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I thought that alcoholics often die, and then turn blue.

That has nothing to do with being an alcoholic. The other ten victims turned blue before surviving. The mislabeled sodium nitrite interfered with the normal carrying capacity of hemoglobin, the special protein in red blood cells, for oxygen. So the one person who died was chemically suffocated. Here's a link

ME: I thought that alcoholics often die, and then turn blue.

Neverdem: That has nothing to do with being an alcoholic.

Keywest: Ron was making a funny, and a good one too.

Well, actually there is more to that story. Within the last several months I had a horrifying series of experiences with an alcoholic roommate that also has a serious drug abuse problem.

He drank himself into a stupor (like he did about every night), and then took a number of sedative pills. Later, I learned that the sedative pills, I do not know exactly what, but some sort of relation to Valium, when combined with alcohol, suppress the breathing mechanism.

He didn't get up for work the next day, and later his dog suddenly made a HUGE fuss from his bedroom. Thinking that he was simply to lazy to let the dog out to relive himself, I opened the door, and saw my roommate lying on the bed with a distinctive bluish tint, especially on his lips.

I did chest pounds to get him breathing again, frantically called 911, and the medics were able to revive him, and so he lived to drink again.

Later, he did it again, but not to the point of cessation of breathing. Later, I had to drag him to bed, and later to the bathroom, since he was no longer able to walk, not wanting to call 911 AGAIN! (The hospital bill from LAST time was not yet paid off, I doubt it ever will be.)

A couple days later, when he came to, he said, "Someone must have slipped something in my drink!"

Rather soon after that, I found another place to live, and moved out, I simply could not deal with that situation.

That is why I was under the impression that:

Alcoholics often die, and then turn blue.