Record Low Report Being Boozers

[Briar Lee]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The percentage of U.S. adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend. This coincides with a growing belief among Americans that moderate alcohol consumption is bad for one’s health, now the majority view for the first time.

Gallup has tracked Americans’ drinking behavior since 1939 and their views of the health implications of moderate drinking since 2001. The latest results are from Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 7-21.

U.S. Drinking Rate at New Low as Alcohol Concerns Surge

A record-low 54% of Americans say they drink alcohol, as a majority now believe moderate drinking is unhealthy.

news.gallup.com

The numbers are in the growth of teetotalers. People like my dear angel mother and my grandmothers.

People like me who keep a bottle of fine bourbon and some good heavy beer (never light beer) to drink on rare occasions with my friends who do have a taste for the barleycorn or will drink beer right out of the can in front of God and everybody are listed as occasional drinkers.

This is not good news for us who love our rights, to use Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

But I’ve been against the legalization and normalization of marijuana all of my life (as opposed to decriminalizing weed, which I support) and this survey shows me I’m wrong once again about social issues, a perfect record of error.

There tends to be less vice and sinning, if people are able to but discouraged from sinning, by taxation and health propaganda and regulations.

The dad blasted do gooders are right once again.

 

[gamzultovah]

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
~ Samuel Clemens

 

[Briar Lee]

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
~ Samuel Clemens

Yeah we say that, but overall the bean counters at Gallup get the trends.

Each year, there is a bit less booze of all types sold.

Forty years ago, I used to get five or six DWI cases in my law office a month and by the end I was down to five or six maybe, per year, or less, and most of those were under the old .015% limits in the 1970s. They were far more sober drunk drivers.

All the true honest to God town drunks are long gone.

And at the same time every gas station now sells whiskey and has a beer cave.

Drinking has become something only the unrepentant sinners do, you know?

How far do you have to drive to buy a 1 1/2 ounce package of pipe tobacco today, as opposed to forty years ago?

And look at light beer sales.

When I drank beer on weekends it would have started a fight to offer another man a light beer.

Light beer was for girls and men who kinda looked like girls back then.

 

[fireground_piper]

It’s a hard sell to pin it on people all of the sudden thinking it’s unhealthy.

There are other options for people to choose as a vice and considering things like GLP-1 usage is on the rise with links to suppressed desire for the drink, there are likely many factors at play.

In the name of health is a bit laughable though. I guess maybe in the guise of “health”, but society is not not of the sudden becoming a true beacon of healthy living. Just shifting their vice.

 

[Briar Lee]

It’s a hard sell to pin it on people all of the sudden thinking it’s unhealthy.

There are other options for people to choose as a vice and considering things like GLP-1 usage is on the rise with links to suppressed desire for the drink, there are likely many factors at play.

In the name of health is a bit laughable though. I guess maybe in the guise of “health”, but society is not not of the sudden becoming a true beacon of healthy living. Just shifting their vice.

My mother never whipped me and my father only whipped me one time, but they would have if “if I argued with Mr. Webster”.

Dispute one fact and before long you’re arguing there might be spooks, haunts and witches.

The general goal of every mother who ever rocked a cradle or church of any stripe or school that ever opened or government that has ever existed, is to promote goodness and knowledge and the general happiness of everybody.

Even the good book has this to say of the vice:
—-
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine;
Nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink?
Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the justice due to any that is afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,
And wine unto the bitter in soul:
Let him drink, and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.

——

Unless you are on death’s door or squatting in a shotgun house with a tin roof, that’s not much of an endorsement of booze.

It’s not healthy to drink booze.

Maybe the mothers, the preachers, the teachers and the dad boasted gubbermint is winnig the war against drunkenness?

 

[JOHN72]

I imagine it will be a dying market: tobacco, spirits, wine, whisky&whiskey, beer. I can't imagine a good lunch or dinner without a good wine. But hey, human beings evolve, or so they say.

 

[pappymac]

I don't think they surveyed people living in the New Orleans area.

 

[Indygrap]

As a brewer, I can attest to these trends. The brewery I currently work for has always been one to attempt keeping up with, or setting trends, which can be annoying. However, I’m thankful we are small enough to pivot while being large enough to keep our staff at the current levels. It’s a delicate dance, but the owners & marketing team do a fantastic job.
Besides all the trendy & classic beer styles, we’ve been making THC seltzers & NA beer. We’re still working the kinks out of the NA line, but the last few batches have been well received.
The THC seltzers are moving steadily & they’re a good bang for your buck, from a profit & consumer standpoint (~$10 for a 4 pack). Most of the ones we do are basically water, fruit extract, Delta 9 THC Extract, & CO2. Pretty simple & less labor intensive than beer. Quicker turnaround too. We’ve even started contract production for another company that doesn’t have the equipment to keep up with demand.
Regardless of your position on cannabis, these are a revenue & tax generator. Given current trends in the alcohol industry, they’re here to stay. People still want to unwind, they just want to do it a little differently.

