So I probably ought to mention again because this is maybe the biggest story in America,

a phrase that I use regularly and apply to all kinds of things, but this might actually

the annual deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide hit a record high in the most recent numbers.

And it's the right, not the actual total number. So it's not just about population growth.

We're killing ourselves through whatever kind of suicide or suicide through drugs and alcohol

slowly more than we ever have.

Yes.

You sense they've been keeping track of numbers and there's no reason to think it's ever been this high?

It's utterly clear that something awful is going on. It's wild to see a culture dying,

well, literally people are dying, but seeing a culture increasingly sick,

it's and becoming aware of it and trying to diagnose itself and doing a fairly poor job so far,

I think. One thing the media does, it's a common thing to do. It's a good, I don't know, shortcut

in a short article or a short broadcast to regularly mention where's the growth the highest? Well,

okay. So they're talking about the, it's grown the most among white, rural men, but it's up

among everybody. So to me, the fact that it's up among everybody, you got to take a broader look

because then they immediately go to the wilds. The jobs that have disappeared in the coal mine,

all this different sort of stuff, but it's up among everybody. It's among teens in urban areas

that don't have a job because they don't need a job. I mean, so it's up among everybody. Right,

adolescent girls, horrific numbers, horrific. Yeah. There's something cultural going on.

I think to blame it on a particular economic thing is we're going to miss out on what the problem is.

Right. Right. You know, that might be an ingredient in the stew, but I don't think it's the main

ingredient. Not if it's going up among everyone. Right. Right. Clearly. Yeah. It's, it's, and your

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