I've come to know Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, in recent years as he released one mental health oriented advisory after another, focusing on loneliness, opioid overdose prevention, anxiety and depression among teens, depression among parents, the harmful influences of social media and the dangers of firearm violence.

Now, as he prepares to leave office, he has released an important and final advisory connecting alcohol use and cancer. 

These advisories are all connected around a central theme − that we are a stressed out and unhappy society, where too many people feel isolated and resort to destructive behavior as a result.

I have interviewed Dr. Murthy repeatedly on these subjects, and I have come to see him as a thoughtful and caring physician, well equipped to guide Americans in terms of both causes and solutions.

He has not chosen alcohol by accident. Its use skyrocketed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Studies have shown that this increase is tied to an increase in anxiety and depression.

And alcohol use causes........

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