Minister Varadkar said: ‘Ireland needs to change its damaging attitude to alcohol. There’s a huge difference between having a drink on occasion with friends, and indulging in regular binge drinking.’
Alcohol is linked to cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx and oesophagus. If you drink and smoke your risk of cancer is even higher.
But it’s not just our physical health that can be negatively affected by the way we drink. It also increases the risk of damage to our mental health, as well as doing damage to relationships with family and friends.
- 88 deaths every month in Ireland are directly attributable to alcohol
- There are almost twice as many deaths due to alcohol in Ireland as due to all other drugs combined
- Alcohol is a factor in up to one third of all deaths by unnatural causes, according to statistics from one county
- Chronic alcohol-related conditions are becoming increasingly common among young age groups. Between 2005 and 2008, 4,129 people aged under 30 were discharged from hospital with chronic diseases or conditions of the type normally seen in older people
- Alcoholic liver disease deaths almost trebled (188% increase) between 1995 and 2009
See more at: https://alcoholireland.ie/facts/health-and-alcohol/#sthash.VGvWV36h.dpuf
