Nothing to do with self-harming, which is a dark topic about which I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough to discuss.
Lately, I've seen a few comments, references, forum posts and status updates that seem to suggest that we should accept obesity, despite the fact it's more deadly than drug dependency or alcoholism. This trinity of substance abuse (food, drug, drink) has become so widespread as to almost seem normal - what was previously overweight is now the norm, people get away with drinking amounts that would've raised eyebrows not long ago, and certain drug use has become acceptable.
In my previous post on this topic, I referred to a statistic that food, drug and alcohol abuse account for 80% of the NHS's budget. Recently, I talked about this topic and was curious enough to find out how much that is:
The NHS budget last year was £110bn
The number of tax payers in the UK is approx 29m
That's £3800 every year for each taxpayer towards food, drugs and alcohol abuse.
Next time you're asked to tolerate obesity, binge drinking or substance abuse, remember how much these people are costing every one of you £10 a day.
These people are wasting YOUR money!
Addendum - this doesn't include the cost of promoting good eating habits, policing, alcohol-fuelled criminal damage, thieving by drug users to fund their habit, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment