WOMEN
double those of women with an estimated 97 in 2015.)
Angel Lash, a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor with the WestCare Foundation, said that though she hasn’t necessarily seen an increase in clients over the past three years, she has noticed that drinking has become a part of mainstream culture with T-shirts, accessories and social media memes promoting the “wine life.”
“There’s still room for education that alcohol use can be dangerous and that you can, in fact, have alcohol addiction even though you’re socially drinking or binge drinking,” she said.
Constance Scharff, research director at Los Angeles alcohol and drug treatment center Cliffside Malibu, said drinking has been socially acceptable for years, but there are other reasons that more women are drinking — and dying from its complications.
The 16 years during which the Post analyzed the data were tumultuous in the United States, with events such as the Sept. 11 attacks and the Great Recession, which likely resulted in a loss of hope among many people and an increased propensity toward alcoholism.
Middle-age women with jobs and careers and homes are not immune, Scharff said. Tudor can relate. She says childhood in the small community of Hale, Michigan, was “amazing,” eschewing the stereotype that alcoholism stems from early unhappiness. She says she alone takes responsibility for her actions.
Though she smoked pot and drank beer in her teen years, Tudor’s addiction sparked when she moved to Laughlin in her 20s and began working as a cocktail waitress, drinking often, she says.
“It was really normal for me to stand at the service bar and a girl would bring me two drinks,” she says.
Tudor and her then-husband, who met in Laughlin, struggled with marital problems, moved to Las Vegas in 2008 and separated shortly after.
That’s when Tudor, who had a young son at the time, sought out ways “just to have fun” and when her addiction to drugs — opioids and meth — began. She had a second son about six years ago, and the pain stemming from the pregnancy deepened her addiction, she says.
“I didn’t want to do it every day, and every day we would get high and we would say, ‘This is the last time.’ ”
When her second son was taken away by Child Protective Services in fall 2013, she knew she had to do something.
“WestCare got me on my feet,” says Tudor, who is a member of the organization’s alumni team. She also credits Narcotics Anonymous for helping her get and remain sober.
Now a medical massage therapist, Tudor says she tries not to be judg- mental of people who drink heavily.
“There’s a difference between someone who needs alcohol and someone who wants it,” she says. “You just have to keep an eye on it.”