got into the mix and that was that we know we didn't have anybody to tell us. I mean, did you Tru cuz I honestly, I truly didn't know about alcoholism until I realized that I couldn't quit drinking.
Yeah. Yeah. And then I quit drinking for a little bit. And then I was like, oh, it'll be okay to go out and have a couple of beers. No, I wasn't like, I didn't know that. And it's taken me getting sober for the third time now and going through a rehab process to learn about alcoholism and it shouldn't take all that to.
Figure out what we know about it and it's a disease. Yeah. And how it affects it. Cuz nobody talks about the negative side effects other than, oh, you might get a DUI or you do dumb shit when you're drunk. Yeah. We hear the worst cases and that's all well and good. But I wrote off most of the things that I heard about alcohol alcoholism.
Not that I didn't believe that it was true, but I never believed that it could happen to me. And, and it took until I actually me actually experiencing it myself to. Oh, my goodness. This is a real thing. And, uh, one more point to the college, uh, that you're talking about colleges, and I'll leave it at. This is we kept talking.
I, I thought about this is we kept talking about, this is a drinking school. These are top party schools, but let's take a step back. What college is not a party school. And that shows well, well, like with the exception of what by. And Liberty university, right? I mean, Mormon and Christian schools like that, they don't allow the Christian, but, but it's very Mor few and far between is my point.
And so he's saying this is a big dream of school. Well, they all are. Yeah, that is college. And so I just wanted to make that last point is you can't escape it unless you're going to a, an incredibly strict private school that doesn't allow it on campus, that you're probably paying $50,000 a year and you can still get it.
And, and you're rebellious and you probably are still gonna get it just like we were in high school. Look at any movie that deals with high school kids or college kids. They always revolve around alcohol use. They look like they're 30, cuz they are . Well, yeah, there's that, that the casting thing, but they always, they always revolve around.
Drinking and it's a comedy and it's funny. Oh, everybody drinks. Ha ha ha. And of course, you know, , , if you're a normal person and not an alcoholic, I guess maybe, you know, you could kind of see it's funny and everything.
You know, drinking like that leads to issues down the road and it leads to alcoholism. I still think some of those movies are funny. I do too, but they're great. Project X was, uh, I mean, that was, I was actually just thinking project tax, you know, 5,000 people at that party, but everyone wants to live that life.
Right. It looks it's exhilarating. The original in betweeners, it's like a British, like coming of age sort of thing. Well, these really awkward guys, but yeah, they do a lot of drinking in that. Well, I was thinking back to, you know, one of the original college movies, animal house. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that was, you know, it's American pie.
They go off to the college trip and they're drinking with all the college. Well, even in the high school, they're, they're drinking and again, Great movies, but it does still, like you said, romanticize alcohol. Yeah. Well, it doesn't show the parts where they wake up. I mean, yeah. They're like hungover and it's funny, but what doesn't show the, the other, what the reality of what it actually would be, and that's a failing liver or incredible anxiety and bad relationships.
I mean, it, doesn't really hard. That is just a funny stuff. Or even at that age, you know, being too hungover and calling in sick to work or missing class, Or missing a paper that was due or, you know, bombing a test because you're supposed to study the night before they never show those negative side effects anything or in high school getting suspended from, you know, your football team or baseball team or basketball team, because you got caught drinking.
mm-hmm they never show any of those things that happen all the time. They just show the nerdy guy getting laid by a really hot, you know, woman. And you're like, oh yeah, I, I wanna be that guy, you know, I just need alcohol. Well, they don't another thing they don't show the shame that comes with like some of the really embarrassing things that you do well drinking.
, you know, like in, especially in comedy movies, like, uh, somebody does something like really embarrassing, like it's kind of funny. The character gets over. in reality, like you do something like that, you know, you can you feel it for a minute? And like there's things that I didn't in high school that I still look back on in a cringe at.
A hundred percent. Yeah. And in college and, you know, outta college, there's a ton of stuff that I look back and gr I mean, we told a few stories at the end of last episode about, you know, just some of the dumb stuff you do when you're drinking. Like I said, looking at text messages the next morning. I mean, that's that sucks.
You know, you, you do things that are embarrassing and you're right. The media and society doesn't portray the ugly side of alcohol, alcohol abuse addiction. Because whether you're or not, you're an alcoholic. Most people in college, teenagers in college years are binge drinkers abusing it, that and abusing at 100%.
