Here’s a perfect illustration of why we desperately need alcohol education for our nation’s youth. I’m sure that neo-prohibitionists will read this story and view it as a vindication of their draconian policies of abstinence and keeping the minimum drinking age the highest in the civilized world.
Yesterday in Boulder, Colorado, a dozen college students from the University of Colorado gathered at a local residence with cheap beer and other alcoholic beverages to wile away the late summer weekend. They put up a sign on a pole facing a busy thoroughfare that read “You honk, WE DRINK.” Cars passing the group honked en masse, causing police to show up because of complaints about the noise. Their response was interesting. As one member of the group, Lauren Boyd, described what the police said, they told us. “I like your style, just be more quiet.” They were also told they were on the “edge of legality” because of their proximity to the sidewalk. The group was instructed to back up and quiet down. They complied, changing their sign from “You Honk” to “Give Us the Finger.”
The brouhaha continued another five hours with passersby flipping them off with glee the entire time. The police did not return because, in their words, “they were on private property and of legal drinking age, [so] the party was allowed to continue — sign and all.” Surprisingly enough, I’m probably in agreement with the neo-prohibitionists that this is not a responsible way to use alcohol. We part company, I suspect, on why. To me it points out the need for education about alcohol before young adults are set loose in the world, often for the first time in college. If children were allowed to sample alcohol under the supervision of their parents in the home (which in most places is illegal), with other responsible adults (ditto) or were allowed to begin legally drinking earlier, by the time they were living on their own, the taboo associated with suddenly being free would be far less likely to lead to this type of binge drinking.
Boulder is also, ironically, the home of the Brewers Association, a trade group that looks after the interests of the nation’s small brewers. For this somewhat embarrassing display of youthful exuberance to have occurred in their backyard makes it doubly clear that the current policy regarding youth and alcohol is not only not working, but is more than likely exacerbating the problem by using a foolhardy all or nothing approach and ignoring the value of education. Once kids reach college age knowing absolutely nothing about the effects of alcohol it’s easy to explain such binge behavior because they’ve never seen responsible drinking and are completely unfamiliar with it, thanks in large part to the efforts of the anti-alcohol elements of our society. A little knowledge might go a long way to raising more responsible children into adulthood but as long as that’s not permitted, we’ll continue to have college binge drinking. And not coincidentally, neo-prohibitionists will continue to have something to point to in furtherance of their agenda of keeping the minimum drinking age at 21, ignoring the likely cause that it’s their own efforts that continue to make binging a problem.
As usual, enjoyed the post Jay. I agree that demystifying drinking and breaking down the taboos is one step in the process, but at the same time the attitude to drinking conveyed by the parents is also important. We experience very similar behaviour here in Australia despite the legal drinking age being 18 and the laws being less rigid than the States. Here the Federal Government has launched an anti-binge drinking campaign to counter the level of drinking. I don’t know how successful it will be, or whether it is government window dressing or actually something of substance, but they have been running some ads that I think illustrate one of the issues involved quite well. You can see the ad on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJNNtsJmZb4.
The problem with the behaviour that you described in your post above, is that a good many of us have been those kids. I would hate to look at footage (thankfully there isn’t any) of some of the drinking behaviour that my friends and I engaged in in our late teens and early 20s, but I would hate even more for my young daughters to see it when they get older and think that it was acceptable behaviour. As much as I would distance myself from it now, it is hard when you catch up with your mates from those days not to engage in a little “do you remember the day that…” and celebrate exactly that behaviour, or look at those kids you wrote about and not think back fondly on your own experiences at that age. Which is what I am sure these kids will do in 20 years time when they have responsible jobs, families and are possibly “drinking less, drinking better”, which is my motto these days.
But by celebrating our own youthful drinking – and it seems harmless – we send a powerful message about it being ok. It’s not just about demystifying the drink, it also about not revering and celebrating the excessive use of alcohol – which is a cultural change that will be very hard to bring about because we are all responsible for it.
Apparently the students at the University of Colorado are upset that their school was #13 on the list of top party schools this year. They used to be #1 in the nation but slipped due to some crackdowns recently involving the football team and other events. But yes, these students need to get an education as well as some better beer to drink. Drinking to get drunk is something you have to get sick at over and over before it finally sinks in that perhaps you shouldn’t do that. DOH!