Tuesday, March 19, 2024

DUI News Blog

The Latest DUI News and Information From DUI Defense Attorneys Across the Country

New Study Published: 20% of Deaths of Young U.S. Adults Caused by Excessive Alcohol Consumption

Classic Martini Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

On November 1, 2022, the JAMA Network Journals of the American Medical Association published an article suggesting that an estimated 20.3% of deaths among adults aged 20 to 49 years were attributable to excessive alcohol use and that greater implementation of evidence-based alcohol policies could reduce this proportion.  During the 2015-2019 study period, the average deaths of adults aged 20 to 64 years was lower–only 12.9%, but still a number that is far too high if the study’s conclusions are accurate.

Of course, there was a wide range of alcohol–attributable deaths across the country. The range was from 9.3% of total deaths in Mississippi to 21.7% in New Mexico.  Deaths due to acute conditions were calculated using direct alcohol-attributable fractions (AAFs) for select acute (e.g., injuries) and chronic (e.g., cancers) conditions based on high blood alcohol concentrations (e.g., ≥0.10 g/dL).  Interestingly, the legal (per se) limit of blood alcohol established for driving under the influence in 49/50 states is .08%.

So how is “excessive alcohol consumption” defined?  In summary, the researchers estimated deaths due to excessive alcohol consumption; therefore, “for chronic conditions, the adjusted prevalence of medium (>1 to ≤2 alcoholic drinks for women or >2 to ≤4 drinks for men) and high (>2 alcoholic drinks for women or >4 drinks for men) mean daily alcohol consumption … were applied to relative risks to generate cause-specific AAFs.”

As a general rule, a “drink” is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor. Although other studies indicate that regularly consuming a moderate amount of alcohol may be beneficial for one’s health, it appears it is important not to overindulge for both health reasons and legal reasons.


About the Author: Steven Oberman has been licensed in Tennessee since 1980, and successfully defended over 2,500 DUI defendants. Steve was the first lawyer in Tennessee to be Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. (NCDD). Among the many honors bestowed upon him, Steve has served as Dean of the NCDD and currently serves as chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DUI Committee.

He is the author of DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee, updated annually since 1991 (Thomson-West), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor of the national treatise, Drunk Driving Defense, 9th edition (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen).  Steve has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993 and has received a number of prestigious awards for his faculty contributions.  He is a popular international speaker, having spoken at legal seminars in 30 states, the District of Columbia and six foreign countries.  After being named a Fulbright Scholar, Steve was honored to teach as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Latvia Law School in the capital city of Riga, Latvia during the Spring Semester of 2019.  If you would like to contact the author, please visit his website at www.tndui.com.

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Steve Oberman

Steve Oberman

Since graduating from the University of Tennessee Law School in 1980, Mr. Oberman has become established as a national authority on the intricacies of DUI defense law. Steve is a former Dean of the National College for DUI Defense, co-author of a national treatise ("Drunk Driving Defense" published by Aspen/Wolters-Kluwer), and author of "DUI: The Crime and Consequences in Tennessee" (published by Thomson-Reuters/West). He has taught thousands of lawyers, judges, and members of the general public about the intricacies of this crime. Steve was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to teach American Criminal Law and American Trial Advocacy at the University of Latvia School of Law in 2019; in 2023 taught for a semester as a visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Faculty of Law in Budapest, Hungary; and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law in 2024. Steve has also presented at a number of judicial conferences in the United States and Canada as well as for law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Czech Republic Police Academy. As a Tennessee DUI attorney, Mr. Oberman has successfully defended over two thousand clients charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In 2006, Mr. Oberman became the first DUI lawyer in Tennessee to be recognized by the National College for DUI Defense as a Board Certified Specialist in the area of DUI Defense law.

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