Re:America has a drinking problem
by lordnacho on Wednesday June 02, 2021 @02:17AM
(#27365496)
One thing that comes to mind is the 21 year age restriction on the US, which seems to actually be enforced. Where I grew up in Europe there was an 18 year limit officially but not really, and you could get all the booze you wanted as an teenager. Cannabis too.
I went to an international school, so we'd get American kids coming in and realising that they could drink before graduating into a dry university. At least one of my friends got his stomach pumped after a massive binge.
I wonder whether the culture in the US encourages people to guzzle it all down at once to minimise the risk of getting caught.
I noticed something similar in the UK, where they do seem to somewhat enforce the drinking age of 18, and so when I got to uni here my new friends would act like they'd just discovered alcohol and get incredibly drunk.
Now it's not like kids in Europe never get drunk, but it's always available so not really seen as an alluring thing. On much of the continent it's also the kind of thing you might consume with your parents around, which is the ultimate excitement killer.
I went to an international school, so we'd get American kids coming in and realising that they could drink before graduating into a dry university. At least one of my friends got his stomach pumped after a massive binge.
I wonder whether the culture in the US encourages people to guzzle it all down at once to minimise the risk of getting caught.
I noticed something similar in the UK, where they do seem to somewhat enforce the drinking age of 18, and so when I got to uni here my new friends would act like they'd just discovered alcohol and get incredibly drunk.
Now it's not like kids in Europe never get drunk, but it's always available so not really seen as an alluring thing. On much of the continent it's also the kind of thing you might consume with your parents around, which is the ultimate excitement killer.