Quick question: Which would you expect to have the highest binge-drinking rates: dry counties, where you can’t buy alcohol, or “wet” counties, where alcohol is easily accessible? Seems obvious that the wet counties would win, hands-down. Easy access = more drinking. Right?Whereas I, who grew up in a “health food house,” thought about those “forbidden foods” all the time. When they were offered to me, I took as much as I could, because I didn’t know when I’d get junk food again. I didn’t know how to moderate. Seems it’s the same with drinking.
A new survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that binge drinking is highest in dry Alabama counties.
Why? One reason, according to Peggy Batey, executive director of the Alabama chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is that people in dry counties have to drive long distances to buy booze. When people drive long distances, they tend to buy in bulk. And if you buy in bulk, you’re more likely to binge drink. Another factor is that people in dry counties may be closer to wet states with lower prices. For example, the people in “dry” Cherokee County can take a short drive and save up to 40 percent by buying in Georgia.
Finally, dry counties with military bases have higher rates of drinking, perhaps because of all the young men, crammed into one area.
State by state results of binge-drinking were not so surprising. As expected, Utah ranked lowest in national binge-drinking rates. Wisconsin, a known party state, ranked highest (See the chart below).
And on a more global scale, according to the Social Issues Research Center: “Societies with generally positive beliefs and expectancies about alcohol (variously defined as ‘non-Temperance’, ‘wet’, ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘integrated’ drinking-cultures) experience significantly fewer alcohol-related problems; negative or inconsistent beliefs and expectancies (found mainly in ‘Temperance’, ‘dry’, ‘Nordic’ or ‘ambivalent’ drinking-cultures) are associated with higher levels of alcohol-related problems.”
