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.”