While we have seen many different types of disfunction on Love and Hip Hop, occasionally the franchise takes on subjects that are meaningful.
One of the strongest storylines this season is looking at Lil’ Scrappy’s mother, Mama Dee’s current bout with alcoholism. In the episode, it is clear that her health has been compromised, and a huge part of her recovery is for her to stay away from liquor. While she promises to stop, even swearing to God that if she makes it through her surgery she will never touch a drink again, her son still is concerned.
And he should be concerned.
According to Alcoholrehabguide.org, alcohol is the “most widely-used drug” used in the United States and based on a Johns Hopkins study, 20.4% of Blacks in this country between the ages of 12 and 20 drink liquor in a month. That statistic is startling.
The study reveals that there are variables that add to the reasons why African-Americans drink. Some of them are minority stress, anxiety, and depression.
That research also shows that even though white people drink more, Blacks are more likely to have major health problems like cirrhosis of the liver. In fact, Blacks are 1.27 times more likely to get the disease than their white counterparts. They are also more likely to die of alcohol-abuse (10% higher), even with there being fewer people drinking in the country.
No wonder why Scrap and his wifey, The Bam are so concerned. Mama Dee has a huge battle ahead of her.
Tune in this season to see she sticks to her word and swears off the booze.
Viewers can tune in tonight for the season premiere for the Atlanta franchise (#LHHATL) on VH1 or check out any of the Love and Hip-Hop shows on the streaming service Philo: https://try.philo.com/. Philo provides entertainment, lifestyle and knowledge content via 58 channels from partners like VH1, MTV, MTV Her, BET, Lifetime, HGTV, Hallmark, Discovery, AMC, A&E, CleoTV, and Revolt.
