Why Beer is the Most Dangerous Alcohol

By Shaina Eldredge on April 1, 2018

I turned 21 a few months ago, and in America, 21 years old is currently considered a milestone for people because it is the legal drinking age. I turned 21, and several people, friends and family on my Facebook friends list, posted on my wall about “getting wasted” on my birthday. Let me tell you why this type of culture is incredibly harmful in our society.

via Pixabay.com

Before I continue, I did drink on my 21st birthday; my boyfriend took me to a really nice restaurant and I ordered a drink called “Pretty in Pink.” Its ingredients included Sprite (my favorite soda), strawberries (my favorite fruit at the time), and I think vodka. It was disgusting, but I drank it because it was expensive. I do drink every once in a while, usually wine if I’m at home, and once I went to a club and got a vodka-soda (the lowest calorie thing to drink). I don’t drink very often, maybe once every two months, and I have nothing against things like wine or liquor, if it is in moderation. What I do have a problem with is beer.

I don’t see the point of beer. It has lower alcohol content than other alcohols, it’s absolutely gross (an “acquired taste,” some people say, to which I wonder why you want to acquire such a taste), and it’s considered far too casual to be legal. You go in the supermarket and there is a whole half of an aisle dedicated to different types of beer. And because of it’s lower alcohol content, it is much easier to binge drink it than it is to binge drink other alcohols.

Beer has been around for a long time, it’s an ancient practice that used to be reserved for celebration. We have taken this ancient practice of fermentation and mass-produced it enough so that it is so easily accessible. We have watered down the contents of the beer, some beer has been flavored, and consequently lowered the alcohol content so that drinkers can feel like they can drink more when, in reality, the effects of beer are already taking control of your body before you can even feel it. This is actual manipulation of consumers, and it is not something that you should support; beer manufacturers are not treating you the way you should be treated.

Too often, I see people on my Facebook friends list who are 19 and 20 years old talking about getting wasted, “needing a glass of wine” every day, or cross-fading. You do not need a glass of wine. You need help.

And the family and friends encouraging me to “get wasted” on my 21st birthday? Shame on them. It made me really uncomfortable; the thought that maybe I have 0 interest in drinking never occurred to them. Because who doesn’t drink? This kind of attitude in today’s society, where my aunt who lives in another state and hardly talks to me is telling me to party hard, is super toxic. We need to stop normalizing this literal drug that kills millions of people a year.

Believe it or not, you can go to parties and hang out with friends without drinking beer. There are other options, and there is help. Here is a resource to use by ProjectKnow, a community that works to help heal drug addictions. Alcohol is the only legal drug in the United States, and it is probably the most harmful to families, households, and yourself.

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