Getting Help When You Need It

I love movies from the 1950s and 1960s. A night with Turner Classic Movies is a total win for me. And while some movies today with their digital enhancements are interesting, give me a classic from 50+ years ago and I’m happy.

One of my favorites is Robin and the Seven Hoods. Starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Laufer, Sammy Davis Jr, and the incomparable Bing Crosby, it’s a musical comedy spoof on the gang-related wars of Chicago in the 1920s. I’ve seen it 1000 times. In it, my favorite song is done by Bing Crosby, entitled Mr. Booze. The song is a rhythmic, choral number on the harms of alcohol. I can sing every word. However, I may never look at or listen to that song or that scene in the same way.

Just recently, the Iowa governor’s Office for Drug Control Policy released a study on deaths related to alcohol. During the pandemic, Iowa reported a 20% increase in 2020 and more than a 20% increase in 2021 in alcohol-related deaths. Many of these appear to be related to self-inflicted wounds and the murdering of another party while intoxicated. Some included murder-suicide. One fact really stuck with me. It seems those who are heavy drinkers two or three years ago have become heavier drinkers….exponentially so.

Iowa is not alone. If you look at the neighboring states of North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and others, all report similar challenges.

I don’t want to blame alcohol as much as I want to recognize and realize that people are unhappy, desperate, and need help. Alcohol may be the means for something bad to happen, but it was the mental, emotional, and physical challenges of the pandemic, financial strain, relationships ending, etc. that drove people to drink more. How do we help these individuals? How do we help our society?

I so applaud the NFL, in particular, but other sports leagues as well, who have begun to open up about mental, physical, and emotional challenges their players have. These big, strong, invincible athletes admitting that they need help. That’s good for society because we all could use assistance. Some need it now, some need it later, some need it constantly. But it shouldn’t be a stigma. Getting help so you don’t hurt yourself or someone else should always be seen as a positive. If more people knew of the help or weren’t afraid of getting it, maybe next year we could have a decrease in the similar statistics that Iowa (and other states) released on alcohol related deaths.