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Colorado’s quiet killer: Alcohol ends more lives than overdoses, but there’s been no intervention

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

Colorado consistently has one of the worst rates of drinking-related death in the country, but alcohol hasn’t gotten nearly the attention devoted to other drugs. In this four-part series, The Denver Post investigated why so many Coloradans are dying from drinking, and what the state could do in an effort to reduce the number of people lost.By the most conservative measures, alcohol kills nearly as many Coloradans as drug overdoses. When counting deaths from chronic conditions caused and worsened by alcohol, drinking’s toll far exceeds that of illicit drugs.Deaths from drinking shot up since 2018, but during that time, Colorado didn’t take steps designed to change that trajectory, like raising alcohol taxes. The only major changes in liquor laws during that time expanded where residents could buy alcohol.The months-long investigation included interviews with dozens of experts, families that lost loved ones, people in recovery from alcohol addiction and groups trying...

Colorado alcohol deaths surged 60% in 4 years, but there’s been no public outcry or push to save lives

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

Fatal drug overdoses had been slowly rising for a decade, but when the number of Coloradans killed by fentanyl soared during the first two years of the pandemic, state leaders, law enforcement officials, public health managers — even ordinary people — called for drastic action.Hoping to stem the loss of life, lawmakers took the controversial step in 2022 of making it a felony to possess even a small amount of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for most of the state’s fatal overdoses.Schools and colleges began stocking the overdose-reversal medication naloxone. Families and friends of people killed by fentanyl rallied for more treatment resources. Nonprofits conducted educational campaigns about the dangers of counterfeit medications, advising “one pill can kill.”Colorado’s quiet killerAlcohol-related deaths in Colorado spiked during the pandemic, and the state ranks as one of the worst for deaths due to drinking. In this four-part series, ...

Turning skiers into soldiers: New exhibit tells the singular story of Colorado’s 10th Mountain Division

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

The saga of the 10th Mountain Division “ski troops” who trained for mountain warfare at Camp Hale near Leadville during World War II, and their subsequent combat heroism in northern Italy, has been told many times through movies and books.The Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail has helped keep their memories alive for five decades with artifacts, dioramas, photos and films, in part because 10th Mountain veterans helped found dozens of U.S. ski areas after the war including Arapahoe Basin, Aspen and Vail. In fact, Camp Hale is only 10 miles south of Vail. Last year President Biden visited the site when he formally designated it the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument.But there is still more to tell, and it is on display in a new 5,000-square-foot exhibition, which opened in November on Veterans Day, at the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver. “Winter Warriors: The 10th Mountain Division in World War II” is the first exhibit set in History Colo...

Alcohol addiction treatment is available in Colorado, but people struggle to get the help they need

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

Warren Musselman credits his post-alcohol life to two things: finally finding a program that offered counseling he could connect with, and deciding he just couldn’t suffer through withdrawal again.He’d already cycled through detox centers 27 times.“For me, what finally took is that I got sick to death of going through detox,” Musselman said.Withdrawal from alcohol is an uncomfortable process at best and can be dangerous without the right medications. Musselman, of Estes Park, said it was only during his last stay that he received help to understand why he drank, and learned how to cope when he went home. Before that, he had only encountered 12-step programs, which he found overly rigid.“You’ve spent years not having any other tool (than alcohol) to deal with that depression or anxiety, so you use that tool even though it makes things worse,” he said, adding that he learned other options in counseling. “Stopping drinking doesn’t f...

Am I drinking too much? Here are two ways to find out

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

If you’re wondering whether you’re drinking too much, the answer might depend on whether you’re thinking about your long-term risk of disease, or about whether your relationship with alcohol is becoming unhealthy right now.The U.S. Dietary Guidelines are based on reducing the risk of long-term health problems, like an increased risk of multiple cancers, diabetes and liver disease. They offer you a relatively simple answer, with a daily maximum allowance for cisgender men and women. (The guidelines don’t specify what transgender people should do.)The question of whether alcohol is playing an unhealthy role in your life isn’t as straightforward, though, and is based on how well you’re functioning, rather than a drink threshold.One rule of thumb is that alcohol is a problem if a person has injured themselves or someone else while drinking, or if family or friends have expressed concern about the person’s alcohol use, said Dr. Joseph Schacht, wh...

