Comments on: Why Alcohol Doesn't Get A Pass

By: Jen McDaniel

Jen McDaniel — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:45:08 +0000

I’d like to post an insightful and fact filled comment, but the truth is I am too pissed off at that article to be eloquent. So I left the author a snarky comment. Sometimes I don’t act like a grown-up.

By: P. Fruit Trees

P. Fruit Trees — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:02:22 +0000

Thanks again for discussion on this topic. I often find myself at odds on how best to approach the many complicated facets that go along with consumption of alcohol in relation to minors. As a teenager, my father educated me by accepting my being a teen and simply insisted that any action I take that results in being placed in jail would be my own doing and no bail would be posted by him. Taking these risks one could argue I have no idea what those risks are, but ask anyone whose ridden a bicycle for the first time, or gone swimming and they too have no concept of what to expect. In either case I firmly believe that we will continue to have this dialogue so long as “alcohol related” deaths occur either behind the wheel of a car or reported after the results of a toxicology report prove to the effect.

Cheers and thanks,
FT

By: Brad

Brad — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:55:07 +0000

Good stuff, Jay.

I’ll just say that while you’re right in that alcohol does get a lot unfairly laid at its feet by the propagandists and sensationalists — and yes, we should fight that whenever it comes up — the fact remains that alcohol is essentially the world’s No. 1 vice of choice, and it does enjoy a decent level of protection because of that. I cannot imagine, for example, prohibition ever returning. We who like alcohol, even casually, just wouldn’t stand for it, and we are in the vast majority.

Alcohol often doesn’t get a pass but at the same time it does — at least where it counts. Contrast that with marijuana, a substance that I’ll go on a limb and say is responsible for far less injury, death and general impairment (even if it’s temporary) of the human species than alcohol. We could add to the list plenty of other substances — natural hallucinogens, for example — that decidedly do not get a pass, even though a strong case can be made that they are no more risky than alcohol — perhaps less so.

Don’t get me wrong — I say all this as someone who is quick to come to alcohol’s defense when misinformation and prohibitionist nostalgia come around. I just think it’s sad that we are so incapable of recognizing the actual risks that different substances offer, much less having an intelligent discussion about them.

By: J

Sat, 30 May 2009 17:50:10 +0000

I’ll accept that it is “a killer,” but a “big killer?” Big compared to what? I have two problems with saying it’s a big killer. One is that the way in which alcohol is linked to the statistics used to support such an assertion. I believe those statistics are skewed to support that conclusion and are not done in a fair or reasonable manner. Second, I believe the impression or perception of alcohol being a big killer is created by the media’s fascination with tragic stories to sell papers, advertising, airtime, get ratings, whatever. So we always see the worst examples and over time that creates a perception that such incidents are more common than in fact they really are. I’m willing to bet the “staggering impairment” being “huge” that you speak of is in fact a very small percentage of the total that’s been blown out of proportion to further an agenda. Do problems exist? Yes. Are there people who drive and have accidents who shouldn’t? Of course, and those people should be punished to the full extent of the law. There are already laws in place to deal with such issues. As for work productivity and social functioning, such people should either be fired if they’re not doing their job or ostracized by their peer group. In other words, they should be responsible for their actions. But what we tend to do instead is blame the alcohol and not the individual person abusing it. We accept the notion that they can’t help themselves. We accept that alcoholism is always a disease. And by doing so we go after the product that a small percentage don’t seem able to handle responsibly and try to punish everyone equally, even though the vast majority of adults is able to enjoy alcohol in moderation without burdening society. If we did that for everything, we’d raise the tax on fast food burgers because of all the obese people so even the skinny folks would have to pay through the nose. We could impose a sugar tax on soft drinks for all the health problems they cause (probably far more that alcohol if you think about how our unhealthy diets burden our health care system) so that even people who only have a soda now and then also have to pay an exorbitantly high price. Such examples sound silly, don’t they? That’s my point. That’s exactly what we do with alcohol. We highlight the worst examples of people abusing it and try to punish everybody along with the companies who make it to deal with that minority. But we only think that’s okay for tobacco and alcohol. Why? Again, it’s that underlying idea unique in American society that alcohol is inherently bad. People just accept that without questioning it and it leads to all sorts of nonsense.

By: bert peer

bert peer — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:59:28 +0000

Jay, I agree with you that alcohol does not get a “pass”. But make no mistake, alcohol is a big killer. If you include auto accidents, alcohol related illnesses as well as the staggering impairment on work productivity and social functioning the impact is huge.

I think the arguments against banning alcohol for the majority who use it responsibly are that it is one of life’s greatest pleasures and that it is so easy to produce privately, any attempts to ban it would be futile.

By: michael Reinhardt

michael Reinhardt — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:05:41 +0000

I’m in agreement with you Jay. I’ve heard the same sort of spurious logic used to compare smoking and drinking. It’s like you’ve (and we’ve said on our site) said, alcohol has some health benefits. What are the health benefits of smoking moderately again? Alcohol does get a pass, in my opinion. I think that higher taxes are so virulent to craft brewing (and beer in general) that it seriously puts brewing ingenuity and quality at risk. We really need people on the front lines to fight against this garbage. Did you know that heart disease kills more Americans than anything? Why aren’t we talking about extra taxes on fatty foods? I guess it’s never a fair, honest, or intelligent approach that people have to this stuff.