Drugs, despair, and sugar: Americans’ lifespans keep on shrinking

Published November 29, 2018 5:19pm ET



For the first time in a century, American life expectancy has declined for a third consecutive year in a row. The evidence is clear: America has an addiction problem — not just to opioids and methamphetamine, but also to sugar.

The Journal of the American Medical Association found that amphetamine-caused hospitalizations more than doubled in the past decade, a startling spike that’s been largely overshadowed by the opioid crisis that’s ravaging the country. Drug overdoses altogether in 2017 killed over 70,000 Americans. For reference, the entirety of the Korean War killed 54,246 Americans. The Vietnam War killed 58,209.

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