RevDahlia

Also, champagne is disgusting. I hope to someday blow the lid off the champagne conspiracy. The emperor has no clothes! The stuff is vile! Vile, I say! It always tastes warm, even when it isn't. Yecch.

For beginners, I recommend a nice Riesling or Gewurztraminer.

Not drinking is okay too, of course. It's just silly to discount it out-of-hand.

lisarea

You're cool.

I don't much care for champagne myself, usually, and all that hoo-ha about it generally leaves me baffled. Thank you for paving the way and giving me the courage to finally admit that in public.

Wine gives me headaches, although I used to like some of it--ooh, especially some merlots--before that started happening.

But beer. Ah, beer. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and never really have, so I don't drink much soda, and I really, really look forward to my daily beer. I used to drink a lot more when I was younger, but at this point, I absolutely HATE the feeling of anything beyond a tiny, barely perceptible buzz, so I cut myself off about about two max. If beer had no alcohol in it and still tasted like that, though, I'd drink it all day and night.

And, you know, sometimes, in the summer, a nice gin and tonic, with that bitterness of the quinine and the little bite of juniper mellowed out with lime, is just absolutely perfect. In the winter, a single malt scotch, straight, can taste almost like butter, if that butter were on fire.

I have a seventeen year old son, and my approach with him has been to let him taste alcohol every now and again. On big holidays, he'd get a tiny glass of wine, maybe, and I'd give him a little taste of beer, hard cider, etc., if he asked. I do believe pretty strongly that the 'forbidden fruit' aspect of alcohol in the US contributes a great deal to adolescent binge drinking, and I figure if I can demystify it for my son, it'll serve him well when the temptation presents itself and particularly once he's out on his own.

Notably, nobody in my family has ever had any kind of drinking problem to my knowledge, so I don't have reason to believe my son will. I'll still give him a little swig if he asks, but I'm about as sure as I can be that he's never been close to drunk. (And yeah, I have plenty of reasons to believe he'd tell me.)

This sort of thing is a very personal choice. Some people can't drink, and more people shouldn't drink. And I applaud your choice not to, don't get me wrong. But for those who can handle it, and who enjoy it, it really can be immensely pleasurable.

mikester

i dont think i can really provide you with the answer youre looking for, but i can give you my perspective.

im 18, i drink, i dont smoke cigarettes (), and ive done so for a few years.

to me, i can sum them up by saying people do it for the feelings and sensations associated with them. drinking, for example, is sociable, and helps you relax (when done properly). binge drinking is an exciting, unknown adventure for anyone wishing to try it. smoking, as well, provides a relaxing sensation (for a short while however) and keeps your balance.

imo, both keep you sane, but only if you think you need them (some do, some dont).


did that even make sense?

ashe

I'm 23 and I don't drink alcohol (or smoke) because I feel that I do not (yet? ) require additional chemicals in my mind to alleviate boredom or "have a good time."

If you think you are reasonably abstaining from alcohol then do so. However, if you cannot justify abstinence to yourself later in life, then do not adhere to a irrational pledge that you made as a youth.

I am constantly evaluating my position on alcohol. I evaluate it everytime I go to a restaurant or bar. I think "hmm do I want to have a drink of alcohol? What would happen if I did? ... Not interested." I like to be in control of my mind (as far as one can be.)

I am a happy person and I enjoy going out with friends. My life is great and I have a good relationship with my family, friends and significant other.

Forget about pledges. Simply base your decisions on reason and evidence. That way if you do change your mind later in life, you won't feel like a hypocrite for abandoning your earlier pledge.

Sakpo

I'm not a regular smoker, but I do occasionally enjoy tobacco (a cigarette or a pipe every few months). I find smoking to be a pleasurable set of sensations. I like the smeell of decent tobacco. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my parents didn't quit smoking until I was 12ish. I also indulge in a bit of marijuana from time to time, because I enjoy the sensations of smoking a joint, and because I enjoy the effects of the drug (I'm quite careful about smoking it only under pleasant circumstances). I smoke marijuana maybe once every 2 months, thopugh sometimes I'll go twice that.

