Potential ban of Everclear unfair to responsible drinkers
Kelsey Savolainen
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Opinion
To drink or not to drink? To say no, or to chug it down? Ultimately it is an individual's responsibility to know when they have had enough and draw the line on how much alcohol they consume.
In November of 2009 Drake student Nathan Erickson drank enough alcohol to put himself in the hospital. His blood alcohol content was a .50, more than six times the legal limit at .1 above the lethal dose for most adults. His drink of choice happened to be 150-proof Everclear.
In response Iowa is now considering banning Everclear to all of its citizens. 190-proof Everclear was banned earlier in 2009, and the brand has been given a bad reputation due to multiple incidents of youth abusing the substance.
Last I checked all alcohol has had multiple incidences with the youth. Binge drinking is an ugly truth that has been around since alcohol became alcohol. I think it is absolutely unnecessary for politicians to get involved in what we can or cannot drink.
As someone who just became eligible to legally drink, I am excited to go out to new watering holes and try all that the bar can offer me in moderation. I don't want to show up to the counter and be told I can't have a certain drink because some one I've never met had too much of it and went to the hospital. That was his choice, his mistake, so why do others have to be reprimanded for it?
As for the argument that once you've started drinking, you don't know when to stop? Horse crap. It sounds like a personal problem, and you need to learn how to deal with it. Tell the bartender to cut you off after so many drinks, only keep so much around the house, and only keep so much money on you for the bar tab. These are simple ways to cope.
I see it every weekend, people both young and old, falling over themselves to make it to the bathroom in time to play toilet king/queen. Why do we subject ourselves to such nonsense? Drinking excessively doesn't make us feel any better; in fact it makes us feel worse. Hearing the stories of the night before may be fun to laugh at, but they can come back to haunt you later in life. Spending a night in the hospital after getting your stomach pumped sounds like a pretty lame way to spend the weekend.
I feel that people need to adjust their way of thinking. We are a generation that has become so used to other people making the big decisions for us, where hardly anyone even knows how to speak for themselves. We shake off whatever responsibilities that we can and leave it to someone else to dictate what we can or cannot do. The majority of people will merely follow along like sheep to a herder.
Don't get me wrong, I am aware that people have opinions and like to voice them, but it just never seems to be directed to the right people. If people want to be heard they need to try. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverage Commission has been hearing many opinions on this matter, so let them hear yours.
In November of 2009 Drake student Nathan Erickson drank enough alcohol to put himself in the hospital. His blood alcohol content was a .50, more than six times the legal limit at .1 above the lethal dose for most adults. His drink of choice happened to be 150-proof Everclear.
In response Iowa is now considering banning Everclear to all of its citizens. 190-proof Everclear was banned earlier in 2009, and the brand has been given a bad reputation due to multiple incidents of youth abusing the substance.
Last I checked all alcohol has had multiple incidences with the youth. Binge drinking is an ugly truth that has been around since alcohol became alcohol. I think it is absolutely unnecessary for politicians to get involved in what we can or cannot drink.
As someone who just became eligible to legally drink, I am excited to go out to new watering holes and try all that the bar can offer me in moderation. I don't want to show up to the counter and be told I can't have a certain drink because some one I've never met had too much of it and went to the hospital. That was his choice, his mistake, so why do others have to be reprimanded for it?
As for the argument that once you've started drinking, you don't know when to stop? Horse crap. It sounds like a personal problem, and you need to learn how to deal with it. Tell the bartender to cut you off after so many drinks, only keep so much around the house, and only keep so much money on you for the bar tab. These are simple ways to cope.
I see it every weekend, people both young and old, falling over themselves to make it to the bathroom in time to play toilet king/queen. Why do we subject ourselves to such nonsense? Drinking excessively doesn't make us feel any better; in fact it makes us feel worse. Hearing the stories of the night before may be fun to laugh at, but they can come back to haunt you later in life. Spending a night in the hospital after getting your stomach pumped sounds like a pretty lame way to spend the weekend.
I feel that people need to adjust their way of thinking. We are a generation that has become so used to other people making the big decisions for us, where hardly anyone even knows how to speak for themselves. We shake off whatever responsibilities that we can and leave it to someone else to dictate what we can or cannot do. The majority of people will merely follow along like sheep to a herder.
Don't get me wrong, I am aware that people have opinions and like to voice them, but it just never seems to be directed to the right people. If people want to be heard they need to try. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverage Commission has been hearing many opinions on this matter, so let them hear yours.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Smart Drinker
Smart Drinker
posted 2/05/10 @ 8:11 PM CST
Well said! As a proud "informed drinker", I couldn't agree more with your sentiments about people taking responsibility for themselves. I, too, am tired of being tarred with the same brush as the 1% of the population who are idiots. (Continued…)
zbeast
posted 2/26/10 @ 3:45 PM CST
If your banned everything because one individual was stupid.
We should have no cars, no guns, fire, electricity, gasoline
heck in my area a guy was hit the same train on two
different days, were not thinking of banning trains. (Continued…)
Post a Comment