Just in time for New Year’s Eve — a.k.a. Amateur Drinking Night — the OLCC has released yet another PSA, this one featuring the message “Binge Drinking Doesn’t Start With A Drink. It Starts With An Excuse.” The video lists four presumably common excuses for drinking too much, though frankly I’ve never heard another living soul say them, not even a variation of them. I’m not saying the excuses aren’t something to avoid — they are — but they don’t seem all that reasonable to me. Perhaps I don’t hang around with enough binge drinkers, despite theoretically being one myself (at least at every five-course or more beer dinner I attend, since the federal definition is absurdly five drinks in a row). As a result, like their other PSAs, it appears well-meaning but unintentionally a little funny. I’m of the opinion that people who want to binge drink don’t need any made-up excuse. They do so for their own reasons, no excuse necessary.
And frankly, this needs to be said. If someone wants to drink a little too much on occasion — such as a holiday celebration — I say they should be able to, provided they don’t drive or otherwise put others at risk. As the saying goes, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Now that’s pretty funny. Someone in the marketing department must have been sitting around trying really, really hard to come up with *SOMETHING* to put in this ad. I’ve actually heard some variant of a few of these in college. Although, it was usually said in jest, rather than as an excuse for the extreme drinking we were doing. Why were we binge drinking? Because we could, no excuse needed.
The last time I binge drank was in October in London and it was because the craft ales I was drinking on the pub crawl were so fabulous and there were so many that needed to be tried. My friend took me on a CAMRA inspired pub tour, and we were both on public transport, so we indulged to our beer tasting delight!
Jay,
Fantastic write up on a clearly very serious issue. Sometimes serious celebration needs to be indulged in- take the case of a holiday- and I love the humor you bring to the subject. Just in time for America’s “National Hangover Day,” but, with public transportation, the drunken masses can all get home safely. Let’s face it: America needs more, better, transport. We’re going to send people into space before we fix our infrastructure. Places in Europe have different problems but America has a significant issue with binge drinking because it is partaken in by those who don’t know how to have 5 drinks in 5 hours and not be drunk (always consume food AND water if you can while you’re drinking). Consider America’s coffee consumption next to Italy’s and the differences there. Mr. B, as always, good stuff sir.
Amen to Jay & to both commentators. I did my share of “binging” (10+ over a night) in my DC-area college & post-college days & sometimes had to drive home after (once 15 miles from a party w/one eye closed to keep from seeing double, going the speed limit +/- 5 mph). 1970’s, there were 30-40% fewer cars on the road than now, & public transit wasn’t an option. MADD didn’t exist, & cops cut you slack if you were polite, weren’t OBVIOUSLY drunk (as in slurred speech), &/or within a few blocks from home.
Now, patrol cops in highly-populated areas/states can’t cut slack – there’s too much pressure to up the citation/arrest numbers to generate revenue/make their bosses look good. Unless the cop who stops you knows you personally & has a favorable opinion of you, or already has signed up to retire & wants to make life easy on (him/her)self, you’re likely up merde’s creek if you’re stopped & have noticeable alcohol on your breath.
New Yrs Eve is the universal “Amateur Night” for drinkers. In big metro areas where there’s a big Irish influence (such as NYC, Boston, DC-Baltimore corridor, & SF), St Pat’s Day (which happens to be my birthday), certainly ranks a close second.
I’ll soon be 62, & until my docs tell me I have a condition where I have to “give it up” or cut it down seriously, I’ll be exceeding that outlandish “binge” definition most days I’m alive & kicking. I’ve lived in the East Bay for 32 yrs (14.25 in an apt in Oakland that was a 10′ walk from 19th St BART; the rest in a hose in Richmond Annex that’s 5′ drive/15-20 min walk from El Cerrito Plaza BART – these days I drive). I wish BART would operate 24 hrs, even at 30-minute intervals midnight-5AM.
When I have to drive to a heavily alcohol-infused event, I’m far more diligent about how much I drink than I was before I hit 50. For SF Beer Week events, public transit access (& finance$) are the prime determiners; I’m single & don’t have a DD available.
D(U/W)I is a serious issue, but, as Jay has often mentioned or aluuded to, “PC” has trumped common sense – to the benefit of local govt coffers, lawyers, & insurance cos. Unlucky working stiffs who get temporarily careless/stupid in view of “the man”, get stopped for a “fix-it” ticket (which doesn’t happen much in these short-budget days), or drive into a holiday weekend “stop everybody” zone after a night out w/their pals, get screwed.
Use the breath mints when you’re driving under whatever influence, & be super-nice to the fuzz should you be stopped. And hoist one to B-movie critic Joe Bob Briggs for his DAMM (Drunks against Mad Mothers) creation – I miss his column that was in the “Pinkie” section of the SF Chron for years; he also had a gig on TBS or AMC in the mid-late 90’s commenting on & introducing such flicks.