I enjoy the tastes of many alcoholic beverages, and being out and out piss drunk can be fun, but I don't drink to that extreme very often because it's dangerous, and because I hate being hung over. I rarely drink heavily. I have maybe one drink every couple of weeks normally. A nice whiskey (bourbon or scotch) can be a nice way to wind down an evening. A delicious, refreshing cold beer on a hot day or with a good meal is wonderful.

So, essentially, these things can be quite enjoyable, and I trust myself to use them responsibly so I don't harm myself, and more importantly so I don't harm anyone else (I don't smoke around non smokers, for instance).

Defiant Heretic

I don't drink or smoke, but I consider the various anti-drug campaigns (anti-marijuana, anti-smoking) to be self-righteous and hypocritical. I would be willing to bet that over 80% of the people in those ads use some drug on a semi-regular basis, be it alcohol, caffeine, or even aspirin for that matter. I regularly use caffeine myself, but I realize that it's just as much a drug as anything illegal. (Although it's less dangerous than most of the others. Not sure if it's safer than marijuana.)

And, as dangin already pointed out, the ads are misleading, if not outright lies. A recent anti-marijuana ad stated that in 1/5 of accidents in which a driver tested positive for a controlled substance, they tested positive for marijuana. In other words, of the (unnamed) percentage of accidents in which a driver was using a controlled substance, 1/5 of them involved marijuana. From this, they conclude that marijuana is harmful.

But let's take a closer look at that statistic. Let's say that there's a controlled substance involved in 10% of accidents (I couldn't find the exact figure, so this is just to illustrate the fallacy.) That would mean that 2% of accidents involve a driver who tested positive for marijuana. Hardly the 20% that the initial statistic was trying to show.

Then, consider the number of people who use marijuana. (I'm not even going to try to speculate on the numbers here.) Of those people, a certain percentage drives while under the influence of the drug. (which is the real problem, not the use of the drug itself.) Of those people, a certain percentage gets in an accident.

So we have two instances of the unrepresentative sample fallacy in a 30 second advertisement. And that's just from the part I remember. I tried to find a transcript of the ad so I could do a complete fallacy count, but was unsuccessful. (On a side note, I did find that the statistic they were using seemed to vary quite a bit. I saw numbers from 15% to 45%. Each was 'according to a certain study'; not one had a proper citation.)

fatherphil

i used my parent's social alcohol use to justify my marijuana use when i was a kid.

as far as tobacco use by our youth, i'm at a loss to figure out why any kid would start with what we know today.

never been there

WHAT DANGIN SAID!!!!!! AB-SO-LUTE-LY RIGHT!

Coke is bad bad bad bad bad. If you want an absolute answer to believe, little guy, believe that. As for the rest, I said the same thing you did, once. Funny thing, the peer pressure to smoke tobacco was intense (I had high marks, and they wanted me on 'their side') so I never did, but smoking pot was understood to be a personal choice so no pressure. Guess which I ended up indulging in.

You can see the differences among posters regarding beer and wine - some call them 'alcohol' which they do contain, but in calmer cultures they are food, if not for their nutritional value, at least for the flavour. I make my own beer, so I can make 3% beer that tastes great and allows me to have more than a couple. I admit that I also like the social lubrication it provides - people laugh at each other's jokes, etc.

I had my share of excess, and I can't remember what the attraction was in getting plastered. Getting old, I guess.

Calzaer

I smoke because nicotene is a great supplement to Zoloft. And when my insurance runs out in a couple years, even at a pack a day, cigs are cheaper than anti-depressants.

Daisy

Some people smoke because it dulls the appetite and helps them stay slim. Both my parents smoked - people said my dad's pipe smoke drove all the rats from the building where he worked - and I became allergic to it, so it never was tempting to me at all. I have considered the nicotine patches, but given my families history of addiction, it's probably a really bad idea.

I am slightly allergic to beer & red wine - enough to give me a stuffy nose - but I enjoy it anyway. I drank more when I was young and unhappy, but rarely to excess.

I read an article once on the dangers of drinking in wintertime. The danger I remember was "gives a false sense of well-being". False or not, it's a good feeling. I should drink more, a glass a day is good for the heart & soul.