Especially combined with the current college system, which makes it trivial to obtain alcohol.
I was going to write a long thing examining my experiences with alcohol, but it boiled down to this: The combination of the novelty and the college environment led to a lot of binge drinking. Now that I have experience with it (and a job to wake up during the week for, ugh), I'll very rarely chug half a bottle of vodka just for fun.
Very rarely? Only on special occasions! Universities in the UK (well, the ones I've been to definitely, and I'm fairly certain it's normal) have Student Unions where the booze is SO cheap it's ridiculous. Or you have stupid promotions of getting a free shot with every drink.
If alcohol was introduced to kids earlier, it wouldn't be a novelty. There'd be less excitement in breaking the taboo, less idiot 18 year olds puking in bushes, and just less irresponsibility in general.
Note that I don't think it would decrease alcohol USE. It would just decrease irresponsible binge drinking (considering that I've seen "binge drinking" described as having more than 2 drinks, I felt the need to make the distinction. Responsible binge drinking does not end in puking in the bushes, it just means you probably shouldn't drive at the end of the night.)
Yeah I don't think it helps calling more than 2 drinks or whatever binge drinking. Pretty much everyone I know is a binge drinker under that definition but generally they're pretty responsible and tend to avoid vomming and the 'probably' you put to not driving at the end of the night scares me a little
TOES
*MySmiley*
*MySmiley*
Alcohol
12/10/2011 10:05:34 AM
- 703 Views
It is an interesting article.
12/10/2011 12:22:11 PM
- 484 Views
I strongly believe that (in the US) the high drinking age causes more harm than good
12/10/2011 03:00:45 PM
- 422 Views
Yeah
13/10/2011 10:17:30 AM
- 550 Views
The distinction between drinking and drunkenness is an important one, but she seems to minimize it.
12/10/2011 03:03:58 PM
- 527 Views
She makes a number of good points, but I think she may go too far with them.
12/10/2011 02:49:55 PM
- 542 Views
This article is just a pile of shit for so many reasons I can't begin to count them.
15/10/2011 07:39:12 PM
- 399 Views