# Don't trust someone who doesn't drink

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-trust-someone-who-doesnt-drink/766972>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 26, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-trust-someone-who-doesnt-drink/766972 "2016-09-26T20:36:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-trust-someone-who-doesnt-drink/766972/61 "2016-09-30T00:29:22Z")

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> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> From time to time we hear about rock musicians who overdose on some drug–heroin, cocaine, etc. (cases in point: Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix…)  
> So far as I know, Keith Moon of The Who is the only rock performer who has drunk himself to death.  
> Have there been other well-known ones?

Moon didn’t actually drink himself to death, although his alcoholism was a factor. He overdosed on Heminevrin (clomethiazole), a sedative that had been prescribed to help him deal with the effects of alcohol withdrawal.

Many have pointed out the irony that it was seemingly Moon’s attempt to sober up that killed him after he’d survived years of heavy drinking and drug use, but according to biographer Tony Fletcher neither Moon nor his physician had behaved responsibly. Heminevrin is dangerous if mixed with alcohol or if taken in large doses and wasn’t considered a good choice for outpatient use. As anyone familiar with Moon’s lifestyle might have predicted, he wasn’t successful at abstaining from alcohol or sticking to the recommended dose – he died after taking more than 30 pills when he’d been instructed not to take more than three a day.

As for people who did drink themselves to death, Wikipedia has a [List of deaths through alcohol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_through_alcohol).

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-trust-someone-who-doesnt-drink/766972/62 "2016-09-30T04:20:00Z")

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There were some names on that list that surprised me…I wonder if Mickey Mantle drank as a result of so many injuries that he suffered during his playing career. ☹

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