And so whether you are by definition, alcoholic or not, you're still abusing alcohol and you're still making bad decisions. From that alcoholism. And again, nobody ever talks about that. Nobody talks about the negative aspects of it. I know an obscene amount of people that have been tested for particular diseases from drinking and sleeping around and again, in movies.
It's funny in reality, it's not funny at all. Well, how many kids. Have been, you know, or, or assaults or yeah. You know, premature pregnancies and they don't handle it well at all. And X, Y, and Z happens and they just create this life for them that they can't escape. and it just changes you forever. Yeah. And I wanna like with whether sexual assaults or, you know, fighting domestically, things like that, I don't wanna say that, you know, people don't go out and have a good time, but there are a certain sec, I think of society that when.
their brain does not react well to alcohol and they could be great people sober, but they get the booze in them. They become somebody completely different and then they make really bad decisions. And you just, you never know. And. You hear that all the time. I mean, every time you turn on the news, you know, especially if you're around a college town, there's always stuff happening with, you know, violent crimes.
Well, the sexual assault gets overlooked, like big time hundred. I, I don't think, uh, and, and the thing is a lot of the time the person being assaulted doesn't even realize that they were assaulted. Mm-hmm because, you know, there's sort of that disconnect between like, was I able to give consent? You know, like, oh, well I drink, I drink.
So therefore. I true. Like, it's like, it's my fault. Almost like they feel that guilt when in all reality, it's not exactly, it's not their fault whatsoever. Mm-hmm . And I was thinking about that, that swimmer from, I think it was Stanford where he raped that girl behind like a dumpster or something. And I was thinking about that too.
And it's like, you know, that guy's a scumbag. And, you know, obviously he a special place and help for that guy. Yeah. And, you know, I'm sure he was a scumbag in real life too, but then you add alcohol to it or not real life. Well, sober, real life. , I'm sure he was a scumbag too, but then you add alcohol on top of that and then he becomes a monster mm-hmm yeah.
I, , I wrote down a few fun facts, uh, for you guys that I, I did a little bit of research. , so there's five of them, , since this is. An American based podcast. A few of 'em are based on the us, but it's, uh, some of these are global before I say anything. I would like to cite my sources. No plagiarism here.
Dana point rehab campus, Huffington post, everyday health and ADT breathalyzers. Thank you so much for this information. Thank you for actually sharing your sources. That actually probably is a smart thing to do. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. We got you guys. We're not getting sued. uh, so fact number one, the alcohol industry is currently worth approximately $546 billion globally.
That number is expected to reach 736 billion by 2025. That's how exponentially the alcohol industry is growing. Well, I used to work in the alcohol industry. I was a sales rep for a beer distributor for, I don't know, eight years or so, uh, before I got into the line of work I'm in now.
And it's insane, you know, we talk about holidays. The amount of alcohol and beer that is sold during holidays is nuts. 4th of July, especially is just insane. We would, you know, I'd work a hundred hour weeks around holidays because you're just so busy. You're selling that much. Beer. And, and for me it was beer and the trends aren't going up and up and up and up.
I mean, year over year growth and prices are going up and sales are going up and it's just, it, it's just such a huge market and obvi you by being a beer. I mean, you can see it. But I would be in grocery stores, let's say, or a convenience store doing an order or something. And at seven in the morning, you get somebody rolling in grabbing beer with a shake.
It's probably me. Yeah. I was there too. So, you know, working in that industry, it, it is crazy. And it, those numbers do not surprise me. Right? Yeah. When I, when I played golf, uh, when I broke 90, I don't know if I remember if I told you guys that, but I did break 90 this weekend. I was playing. I was playing with a couple, um, VPs of a very popular grocery store chain in this area.
And they were just letting me know on the 4th of July, the day after there were two things that the shelves were almost completely clean. , and it was alcohol. The entire alcohol aisle would need to be restocked and hot dogs. I mean, and that's what it was. And it, it did not surprise me one bit. So you're absolutely right.
It's, it's, it's kind of a, it's kind of an epidemic, but did you break 90? I did break 90 Robbie. Thanks for asking. , it was really cool. I sun, a 40 foot put on the 18th hole. No big deal. Um, and if any listeners are in the Charlotte area, you want to get together for a little golf outing. just reach out to us.
