Obviously not not just the US. Drinking "culture" is too ingrained in our everyday lives. Alcohol addiction is totally normal, socially accepted and legally encouraged. I was appalled when our city allowed drinking alcohol in some of our parks as a Covid-19 measure to give people an alternative to drinking in restaurants or pubs. It makes me so sad that we realize we have a drinking problem and our solution is to give people spaces outside to indulge. In parks, right next to playgrounds. People here in Canada often point to Germany or Europe in general and say, well they're doing it and it works. No it doesn't work. Germany has a massive alcohol addiction problem, you can see it in families, at festivities but also in public. Sure it's nice as a young adult to be able to get alcohol 24/7 from a Kiosk or gas station but it's really is a symptom of a gigantic problem.
America has a drinking problem
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Re: America has a drinking problem
#12What are we trying to escape?
The regulators and bureaucrats.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#13Obviously not not just the US. Drinking "culture" is too ingrained in our everyday lives. Alcohol addiction is totally normal, socially accepted and legally encouraged. I was appalled when our city allowed drinking alcohol in some of our parks as a Covid-19 measure to give people an alternative to drinking in restaurants or pubs. It makes me so sad that we realize we have a drinking problem and our solution is to giv…
Lots of countries have an obesity problem, but the solution isn't to outlaw eating food in parks. If you are sitting outisde with friends having a beer shouldn't be a criminal activity. Addicts need help, and the justice system cannot offer that. Let the majority of the population who can control themselves live a normal life.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#14I am not a heavy drinker, but one thing I noticed having moved around to a few places is how much everyone in my age group drinks(30's to mid 40's). I have gotten to know many a neighbor and they are all working professionals like me and I am just shocked that having 8-10 drinks a night seems like it comes standard for a Friday/Saturday night. I thought that it was just one location, but I moved twice in the past 2 years and at each location the same behavior. It seems really unhealthy and is everywhere(CA North and South) and Colorado) which is worrisome.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#15What are we trying to escape?
Our deeply unnatural existence staring into glowing rectangles 8+ hours per day.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#16The statistics about alcohol consumption are so stunning that I often wonder how accurate they are. If these numbers are correct, the top 10% of alcohol drinkers consume the equivalent of 10 drinks per day : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think... The unit for a single drink is a fixed measurement, so someone pouring a tall glass of wine or a very stiff drink could be consuming 2-5 “drinks” in…
Honestly, as someone who has 2-3 drinks per day, I've always been more surprised by the amount of people who basically don't drink at all. In that chart it's over half of Americans.
Travel a bit, any you'll quickly discover that a couple drinks in the evening is basically normal in much of the world. I'm not arguing that it's healthy (it's not), but the median American really doesn't drink much - our Puritan values run deep.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#17Obviously not not just the US. Drinking "culture" is too ingrained in our everyday lives. Alcohol addiction is totally normal, socially accepted and legally encouraged. I was appalled when our city allowed drinking alcohol in some of our parks as a Covid-19 measure to give people an alternative to drinking in restaurants or pubs. It makes me so sad that we realize we have a drinking problem and our solution is to giv…
Lots of countries have an obesity problem, but the solution isn't to outlaw eating food in parks. If you are sitting outisde with friends having a beer shouldn't be a criminal activity. Addicts need help, and the justice system cannot offer that. Let the majority of the population who can control themselves live a normal life.
Can the majority of people control themselves though in the view of social normalisation of a poison like alcohol?
The very fact that you (as do most of us) consider it a "normal life" activity indicates a very skewed and unhealthy perspective has taken hold at a fundamental level.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#18The statistics about alcohol consumption are so stunning that I often wonder how accurate they are. If these numbers are correct, the top 10% of alcohol drinkers consume the equivalent of 10 drinks per day : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think... The unit for a single drink is a fixed measurement, so someone pouring a tall glass of wine or a very stiff drink could be consuming 2-5 “drinks” in…
Honestly, as someone who has 2-3 drinks per day, I've always been more surprised by the amount of people who basically don't drink at all. In that chart it's over half of Americans. Travel a bit, any you'll quickly discover that a couple drinks in the evening is basically normal in much of the world. I'm not arguing that it's healthy (it's not), but the median American really doesn't drink much - our Puritan values r…
As someone who doesn't drink more than 2-3 per week and have in the past been in the 2-3 per day category, perhaps it's related to age and/or kids. When kids were tots, I couldn't afford the time to socialize, and now I'm older, consumption has dietary/sleep impacts and I can't afford that too much. Also weirdly I simply don't enjoy the buzz as much.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#19The statistics about alcohol consumption are so stunning that I often wonder how accurate they are. If these numbers are correct, the top 10% of alcohol drinkers consume the equivalent of 10 drinks per day : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/09/25/think... The unit for a single drink is a fixed measurement, so someone pouring a tall glass of wine or a very stiff drink could be consuming 2-5 “drinks” in…
The average of the top 10% of anything is going to be absurd compared to the population average; probably around 2 standard deviations over the mean. If you looked at the average caloric consumption at the top 10% of people, you'd probably find the amount similarly unbelievable. Ten drinks isn't that much hard liquor: it's about 450ml. That's a little more than a can (392ml).
> Ten drinks isn't that much hard liquor: it's about 450ml. That's a little more than a can (392ml).
Sure, the volume isn't unfathomable. But most people drinking a Mickey (13 ounces ~ 9 drinks) would render them useless.
Re: America has a drinking problem
#20Obviously not not just the US. Drinking "culture" is too ingrained in our everyday lives. Alcohol addiction is totally normal, socially accepted and legally encouraged. I was appalled when our city allowed drinking alcohol in some of our parks as a Covid-19 measure to give people an alternative to drinking in restaurants or pubs. It makes me so sad that we realize we have a drinking problem and our solution is to giv…
Lots of countries have an obesity problem, but the solution isn't to outlaw eating food in parks. If you are sitting outisde with friends having a beer shouldn't be a criminal activity. Addicts need help, and the justice system cannot offer that. Let the majority of the population who can control themselves live a normal life.
I'm not suggesting outlawing. I'm suggesting no longer supporting. Looking back at the smoking problem, to me it seems that we managed to "fix" by doing exactly that, no advertising in public spaces, no smoking in public spaces. Make it less "normal", less convenient to do something that's objectively harmful to you and a burden on society.