As fellow Dopers have pointed out, there is a difference between “drinking” and “drinking in excess”. I’m almost 24 and a social drinker.
Sometimes, I get tipsy, or even slightly drunk. Very rarely do I drink with the intention of getting plastered, although I sometimes did when I was an older teenager & in my early (earlier?) 20’s. Why? Probably because drinking was new to me, tipsiness felt good & I wanted to see how good I could feel without paying for it the next morning. Did I sometimes do stupid things while drunk? Yes. Did I ever do anything I seriously regret today? Nope. I stuck with my friends & we kept each other from getting into trouble.
Only once, a year ago, did I keep drinking after I knew that I’d reached my limit. The one time I had “just one more drink”, I ended up getting sick & having a hangover the next day. Hence, I learned that not following my instinct when it told me to stop drinking was a foolish thing to do.
I don’t know exactly why some kids don’t have that “Gee, hangovers suck, maybe I shouldn’t drink 'til I puke” warning light, but I suspect that it has to do with college-age hubris (i.e. “That won’t happen again, I really can hold my alcohol!”). Either that, or they’re willing to deal with the consequences to get the feel-good payoff.
People get pregnant or raped just as often without drinking, than they do with alcohol in their system.
And would just like to say if you get in a car and drive after having any alcohol at all, you deserve to wrap your car around a tree.
If you kill someone else drunk-driving you deserve any / all punishment you get.
There is no way you can possibly justify in any way getting into a car and driving after having a drink. If you are that irresponsible you deserve no sympathy.
Cite? If you really believe that, then I’ll try to dig up some stats, but the stats I remember on acquaintance rape and accidental pregnancy, and their positive correlation with binge drinking, seemed rather convincing.
Both the failure to use contraception properly and the errors of judgement that can end in rape, especially acquaintance rape, have a helluva lot to do with impaired judgement resulting from excess alcohol consumption.
I’m not saying nobody should ever have a drink or two, just that one should know one’s limits, and if one plans to exceed them, one should be in the company of people one trusts when sober (and out of reach of car keys).
That really was a throw-way phrase on my part, I’m afraid. I mis-read your post as if you were somehow advocating drink-driving as OK. On reflection, I’m not sure where I got that idea. Doh!
That seems less that half to me, and thus perhaps my statement is in some way justified. I know there could be many rapes not reported or where charges were not brought, nor does it account for the victims state during the attack.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the positive aspects of drinking red wine for the heart. My sister is a doctor and she recommends a glass a day to my father, who has a heart problem.
Drinks help you relax and losen up, in moderation.