STATE CHAMPS in a ‘dry’ county?

National alcohol study:

Area counties make top 10 list for increased consumption

LOUISA, Ky. — Ironically, on the day before stores in Louisa plan to begin selling beer for the first time since the 1940’s, a study has come out that Lawrence County already gets it’s share of alcohol somewhere.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation announced earlier this week that Kentucky was among the highest per capita comsumption of alcohol. And Lawrence county and several other of the eastern Ky. counties mentioned, has been “dry” since prohobition ended.

The Ashland Daily ran a story that said Lawrence County is the drunkest county in the nation. All this while alcohol sales were not permitted in the county. The analysts did not state any credentials in the article and they are not a government organization so the legitimacy has yet to be proved.  –M. Grayson

Here is the story from the Ashland Daily Independent:

By Lana Bellamy The Independent

ASHLAND — Compared to the rest of the country, Kentuckians have experienced a great increase in alcohol consumption, according to a study released last month.

Lawrence County was ranked as the nation’s top county for an increase in alcohol consumption among both males and females from 2005-12, according to research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation evaluating alcohol trends.

The Seattle-based organization conducted a nationwide study focused on alcohol consumption trends among all 50 states, and narrowed these findings into a county-by-county analysis.

Of all counties for all 50 states, nine of the top 10 listed for the highest increase in drinking were from Kentucky, most of which were in the eastern region of the state. The other county on the list was in Tennessee.

These Kentucky counties, in order of highest increase in drinking to lowest, were Lawrence, Martin and Elliott in the top three spots, and Knox, Martin, Muhlenberg, Edmonson and Lewis counties in the top 10’s last five slots.Lawrence, Martin, Morgan, Pike, Breathitt, Elliott, Knox, Magoffin and Johnson counties were all listed as part of the top 10 counties in the United States with the highest increases in drinking for women.

Lawrence, Martin, Elliott, Johnson, Knox, Harlan, Lewis Bracken and Edmonson counties were nine of the top 10 counties with the highest increases in drinking for men.Various levels of drinking for the study were identified and studied separately.

For instance, the study explained “any” drinking to mean the person has at least one drink of any alcoholic beverage in the past 30 days. “Heavy” drinking was defined as the consumption, on average, of more than one drink per day for women, or two drinks per day for men in the past 30 days.

“Binge” drinking meant consumption of more than four drinks for women, or five drinks for men on a single occasion at least once in the past 30 days.