flâneur

Alcohol is the worst drug (when Americans drink it)

tanag.substack.com · 684 words · saved by 1 readers

By the time my former boyfriend’s little brother, E., hung himself, it made sense to my ex. “His kidneys were failing,” he said, matter-of-factly. His younger brother was in his mid-thirties. E’s family had worried he’d overdose on heroin. Instead, it was the alcohol they should’ve been worried about. In a last bid to save his life, his aunt and uncle decided to take him in. They knew he couldn’t quit drinking cold turkey so they limited his intake to ten beers a day. He died by suicide on April fools day of all days. “He never lost his sense of humor,” people said.

By the time my former boyfriend’s little brother, E., hung himself, it made sense to my ex. “His kidneys were failing,” he said, matter-of-factly. His younger brother was in his mid-thirties. E’s family had worried he’d overdose on heroin. Instead, it was the alcohol they should’ve been worried about. In a last bid to save his life, his aunt and uncle decided to take him in. They knew he couldn’t quit drinking cold turkey so they limited his intake to ten beers a day. He died by suicide on April fools day of all days. “He never lost his sense of humor,” people said. Research shows that…

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