Yeah. Bounce sobriety pod@gmail.com. We find us on Twitter. Keep going. Yeah, maybe I'll bring 90 again, uh, facts or excuse me fact. Number two 88,000 Americans die a year from alcohol related issues, which is the what number three leading cause of death. Number three, leading cause of death in America, you know, in what?
88,000. That's a lot. What's crazy about that. And. Don't get me wrong. I understand gun violence is very, very serious, but it's about what a quarter mm-hmm of alcohol related deaths. Yeah. And we're attacking guns, which I don't care, whatever I'll side you have fallen. I'm I don't really have a stance on it, but you look at everybody's the way we're reacting to gun violence right now.
And, , because any amount of. Unhostable deaths does need to be addressed. However, how often do you see people going after alcohol? Yeah, and we don't at all. And you know, you're looking at 88,000 people a year. Alcohol related deaths. Yeah. And a lot of those probably most of 'em are premature deaths. Yeah, absolutely.
And, well, I guess fact two a that I just remembered since you brought that up, the, I don't have the numbers, but I did read one of them, , something a little bit on teen alcohol related deaths. And the number is more than teen deaths with associated with all of the drugs in America, combin. Yep. And we talk about drugs in society and the war on drugs is the war on drugs.
Yeah, absolutely. But where's the war on alcohol that is truly killing all these people. Mm-hmm now granted we need to focus on drugs as well, because that is a problem that, you know, drug addiction, especially it ruins lives, but so does alcoholism and alcohol is very deadly. It's more deadly than drugs.
And I just don't, nobody knows that. I get it, but a lot of people die from opioids, opiates. Yeah. We have, yeah, very, very deadly. What is it? 90% of the opioids that are sold in the world are sold in America. Is that right? It's something wild like that. And we have the biggest opioid problem. Okay. Well they're both very dangerous.
Yes they're and they both. To be, but all I'm saying is why, you know, we need to put more focus on the, uh, drug epidemic, but we don't put any focus on the alcohol epidemic. Let's just cover it all. The, just don't do any of it. All right. Yeah. Like that's all I'm getting at. Yeah. Is, you know, you look at these numbers and we look at the people I've seen and my life.
How alcohol can't affect it and how deadly it is, but yet it's romanticized as we keep saying in society. Yep. Now I've lost friends to alcohol and I've lost friends to drugs. It's all bad. I mean, look at, I think we're on the same page. Yeah. Look at TV show mad men. You know, they romanticized every, every scene, drinking scotch and BBO.
Like, you know, I tried to emulate that when I had my office, I had Bourn and moms and a record player. I thought I was Don Draper. Did it work? It worked. Yeah. But if you're drinking, if you're drinking and they don't show that on the show as well, if you're drinking scotch like that every day, you're going to be a full fledge alcoholic.
And your life's gonna go to shed. Yep. Chain's smoking too. They were doing it all. Yeah. Um, okay. Fact, number three. alcohol abuse disorder affects approximately 17 million Americans, which is 7% of the population of this country. I have feeling that's low. I have a feeling is low too. Mm-hmm that's reported.
Yeah. I, I bet it's more 15. I bet it's doubled that. Oh yeah, no, I, I was thinking that, that that is what is, because. Proven before you admitted to yourself that you're an alcoholic alcoholic, and you'd go to the doctor and they'd ask how much you drink. Did you ever tell the truth on that one? I, I, I did. I said like one 10th of what I drank a hundred percent.
Yeah. Everybody does that. I would initially I would say enough to be like, yeah, I have a problem. Like a bit, I like a little bit of a problem, but, but I'm not drinking as much as I am. Yeah. Because then
they would make you stop. I didn't, I didn't wanna stop. That's true percent. I would say I, you know, I drank on the weekends mainly and I, you know, I was pretty heavy drink during the weekends, but I don't drink during the week. Yeah. Okay. They like I'm drunk now. Yeah. I'm hammered. I don't want them to, I'm not gonna lie.
I've went to doctor's appointments at my last like four doctor's appointments, probably me too calling me. They, they test your weight and your blood pressure. They don't test your soberness. Well, especially breathalyzer COVID hit and you had to wear a mask. I was like, oh, they nobody's can even smell it.