It was almost curtains for a Boulder theater company, but new leadership has changed that

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

When Jessica Robblee and Mark Ragan sat down in the airy lobby of Boulder’s Dairy Arts Center last month to discuss their first season as the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s producing artistic director and managing director respectively, it had been nearly a year since co-founders Stephen Weitz and Rebecca Remaly announced their departure.The arrival of new artistic director Jessica Robblee (left) and managing director Mark Ragan is the kind of kismet worth applauding. (Michael Ensminger, provided by BETC)In December 2022, the fate of one of the area’s finest theater companies was in question. The notion that BETC (or “Betsy,” to its patrons) would be no more was dismaying. Not only were BETC’s productions crisply crafted, they also were cast with some of the area’s best actors.After 17 years, and post-pandemic, Remaly and Weitz, the parents of a young son, were worn out. As theater artists, they also wanted to explore their creativity in fresh ways.Their BETC work remained exper...

Colorado has some of the lowest alcohol taxes and highest drinking deaths. That’s no coincidence, experts say.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

Colorado’s taxes on alcohol are among the lowest in the country, and even though the state consistently ranks as one of the worst for drinking deaths, lawmakers have shown little interest in making beer, wine and spirits more expensive.The state also taxes alcohol at a significantly lower rate than other “sin” products, with customers paying almost $2 in taxes on a pack of cigarettes — more than 20% of the cost, on average — compared to about 18 cents in taxes on a case of beer, or less than 1% of its cost.Taxes clearly aren’t the only important factor, because some higher-tax states, like Alaska and New Mexico, still have elevated death rates. But experts say raising the cost of drinks is one way to curb consumption, along with reducing the number of locations selling alcohol and changing social norms around drinking.Colorado’s quiet killerAlcohol-related deaths in Colorado spiked during the pandemic, and the state ranks as one of the worst...

Beer and wine became more widely available in Colorado even as drinking deaths rose

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

Five years ago, a workgroup tasked with finding ways to reduce Colorado’s rate of drinking-related deaths — among the highest in the country — issued a simple recommendation: cut back on when and where people can buy alcohol.Since then, however, the state has only expanded access to alcohol, and may do so again when the legislature reconvenes.Coloradans voted in 2022 to allow grocery stores to sell wine, three years after they authorized full-strength beer on the shelves. Ahead of the 2024 session, the state’s Liquor Advisory Group recommended lawmakers extend the hours customers can drink at Colorado bars and restaurants by creating a “soft last call,” where final orders must be placed by 2 a.m., but people have until 4 a.m. to finish their drinks.Colorado’s quiet killerAlcohol-related deaths in Colorado spiked during the pandemic, and the state ranks as one of the worst for deaths due to drinking. In this four-part series, The Denver Post ...

 Global Trade Braces for Unprecedented Geopolitical Challenges in 2024

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

“The red sea situation is acute, but not chronic for shipping” says Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange The shipping industry looking forward to up their game in ‘risk assessment and scenario planning’, ‘diversification of routes and suppliers’ & ‘regulatory compliance’ in 2024 as a response to geopolitical risksShipping professionals see ‘associated costs’ as the biggest headache in ‘24 due to geopolitical unrestBRICS expansion to lead polarisation of global tradeContainer xChange, a leading online container trading and leasing platform, releases its New Year’s Edition Container Market Forecaster, shedding light on the escalating geopolitical risks set to reshape the landscape of global trade in 2024.In response to these geopolitical risks, the majority of shipping professionals surveyed in the month of December 2023, by Container xChange, are gearing up to enhance resilience through strategic initiatives like - ‘risk assessment and scenario planning...

Cannabis Enforcement: How Will The Murder of an Oakland Police Officer Change It?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:43:38 GMT

The California cannabis industry is still in shock from the death of an Oakland Police officer last Friday.Officer Tuan Le was part of an overnight operation targeting the frequent break-ins facing Oakland on a nightly basis, many of them targeting the cannabis industry. The task force was responding to the second break-in of the night at the same distributor. That was three hours after they had cleared it following the initial robbery. While exiting the dispensary, the robbers opened fire on the unmarked police car Le was in with his partner. Le was hit, and fellow officers put him in the back of another police vehicle and rushed him to Highland Hospital. He died a few hours later. The California cannabis industry had grown accustomed to waking up to the news of who had been hit overnight with separate crews targeting it all over the state. But the news of a police officer losing his life in the line of duty while responding to a robbery at a dispensary hit like a shockwave. Especi...