British Binge Drinking Crackdown
I fear we have exported our nanny state to the United Kingdom. There's going to be a crackdown on British drinkers this Christmas and New Year's Eve. Crackdown story here
I'm not arguing with this sentiment, from Richard Carborn, quoted in the article, "The message is stark and simple: if you brawl in the street, urinate in a doorway or are sick in the curb, you could be slapped with an 80-pound fine."
But I will argue with the branding of so-called binge-drinking as being pathological behavior by definition. (From the article "A public health definition of binge-drinking is the consumption of at least five standard-sized alcoholic drinks on one occasion." I will add that that definition is 4 drinks for women.) Let's be serious here: most drinkers have at some point had 4 or 5 drinks on one occasion without committing socially unacceptable behavior like getting into fistfights. Haven't we all gone to an afternoon backyard barbecue that stretched on into the night, and found that the end of the day brought a tally of 4 or 5 or even 6 beers? If you've been there for 8 hours, it's not that big a deal. No, certainly it's not something you want to do every day, but it is both possible and common for people to drink that much without being antisocial or unhealthy.
I'm not arguing with this sentiment, from Richard Carborn, quoted in the article, "The message is stark and simple: if you brawl in the street, urinate in a doorway or are sick in the curb, you could be slapped with an 80-pound fine."
But I will argue with the branding of so-called binge-drinking as being pathological behavior by definition. (From the article "A public health definition of binge-drinking is the consumption of at least five standard-sized alcoholic drinks on one occasion." I will add that that definition is 4 drinks for women.) Let's be serious here: most drinkers have at some point had 4 or 5 drinks on one occasion without committing socially unacceptable behavior like getting into fistfights. Haven't we all gone to an afternoon backyard barbecue that stretched on into the night, and found that the end of the day brought a tally of 4 or 5 or even 6 beers? If you've been there for 8 hours, it's not that big a deal. No, certainly it's not something you want to do every day, but it is both possible and common for people to drink that much without being antisocial or unhealthy.
1 Comments:
Here's some info on binge drinking, as a for-what-its-worth.
Fact Sheet: Binge DrinkingBinge drinking and substance abusePersonally, I think binge drinking is drinking way too much, on a regular basis. I don't count being at a bar for 8 hours, and have one drink an hour (total: 8 drinks) binge drinking.
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