No, you hit an implant sight. , alright. Fact, number four, , in the U in the us from 2006 to 2010, there were estimated. There were an estimated 2.5 million years of total life lost due to alcohol. So when you take all the, like the premature deaths compared to the life expectancy that they should have had the alcohol related deaths, they aggregated that number for everyone throughout those four years.
And it equate, it equated to 2.5 million years of life. That is CRA. Is that annually? That that was, that was from a five year. Still so that, and that was, and by the way, keep in mind, this was almost 20 years ago and it's only gotten worse. So gotten worse if you took, especially throughout the pandemic, if you took from 2017 to 20, 22 and did this same number, it's gonna be higher than two and a half million.
Yeah. And I think we can get to, you know, with you just said over, you know, if you moved it up to now, you look at COVID and people doing their, the, Ooh, let's do happy hour via zoom, all this stuff. And drinking became a huge problem for a lot of people and with COVID and again, society thought, oh, it's no big deal.
Yeah. Yeah. If you, if you saw my alcohol related issues and it was a small Ember. And then COVID hit, you poured three gallons of gasoline on it. And that's what COVID did for me. And a lot of people, a hundred percent. Yeah. We went to rehab with yeah. Quite a few people. Yeah. I mean, that be, it was COVID.
Yeah. They just couldn't handle the, you know, being isolated and staying at home all the time. And you know, if you're not going to the office and you're working from home for the first time ever, and it's easy to open that fridge or open that liquor cabinet. And so, you know, that's another reason and, you know, I keep saying this, but another reason why there needs to be more focus on alcohol abuse, especially since we just went through COVID yeah.
It exacerbated the issue quite substantially. Uh, all right. Here's my last fact and the fact, and then we'll get into our fun little trivia, uh, number five, one in five of the top 100 country music songs. reference alcohol. So 20% of the, of country music references alcohol, I actually thought it was gonna be more than that, but that's still a lot.
Yeah. So you're just hearing it. If you're a country fan, especially being here in the south, that's it? I, mean's all, I talk about country music listened to everywhere and I would think it's when you said one of five and I was like, oh, that sound that high. But then when you say 20%, yeah, it just sounds more and you're just like, yeah.
Again, they talk about, you know, drinking. Summertime. Yep. Drinking your sorrows away or drinking for fun. Yep. And it's yeah, I've, I've been to, uh, my fair share of country concerts and was listening to, uh, about drinking while drinking my life away. I mean, getting, I mean, that's when the vacuum cleaner story, that was a country concert, so I'm not a huge concert goer.
I never have been, but I was talking to this guy at a meeting and he had went to a concert, like, I don't know, a day or two before. And he had only been sober for, I don't. Two or three months. And he went and got a, to get a water and they gave him a water and it came in a 24 ounce can like a beer would, but there was just no riding.
He's like, what in the hell is this? Like, you wanna talk about a trigger was one liquid stay hydrated? No, it was just water. Liquid death is like one of those waters. It's like constant. Looks like a beer. Can it does. It looks, it looks pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie, but I'm cool with my, uh, my deer park or whatever other water cheap water.
Yep. Um, alright, so I have three questions for you guys. I'm curious to see if you get the right answer, if you get it right. , You get a granola bar. I want a rice cake. That's okay. You can get a rice cake. That's the first thing I saw. , and by the way, if you are listening to this and you are one of these answers, , don't be offended.
This is just what I found online. So if you find me another answer, please send it to me. And yeah, if you wanna be mad, be mad at what were the five sources you got this information from Dana point rehab, Huffington post, everyday health and ADT ADT breathalyzers. All right. So they're the ones that met they're the, their research.
Yeah, don't shoot the me. Or just be mad at Carson, but don't be mad at me and me and pat. I can handle it. Thank you, Robbie. Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah. As long as you guys are good. All right. Number one. what is the drunkest country in the world? Oh boy, I'm going to say Scotland. Okay. And I apologize if I'm way off to any of her Scottish listeners, Russia.
Those are both very good guesses, but you are, you can, uh, geographically, you couldn't be more wrong Australia. Really? Yeah. it said Australia. I would not have guessed that. I don't think we have a listener for Australia lot. No, we do. We do. Okay. They were one of the first countries. Oh, okay. Yeah. Shout out to my Ossie mates.
