Don't—Glub, Glub—Bet the Ranch on It
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling for a ban on beer advertising at NCAA events.
"The NCAA is the beer industry’s pied piper among children," said George A. Hacker, director of the alcohol-policies project at CSPI.
Uh-huh. And college students would never drink beer if they didn't see it advertised during basketball games.
CSPI is generally a good watchdog group, but they do tend to the puritanical. Wouldn't it be nice if they, and the rest of the country, suggested instead that young people learn that there's nothing wrong with a beer or two, as long as they drink responsibly? A beer or a glass of wine at dinner isn't going to kill an 18-year-old. (No, leave that to insurgents in Iraq. I still don't get the whole, you're allowed to join the army and kill people, but you can't drink a beer afterward, thing...)
Of course, three or four beers, followed by a quick drive down the road, might kill you, and some other people too. (Especially if you're driving an SUV.) But one beer does not invariably lead to three.
At the moment, this country says to young people, don't touch a drop of alcohol till you're 21, and then, boom, go crazy. Wouldn't a more gradual, common-sensical approach work better?
