News Category Archives | Granite Recovery Centers

Does Alcohol Cause Cancer? Understanding the Risks

Keri George — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:03:47 +0000

Alcohol is a preventable cause of 100,000 cancer cases and about 20,000 cancer deaths each year in the United States. But less than half of citizens know that alcohol can heighten the risk of certain cancers. This substance doesn’t only negatively affect the liver or cause poor judgment—The 2025 U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory shows it can damage DNA and lead to cancer. That’s why intervention and alcohol rehab are crucial to overall health.

How Alcohol and Cancer Are Connected

When you drink, your body diminishes alcohol into harmful chemicals. Acetaldehyde, one of the most common chemicals, damages your cells’ DNA. Your body also gets inflamed trying to process alcohol, all while harming your cells and proteins. It’s this precise effect on the body’s major building blocks that can make an individual more vulnerable to developing cancer.

Common Cancers and Alcohol Use

Let’s move past the medical jargon and talk about specific risks alcohol abuse can have. Drinking can trigger cancer in several places. Some are more common than others, and knowing the risks is crucial to intervening and getting healthier sooner rather than later.

Is Pancreatic Cancer Alcohol-Related?

When you drink, your pancreas has to work double-time making enzymes to help break down alcohol. This extra work causes inflammation and damages pancreas cells. Over time, alcohol also creates those harmful chemicals that build up in your pancreas. These chemicals prevent damaged cells from repairing themselves properly, raising the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Can Alcohol Cause Colon Cancer?

Alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde, which directly damages the inner lining of your colon. This chemical irritates the cells and stops them from fixing damaged DNA. Alcohol also keeps your colon from absorbing folate, a vitamin that normally helps protect against cancer. The more you drink, the more these effects exacerbate, leading to cell changes that can evolve into colon cancer.

Are Alcohol and Throat Cancer Linked?

Compared to the colon and pancreas, your throat takes the most direct hit from drinking. As alcohol passes through, it dissolves the cells lining your throat. When your body breaks alcohol into acetaldehyde, this chemical builds up in your throat tissue, damaging cell DNA. Plus, alcohol makes it easier for other harmful substances to get into these damaged throat cells—that’s why drinking and smoking together are particularly dangerous.

Reducing Your Alcohol-Cancer Risk

While thinking about serious health concerns like cancer and how addictions like alcoholism can affect it are scary, there’s hope. It’s okay to be nervous about getting help. With our help at Granite Recovery Centers, you or your loved one can understand and overcome your alcohol addiction.

We provide safe, evidence-based therapies to ensure recovery lasts. By mitigating the risks of alcoholism, you can help lower the chance of cancer. After all, your or your loved one’s health is important.

The post Does Alcohol Cause Cancer? Understanding the Risks appeared first on Granite Recovery Centers.

Presidential Candidate Visits NH Mental Health Treatment Center

Keri George — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:15:32 +0000

NH’s First Residential Mental Health Treatment Center for Men and Women

Canterbury NH – Granite Recovery Centers was pleased to welcome Presidential Candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for an important discussion focused on the mental health crisis and to learn more about our new residential mental health treatment program.

“I am pleased Governor Christie took the time to discuss the challenges of mental illness that are impacting so many Granite State families,” said Eric Ekberg, CEO of Granite Recovery Centers, “We hope other candidates take the time to educate themselves as well.”

After touring the facility, Governor Christie participated in a round table discussion with members of the Granite Recovery Centers leadership team. Following the roundtable, Governor Christie offered a call to action.

“As far as I’m concerned, the mental health crisis and the substance misuse that often follows is the public health issue of our time,” Said Christie, “We need to do better, and I thank the people at Granite Recovery Centers for being the tip of the sword in New Hampshire.”

For more information about our treatment programs, visit our website or contact us directly by calling 855.712.7784 or emailing admissions@graniterecoverycenters.com.

Media Contact: Josh McElveen | Cell: (603) 540-7031

The post Presidential Candidate Visits NH Mental Health Treatment Center appeared first on Granite Recovery Centers.

South Shore Drug Task Force & the Opioid Epidemic

Keri George — Mon, 13 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Here, we had the pleasure to sit down with Lt. Detective Patrick Glynn, who has a lifetime of experience in narcotics and as a police officer. Lt. Glynn talks about his history with South Shore Drug Task Force in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Lieutenant Detective Patrick Flynn: I’ve been in narcotics for 25 years. I’ve been a police officer for 33 years. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, we were part of the South Shore Drug Task Force. And it worked very well. We were strictly enforcement level. After a period of time it began to dissolve, and it lay dormant for a few years. We came up with the idea to be the host community here in Quincy and revive it and get every community that feeds in to Quincy District Court to be part of it, so that the officers – much like a force multiplier – where a smaller community may only have one or two drug detectives, now they have fifty. It just seemed to make sense.

Coming Together to Help Tackle the Problem

We pull resources to go out on the street and to enforce laws, but also to identify people that have a substance use disorder. We give them a card with a program from our district attorney’s office in Norfolk County. This allows them to go to Bay State Community Services, which is our outreach program, and which gets them free services, allows them to enter into an inpatient program, or whatever services they need. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all. It’s custom-tailored to their specific needs. We work independent from each other as separate police departments and drug control units. But when the need occurs, we all pull together. If the need arises, if there’s an investigation going on, what we end up doing is we pull resources of four or five communities–or all eight communities if necessary–to handle that situation. And then we adjust to what that specific department needs.

Moving Forward to Save People

In 2017, we had 32 deaths. But we went from 361 overdoses to 277 in ‘18, which was a pretty significant drop. But again, it’s getting the education out there and then you gotta maintain it. Otherwise we’re gonna slide back and we’re gonna see more deaths. The National Office of Drug Control Policy at the White House deemed us an advocate for action back in 2013 and stated that we were the pioneers of Narcan. I’d like to think – hope – that we might be the pioneers in just gathering information together, helping people, no matter what community they’re from. And move forward for the end result of saving people.

Watch the full video:If you or a loved one would like to discuss admissions, or have questions about our drug rehab treatment programs or philosophy, please give us a call today at (855) 712-7784 or send us a message online.

Call (855) 712-7784 for Immediate Help

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