 

[Briar Lee]

I imagine it will be a dying market: tobacco, spirits, wine, whiskey, beer. I can't imagine a good lunch or dinner without a good wine. But hey, human beings evolve, or so they say.View attachment 410649

I love the day’s news.

Let’s see how wine sales in the USA are in 2025:

Xxxx

Jan. 19, 2025, 5:00 AM CST
By Ash Reynolds

The losses keep stacking up for the U.S. wine industry.

Wine sales in the U.S. last year tumbled approximately 6% from 2023, according to data from the industry data group SipSource. The drop is the latest in a long-term decline in wine demand in restaurants, bars and stores that some are calling an “existential threat” to the industry.

Wine sales drying up as Americans turn elsewhere

U.S. wine sales continued a multiyear decline in 2024, which experts attribute to shifting demographics, health concerns, new competition and economic forces.

www.nbcnews.com

Xxxxx

Sing one George Jones!

Wine Colored Roses

Xxxxx

When I was growing up I was constantly, almost daily warned about the evils of whiskey, and how base and low class a man looked drinking beer right out of a can.

When my mother was on her deathbed I asked her why she never warned me about wine.

She said I always figured you had too much pride to sink that low.

In 41 years of law practice and countless problems I saw concerning booze not one where wine was abused.

I see it for sale in the gas stations and most nice restaurants have a wine list.

I can’t remember ever, buying a bottle of wine. I’ve had several given to me, that are on a wine rack.

 

[Briar Lee]

As a brewer, I can attest to these trends. The brewery I currently work for has always been one to attempt keeping up with, or setting trends, which can be annoying. However, I’m thankful we are small enough to pivot while being large enough to keep our staff at the current levels. It’s a delicate dance, but the owners & marketing team do a fantastic job.
Besides all the trendy & classic beer styles, we’ve been making THC seltzers & NA beer. We’re still working the kinks out of the NA line, but the last few batches have been well received.
The THC seltzers are moving steadily & they’re a good bang for your buck, from a profit & consumer standpoint (~$10 for a 4 pack). Most of the ones we do are basically water, fruit extract, Delta 9 THC Extract, & CO2. Pretty simple & less labor intensive than beer. Quicker turnaround too. We’ve even started contract production for another company that doesn’t have the equipment to keep up with demand.
Regardless of your position on cannabis, these are a revenue & tax generator. Given current trends in the alcohol industry, they’re here to stay. People still want to unwind, they just want to do it a little differently.

Until 1908 anybody could buy opium or opioids in any pharmacy or by mail order.

And while putting heroin in baby soothing syrup was a bit problematic and housewives were getting defiled in opium dens, they didn’t have the problems we have today, not even close.

——

Opioid use disorder (OUD) prevalence and treatment

• Roughly 9 million Americans aged 12 and older misused opioids in 2023.
• An estimated 5.7 million people have OUD, which is believed to be an undercount.
• About 3 million Americans and over 16 million globally struggle with OUD.
• Despite the high prevalence, only about one in three people with OUD received treatment in 2021.
• In 2023, 70.5 million people aged 12 and over used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs within the last year.
• 21.6% of those with a drug disorder have an opioid disorder.
• Males aged 26 and older consistently abuse opioids more than females, but adult misuse is particularly prevalent among American Indian or Alaska Natives (6.7%) and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders (5.0%).

——-

If every gas station sold a dollar tablet of a feel good drug designed to duplicate a dollar bottle of Fireball, would we have such a toll?

Delirium Tremens deaths are a fraction of what they were over a century ago.

Delirium tremens - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

People aren’t as drunk if they can have safe, legal booze.

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

So the prohibitionists win in the end, there were on the right side of history after all.

 

[Briar Lee]

I don't think they surveyed people living in the New Orleans area.

All my life, New Whore Leans (hillbilly pronunciation) has been famous for Bourbon Street whores and cross dressers and and general debachery , sin, vice, corruption, danger and a place were the whiskey and blood flow together down the streets. In fact all Louisiana has somewhat of that Sodom and Gommarah reputation

When my mother and I visited in 1977 a drag queen in a bar commented on how lovely my mother’s complexion was while I moved over as far away as I could, but he wasn’t interested in me.

I’m sure their coffee still sucks and is laced with chicory and the horse drawn carriages haul the tourists around to see dead people piled up high above ground.

But has New Orleans sobered up some?

Xxxx

Louisiana ranks 31st in the nation for excessive drinking, reporting that 17.4% of the state's adults are binge drinking (four or more drinks on one occasion in the past 30 days for females, or five or more for males) or heavily drinking (eight or more drinks per week for females, or 15 or more for males).

