“… an Oxford University study, showed that over 11 years or so, suicide from Tylenol overdoses declined by 43%.”
Amazing! A 43% reduction in suicides! How on earth did they manage that? Very easily, in fact. They just stopped selling Tylenol in bottles and started putting them in those little pill packets that are such a pain in the ass to open. Maybe you wouldn’t think that somebody so despondent that they want to die would draw the line at reaching for a pair of scissors and cutting some plastic, but the figures don’t lie.
So what about guns? So many Americans kill themselves with guns. What could we do to make them slightly less accessible? Think about gun safes or trigger locks, for instance. Maybe searching around for the key or trying to remember the combination (especially when you’re drunk, as many suicide victims are) is just enough to give you the pause that refreshes your sanity. And as an added bonus, it just might save the lives of your kids too!
Of course I won’t suggest that we try to rid our society of the catastrophe of weapons inflicted upon us by greedy corporate interests. That would be throwing out the baby with the bloodbath water.