, sorry, but yeah, you guys like your beer, you have more of an excuse. , alright. Number two. What is the drunkest city in the United States? is it a big city? I need some hints. It's going to be a big city.
All right. I'll give you one. Hint. There's a football team in this city. Neared your neared, your answers down to like 32 30. No, I wanna say Detroit or the bra Cleveland. No, I was thinking, well, you would think Vegas or new Orleans Buffalo, you know, you think Buffalo has got a pretty badass, so I'm gonna go with Las Vegas.
, You know what? I'm gonna go off my hometown. I'm gonna go off new Orleans. Okay. Yeah. Buffalo. Most broken tables. Yes. , but they're not the drunkest city in the United States. That is green bay, Wisconsin. Okay. I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Wisconsin. I, Minnesota, that area is, are, are very heavy drinkers. Yeah.
So. Well, the Milwaukee close by. They know it's obviously famous for, you know, it's cold for brewski in Chicago, too. Yeah. And you know, the weather sucks up there. And I know when I lived in New Hampshire and the weather sucks, I mean, drinking people drink very, I think new Hampshire's up there is one of the highest drinking states because the.
It's depressing. You know, it is cloudy. The weather sucks, Nevada, the highest state, it gives you that false feeling of, of warmth. It does well. And then, you know, you said Nevada and I guess Las Vegas per capita, Las Vegas is another issue of romanticizing partying. Everybody thinks, oh, Las Vegas. It's so great.
And you're expected and never. Yeah. You're, you're expected to go there and gamble and drink and do drugs and whole process. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's crazy. Yeah. I've never been there, but you, you look at movies, you look at people that are going their bachelor parties, bachelorette parties of just they're going there for.
100% pure DeBary and everybody's like, oh, it's Vegas. What happens? Vegas stays in Vegas. Yeah. Another reason of society just turned an blinded, die to alcohol. Another movie, the hangover. Yeah. Classic. Absolutely. Yeah. And talking about the negative decisions that you can make on alcohol, think of what all can happen in Vegas, you know?
By over drinking overspending, doing unsavory things with women or unsavory things with men, you know, it it's just, but nobody bats an eye at it. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody says, oh, it's so great. I went one time. It was for a work trip. So I didn't, I didn't really get out and, uh, spend too much time, you know, in the, in the nightlife.
But even during the day the CORs were filled. Oh, I'm sure. And it was shocking. Alcohol lowers your thought process and intuition. And gives you a higher risk of making very bad decisions and some of those bad decisions you cannot take back and they can be life altering.
But look at the movies. Look at TV, look at commercials. Look at ads. Everybody's smiling at us. Have a good time. Go out and get hammered. You'll be fine until you're not. Yeah. All right. So here's my last question. What is the world's most popular alcohol? Part two is how many leaders of this is consumed on a yearly basis?
I would say vodka. Is that what you're asking? Like just one brand like a brand? Yeah. Yeah. Like a type of alcohol, right. Um,
beer and alcohol one soon? Like, is that. I was thinking beer, but then you said being away, given I was given the way that you just like acknowledged that I'm gonna go with, I would think vodka and yeah. When you said a measure to do with Russia, cuz it's such a large amount of people and it's very commonly drink there.
Okay. Well pat and Robbie, you have both earned yourself a rice cake. Oh. Because it is vodka and there are 5 billion liters of vodka consumed on an annual basis. That's a lot of vodka. Yes, it is. That is, that's a lot of vodka, unbelievable amount of vodka. Yeah. I, I was never much of a liquor drinker. Um, you know, I wish I could say the same, you know, I had my moments, but, um, you know, I, I like to drink all day long when I drink.
So mm-hmm, , that's why I just stuck to beer, I guess. And, and here's another crazy part because again, I think society kind of. Makes it seem like this. I thought I was fine because I only drank beer. I couldn't become an alcoholic and that's false. Anything will get you there. You know, so I didn't mean we didn't mean to be kind of Debbie downers on this episode, but I mean, just kind of speaking the truth of, if you look at society as a whole, how we glamorize and romanticize alcohol and.
The statistics behind alcohol abuse don't lie, right? It's very deadly alcohol with responsible consumption. There's zero problem with it, but it is very hard for a very, a vast number of people to treat it responsibly. And the three people in this room have all struggled with that. And that is the point we are making.