Louisiana has more than the U.S. average of adults who excessively drink. See national data.

How many Louisianans excessively drink? Here's the average number of adults per state who report heavily drinking or binge drinking.

www.nola.com

——-

Oil and gas and international trade have lifted all boats in Cajun country.

When people are happier they sin a lot less, you know?

It’s

Pumped a lot of (pro)pane in New Whore Leans.

Proud Mary

 

[LotusEater]

The kids all smoke weed.
My son and his friends (19-21) and my nephew/nieces and their friends (late 20’s) all seem to prefer smoking to drinking and quite a few abstain all together. Just my observation- may not reflect reality lol.

 

[Piping Abe]

Yeah but look at the body counts of young people compared to previous years.

If they’re doing that sober, we have bigger issues.

 

[Briar Lee]

The kids all smoke weed.
My son and his friends (19-21) and my nephew/nieces and their friends (late 20’s) all seem to prefer smoking to drinking and quite a few abstain all together. Just my observation- may not reflect reality lol.

A few years ago the Humansville Tavern hosted a car show and I was in town and my mother was buried six feet under a few miles away so I went to the beer joint and took photos of the cars.

And as I looked around our once proud and prosperous little Ozark town where now buildings are falling down and fat mothers on decaying front porches scream at little ragged street urchins to watch out for cars, I saw a lot of little liquor bottles on the streets. Dozens of them.

My best friend Johnny said those are Fireballs. The kids go over and find someone to pay $20 for a tub of 20 at the liquor store and they have a good time cruising the streets like we did fifty years ago except most of these kids can not afford a car.



My friend Billy called the other day and said ICE deported the man who owned the liquor store but his liscence was in his wife’s name and they never closed a day.

Their best seller is a candy flavored fake Canadian “whiskey” that’s not aged a day and is under proof and has a picture of Satan on the bottle.

My mother, would not approve, she surely would not.

But Humansville has extended the city limits almost to Collins to include the largest cannabis grow plant in Missouri or maybe the entire world.

If those kids on the street will go to college and get an agronomy degree they can come home and live the good life, like I did someplace else than home.

By then there will be cheap legal weed sold in the liquor store and Dollar General both.

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Poor people need an escape from the misery of their existence.

It’s probably best they have safe, taxed and regulated outlets to get high.

 

[greeneyes]

Thomas King Chambers (1817 - 1889), a prominent British physician, wrote an 1879 book titled "A Manual of Diet in Health and Disease" that focused a rather large amount of attention on alcohol and its effects in relation to frequency of use.

 

[Briar Lee]

Yeah but look at the body counts of young people compared to previous years.

If they’re doing that sober, we have bigger issues.

He was 30, but a few days ago a young man, in the prime of life, his whole future ahead of him, stole five of his father’s guns and fired 500 shots and broke 200 windows in the buildings in Atlanta Georgia where one of only two places in the world live smallpox viruses are kept to make vaccines.

He murdered a policeman and he’s dead too, and he shot himself.

There was a helluva disturbance to everyday life in Atlanta that day, you know?

He didn’t make anybody’s definition of a mass shooting.

—-

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Georgia Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Hosey said 500 shell casings were recovered from the scene, while its believed 200 rounds hit six buildings in the CDC complex. Five firearms were also recovered, he said.
The gunman had also "verbalised thoughts of suicide" before the shooting, Hosey said, adding that investigators had uncovered written evidence of his discontent with Covid-19 vaccines. He reportedly blamed the vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal.

DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was fatally shot when he responded to reports of an active shooter at the CDC precinct shortly before 17:00 local time on Friday. Rose, a former Marine who had served in Afghanistan, died in hospital after he was wounded

Man who fired hundreds of rounds at CDC HQ was angry at Covid vaccines - BBC News

Police say more than 500 shots were fired at the Georgia campus, where a police officer was killed.

www.bbc.com

——

Those in charge of regulation of firearms (not prohibition of firearms—taxation and regulation) are not doing so well.

There have been suicidal homicidal malcontents throughout history in every era in every culture and every nation.

They just never have been so well armed.

The regulators are scared witless they’ll lose their gubbermint jobs at the taxpayer’s dime if they regulate firearms.

But in due time, these matters sort themselves out.

 

[lraisch]

It was perhaps 9 or 10 years ago when I asked one of the county prosecutors why she had so many files packed in her office that she could hardly find her desk. She told me that far and away the majority of her cases were for DUI.

 

[FLDRD]

So the prohibitionists win in the end, there were on the right side of history after all.

Not at all, read what indygrap posted up above.
It's more of a shift than abstinence.

 

[woodsroad]

Who would agree to take part in this survey? How many of those would answer truthfully?