Don Russell's Joe Sixpack column in the Daily News today is about a new idea at Syracuse University to stop underage drunkenness: The Stupid Drink. It introduces students to the concept that they should stop drinking once they reach The Stupid Drink: the one that's too many, the one that makes you...stupid.
It's brilliant in that it admits that college students drink, often when under the legal drinking age; and it doesn't preach abstinence; and it avoids the stupid "binge drinking" phrase, which as currently 'defined' by the New Drys makes pretty much every college student who drinks a binge drinker. (Of course it does...that makes the problem look worse and keeps the grant money flowing (hey, if the New Drys can attribute everything the booze industry does to money-based hypocrisy, turnabout's fair play.))
Good idea; good piece. Go read it, there'll be a quiz tomorrow.
5 comments:
REALLY good idea, REALLY good piece. Nice work, Don! Thanks for the link, Lew!
Seriously. Link this up with the Amethyst Initiative, and you've got something.
American drinking laws are medieval. I strongly feel that introducing alcohol in a responsible manner to our kids at a relatively young age will take the forbidden fruit aspect away. I would go so far as to say grade schoolers could have a bit of diluted wine with a meal. Also being a responsible parent means not abusing alcohol in the home. Going away to college opens up a new world to our kids and most of this world has severe negative implications if you child chooses poorly.
I think underage drinking is stupid.Honestly, if you look everywhere, you won't see a smart alchool-adicted person. And i'm talking about high addictions, not one or two drinks. The sooner we give kids drinks, the sooner they get high adictions. Then our countries look like dumb. We can't think of ourselves, we must look forward.
P.S.-I'm portuguese, so excuse my mistakes. And sorry if i insulted any of you guys
I'd disagree with some of that. There are plenty of "high-functioning alcoholics," very smart people who are drunks, but manage to get a lot done despite that: Winston Churchill comes to mind. But studies indicate (not "prove" or "show"; indicate) that very young drinkers probably become addicted because of a predisposition to addiction, not because someone gave them a drink at a young age.
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