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D.U.I. and Y.O.U.

My good buddy Chipper Dave (the Northern Colorado Beer Examiner) wrote a very intriguing article yesterday regarding the movement to change the drinking age.  He asks: Should 18 be the proper age to drink beer?

 

The archaic drinking age in this country goes hand in hand with the ridiculous "Prohibition" laws... many of which are STILL in effect today.  Prohibition failed miserably. It drove people underground to drink to avoid getting busted, which caused the proliferation of bootlegging (as well as an assortment of other major crimes) and helped the Mafia rise to power. People should have learned a lesson from that "noble experiment."  Sadly, they didn't.

 

At the age of 18 you can fight and die for this country, and even vote for the next President of this great nation. But somehow those same 18-year old individuals don't have the mental faculties to drink alcohol?  Put guns in their hands, but not bottles of beer?  Can someone please explain that "logic" to me?  The ludicrous minimum drinking age has only served to drive teens underground in order to drink to avoid getting busted. Exactly like Prohibition!  Worse still, the law has helped to reinforce the distorted belief that "alcohol is bad." Thus, college kids believe they have to get as much of the "devil water" down their gullet as fast as they can, whenever they can. This of course has caused the rampant binge drinking problem we have today.  Did we learn absolutely nothing from this country's first failed attempt at turning alcohol into the bane of all evil?

 

But there's more to it.  A lot more.

 

The U.S. has the most absurd and skewed view of alcohol on the face of the planet. People in other countries are raised from birth with alcohol and know that it's not evil.  Alcohol is as much a part of their world as politics, religion, war, or mother's milk. There are many people (historians and others far more knowledgeable than I) who agree that alcohol quite literally shaped the world we live in.  I happen to agree with that belief. 

 

Beer was "discovered" accidentally about 8,000 years ago by the Sumerians.  It's older than the Bible.  It's older than "politics." It's older than this country. Speaking of this country... beer was brewed by virtually every one of our "Founding Fathers" (George Washington loved porter).  At one time beer was a staple of life, right up there with bread, meats and cheeses. Everyone -- including children! -- drank it every day.  The belief that beer is a staple of life still exists... in every other country but ours. Ironically, these same counties don't have half the (self-created) "problems" we do with alcohol.

 

Last year a very close friend of mine (late 40's, straight as an arrow, NEVER in trouble for ANYTHING in his life) received a DUI.  He told me everything that happened to him and based on what he's gone through you'd think he was a mass murderer. They put a tracking collar on his leg.  He couldn't leave his home!  For a DUI!  Are you kidding me? The pendulum has swung so far to the extreme in this country that one can liken the drinking and DUI laws to a witch hunt.  "Big Brother" continues to enforce the belief that alcohol is bad, a disease, and the bane of our existence. Why are we the only country doing that, and why are we the only country with so many problems? This is Prohibition all over again.

 

Have you ever taken a breathalyzer test? Do you know how much alcohol it takes for YOU to become legally intoxicated? Probably not. Most people in this country have no clue. But I do. Of course I had to buy a professional breathalyzer unit in order to find out. This coming from someone with a background in law enforcement and private sector security.  So if I didn't know... how can the Average Joe?

 

Research has shown me two things:  1) the amount of alcohol it takes to get someone over the limit differs for every single person on the planet, and 2) the ".08" BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) level is a complete joke.  What does .08 even mean? How did they (and who are "they" by the way) come up with this wholly arbitrary number?  What one person feels like at .08 is not what the very next person will feel like. Or the next. Or the next.  Point oh eight may very well be "drunk" for one person, but it won’t be for the twenty or thirty other people next to them. So how is that fair again?

 

What does it take to get to .08?  For some... not even one full drink. For others it might take six.  But how do you know?  If you don't know then each and every time you consume one alcoholic beverage you may very well be a candidate for a DUI. If less than one drink can get someone legally intoxicated... why isn't "Big Brother" closing down every establishment in the country that serves alcohol? Stop "evil" at the source, right? If they really wanted to stop drinking and driving; if they really wanted to educate the masses... they would be doing more than just berating us with "don't drink and drive" PSAs.  For instance, why aren't there several federally funded breathalyzer units in every single bar in the nation?  Why? One reason:  DUI's generate a beerwagon full of revenue.

 

We as a nation need to stop being hypocritical and stop regarding alcohol as evil.  We need to stop making our kids believe it's one of the deadly sins.  Most of all we need to go back to a time when it was a part of our daily life. Somewhere, somehow we've Politically Corrected ourselves straight into the ground and we need to dig ourselves out before it's too late.

 

And I need  a beer.