And, you know, would it say 17 million people? in America. Yeah. On record, on record. Yeah. Which so call it 30 million or whatever. I mean, whatever arbitrary number you wanna throw out there, struggle with their drinking. Yeah. And you know, and you look at 88,000 people a year who. Die from alcoholism. Again, many of them are dying prematurely.
Yeah. Um, you know, and, and you looked at that statistic over a five year period from 20 years ago, where 2.5 million years were lost off of average, you know, life expectancy. I mean, those numbers should scare people a little bit, but they're not widely available. I mean, I've never heard any of those numbers really.
And that's because we hide 'em, but. We look at, you know, we pick and choose, I think a little bit as a society of what we take serious and what we don't in alcohol. We don't, and I'm not saying alcohol needs to be banned or anything. I just think we need more education and information on alcohol abuse and, and truly what can happen with it.
And that's why we're here. Hopefully that, you know, if, if you know somebody that is younger, That's in high school or college, you know, give them this episode to listen to maybe, maybe it'll make some sense to them or have 'em research, you know, alcohol abuse, things like that. So, you know, the it'd be nice as a society if we could start lowering some of those numbers.
Yeah. A lot of this stuff. And, and I think the issue is it's swept under the rug because of money. That's all it is. Because if you think about it, we are all very aware of the top. I call it 10 15. You know, leading causes of death and we are making conscious efforts to prevent that, you know, heart disease is number one, heart disease is very serious and I almost lost my father last year to a heart attack.
So I've seen it, I've seen it on the front lines, I've experienced it. Um, and in no way, shape or form, should we, you know, take our feet off of the throttle to prevent all of these, so with all of this said, I'm in no way, shape or form advocating to take our feet off of the throttle to prevent any of these other chaotic and detrimental issues that are causing death around the world. However, alcohol, as I said, has been swept under the rug because it would take, I mean, look at these numbers, almost a trillion dollars of revenue.
On a yearly basis out of the cycle. And so that is why, oftentimes we are not addressing this and we are not looking at the problem and doing something about. I think of the local news and how stories are very personal and local news, and that's all they get big hits and a lot of people tend to like local news more than national news, , cuz of how personal it is.
I think it's important that we normalize recovery. , I, we normalize our personal struggles with alcohol in order to make it like, make it easier for people to relate. , I think that's sort of the way that. You know, we can hit people's emotion. All right. Awesome. Yeah. You good? Yeah. I'm good. So Friday we are releasing our first interview episode.
And so check that out. It's gonna be awesome. We're also gonna start doing wait one or two times a month. We're gonna start reviewing, uh, books, um, regarding.
Abuse or substance abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental health issues, probably as well. Personal growth may be a little bit if it pertains at all. Yeah, absolutely. Um, whether mainly probably books and some documentaries, things like that. And the first book we're gonna do will be alcohol explained by William Porter.
Um, so if you wanna read that ahead of time or, you know, get the audio book and listen to it, you know, and then get our thoughts on. Awesome. Cause we'll, we're all three gonna read it. And then probably in two weeks, two and a half weeks from now, we'll do, uh, we'll do an episode talking about that. And if you have thoughts, uh, if you're, if you're gonna read along with us or watch along with us, and you want us to share maybe some of your thoughts, cuz there are gonna be things that people think of that the three of us don't.
So we, we, we welcome that. Please send us your, you know, any, any takes that you got from it, any, you know, little nuggets that you were able to get out of it cuz maybe we missed it. And so please share that with us and we'd be happy to discuss it on the episode that we go through it. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, if you have any suggestions or books that you guys have read that you would love to hear us talk about, feel free to send them over again.
You can find us on Twitter and Instagram. , I think it's just at 12 ounces of sobriety. You can find a, or you can email us at 12 ounces, sobriety, pod, gmail.com. , we have a Facebook page. I don't use it. I don't know if any of us do, but maybe one of these days we'll get onto it. But yeah. So mainly Instagram and Twitter.
Uh, check us out there. Send us an email. Again, very excited. We'll have the interview out on Friday with a therapist that we all know and, um, that's gonna be exciting. And then we will go from there. So thank you everybody. That's listen. Appreciate the support. Go down like and review. And in the review, tell us how many days sober you are and shoot us any questions or emails or comments.
And everybody is appreciated. Have a wonderful day voyage.