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On drinking laws and downtown burglaries |
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 |
Letter from Joseph DeMasi
Valley City, N.D.
I would like to add my perspective about the recent burglaries in Valley City and the fact that law enforcement was preoccupied with investigating underage drinking.
I believe there is an inherent inconsistency and hypocrisy in our current drinking laws which the police, unfortunately, are obliged to enforce. It seems to me that the problem isn’t “underage drinking,” but rather “irresponsible” drinking at ANY age.
We allow a young person of 12 to shoot a gun hunting. Young adults at 15 can get a driver’s permit and operate a motor vehicle. At 18, you can legally buy and smoke a cigarette, get a job, vote, get married, raise a family, fly a plane, fight and die for your country while watching your comrades get blown to bits. Why does having a beer make you a criminal?
You might cite a statistic that preventing young adults from drinking before 21 saves lives or that the brain isn’t fully developed until age 25 and alcohol can do damage, but I would say that excessive drinking at ANY age is harmful. 40,000 people die on our roads every year in traffic accidents. Should we outlaw cars? People die in gun-related incidents. Should we outlaw guns?
Our laws are designed to encourage responsibility and punish the people who are irresponsible, not penalize everyone! A 21-year-old drinking age seems to be the same approach that has been taken with abstinence, only sex education has been a dismal failure! Some young adults are going to drink. But when alcohol is illegal, how do you teach them to drink responsibly? I believe the drinking age should be lowered to at least 18, if not 16. By keeping it at 21, all we do is punish responsible kids, turn binge drinking into a rite of passage (which is a REAL concern), and never introduce kids to the joy of having a fine wine or well crafted beer with a meal.
Herein lies the heart of the problem. If we are really concerned about health issues we need to address food and pop. One third of kids under 18 are obese, not fat, but OBESE! A glass of red wine a day is actually healthy for you. A can of pop or energy drink will eventually kill you! Over 600,000 people a year die from heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and other related problems. The high fat/high sugar diet we consume is a major cause. This is a significantly higher number of deaths than alcohol. The police should be confiscating pepperoni pizza and Pepsi Max®. That would save more lives!
Unfortunately, in this fast food culture, we drink cheap beer and eat unhealthy food. Most don’t get drunk on Dom Perrion or Samuel Adams — it’s too expensive. We need to value the quality of what we eat and drink and actually CHANGE our culture. Most people drink for the BUZZ. Can’t get up in the morning? Take a drug. Can’t “get it up” in the morning? Take a drug. Gotta bring down your blood pressure and cholesterol? Take a drug.
I can’t believe how many high school age supermarket cashiers don’t know or have never had an artichoke, eggplant, zucchini, cilantro, squash, kale and swiss chard, but they all know what a Whopper and a Potato Ole are! We’ve turned Cheeze Whiz and Cool Whip into a food group!
Our kids just copy what we do. Until we value what we eat and drink, we will never be healthy at ANY age. I think we should be encouraging young adults to drink and eat responsibly, not turn them into criminals. Maybe then the police might have time to prevent the occasional burglary.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
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