Alcohol Use Stable Over Past 70 Years

Dear readers: Alcohol use is heavily connected to violent crime; more than any other substance. The connection is unremarkable noting the frequency of alcohol consumption; the more a substance is used, the more it will show up in crime statistics (this also applies to marijuana).

Please note that crime statistics increase and decrease from year to year (and over time the difference can be considerable). If the data below is correct, than obviously other forces beyond alcohol consumption are having an impact on crime rates and totals.

Drug use declined within the last decade with signs that it may be increasing lately for some groups, see http://crimeinamerica.net/category/drugs-and-crime/.

Crime in America.Net

Report:

Alcohol use among U.S. adults has remained relatively stable over the past 70 years, according to data from the Gallup Poll Social Series. Between 1939 and 2010, the percentage of Americans reporting that they “have occasion to use alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine, or beer” averaged 63%, ranging from 55% in 1958 to 71% in 1976-1978. Beer was the preferred alcoholic beverage over the time period, followed by wine and liquor. For example, 41% of those who drank alcohol in 2010 reported drinking beer most often, 32% reported drinking wine, and 21% reported drinking liquor. These trends are in contrast to those of smoking among American adults, which has decreased by one-half since 1944 (see CESAR FAX, Volume 17, Issue 34).

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