<p>It is interesting looking at the stats, and what it suggests is that binge drinking is a problem in Europe, though the statistics don’t necessarily make a statement one way or the other. Some of the countries where underage drinking is common don’t have a much higher rate of binge drinking then the US, others have significantly higher ones so it is hard to tell a correlation either way. </p>
<p>I am not going to argue that the 21 age to buy alchohol is a bad thing, having been on a rescue squad when the drinking age was 18 I saw far too many kids messed up or killed because they drank and took out themselves and others to argue that one. I think limiting access made a big difference and as much of a libertarian as I am on things, I think it does make a difference. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I find things like the first chart they gave upsetting, because that ‘have you had a drink in the last 30 days’ is without context of what the drink was and how it happened. In many of the countries mentioned, having wine or beer with meals is still pretty common, but we are not talking getting drunk either. With younger kids, it tends to be wine diluted with water or a spritzer , it is only in the teen years that wine or beer is probably drunk in my experience and it is usually in the context of family meals. My problem is that survey assumes that is the same thing as the kid chugging six pack or drinking hard liquor, and it betrays to me the Carrie Nation, demon rum argument and that is hogwash. I have seen this all over, when my son was young my wife went to a liquor store to buy some beer and wine, we had guests coming over, and my son was helping push the cart like kids love to do (my wife was right there, and we are talking when he was 4 maybe?), and the owner went nuts, because in our fair state he could face penalties simply because the kid touched a cart with booze in it, and that is asinine. </p>
<p>Whether or not learning to drink at home is effective, I think part of the problem with liquor is that there is this schizophrenia out there about it, rather then treating it as it is, something that can be abused but also can be a regular part of life without causing destruction. We have a mass culture that celebrates drinking in many ways, not just advertising, but people’s stories and such, yet we also tell kids it is something to be feared or a taboo. The “just say no” policy is just as stupid as abstinence only, the kind of education they supposedly give about alchohol in school is all about the horrors of drinking, not the reality, they treat having a glass of wine with dinner the same as taking out a fifth of Vodka, and that is a recipe for disaster and like the old movie “Reefer madness”, it is idiotic</p>
<p>Not to mention what do kids see with adults? What are the numbers of binge drinking among legal adults? If adults are all so responsible, how come a good number of adults drink and not a little bit? And how does that influence what kids do? This isn’t just the US, mind you, people mention Northern Europe, the UK and Ireland or Russia, and guess what, folks, in those countries adult drinking is pretty heavy, in the cold northern climes it is a big activity and the old British Isles is pretty bad. My point being that if you want to stop binge drinking then maybe the adult culture needs to change, there are a lot of adults and parents who are doing exactly what we don’t want kids to do. Yes, making access harder helps, but if we are really worried about it, maybe adults need to model better behavior, too. Cops don’t have massive anti drinking and driving efforts out there on Super Bowl Sunday or New Years because adults are so responsible…</p>
<p>In terms of the whole thread, I tend to agree the zero tolerance approach is way off the deep end, common sense seems to have gone out the window. When I was growing up in the late 70’s, when there were kids caught with booze, the cops would take it away and give the kids a warning. I had one case where I was with a friend in my car, visiting some friends of his at a parking lot, and the cops showed up. Unknown to me, someone had put a case of beer in the trunk of my car when the cop showed up (easy to do, was a convertible and the trunk release was right there) cop ended up searching it (with my permission, since I didn’t know), and found it. I told him honestly it wasn’t mine, and he simply took it (sure the cops probably had a toot on it), and that was that. If that happened today, I am sure they would make a federal case out of it, I think the cop back then suspected I didn’t know what was going on but today? As they say on the Sopranos, fugedaboutit…I often wonder if maybe we didn’t go so far over the top, some of the glamour of drinking wouldn’t go with it <em>shrug</em></p>
. 15 years ago I wouldn’t have even thought twice about her packing a real butter knife in her lunch bag.</p>