Why I Think Discouraging Alcohol Consumption Among College Students Might Be A Good Idea

The Blaze has the mugshot of a college girl who attempted to run down the field at a college football game.  At arrest, she had a .341% blood alcohol level -- or more than four times the legal DUI limit.  The mugshot, as tragic as it is (tattoos, of course), is nothing compared to the picture of the squeaky clean policeman apparently trying to make sure that she stays vertical.

Adding to the general depravity of it all, she tweeted afterwards:

“Blew a .341 in jail,” she added, saying “I’m going to get .341 tattooed on me because its so epic.”

I love the comments over there, most of the form, "Her parents must be so proud."  You have to wonder how much student loan debt she ran up to pay for the tattoos and the alcohol.  She's a good argument against any sort of general relief from student loan debt.  I'm sure that she isn't the average -- but I fear that she isn't completely unique, either.

Prohibition was a disaster.  But the fact is that lots of college kids are doing stuff this stupid and potentially life-threatening every night in this country -- and that's also a disaster.

Why Intoxication Is Bad, Even If Isn't Alcohol Intoxication

From the August 30, 2013 Arizona Republic:

The father of a 3-month-old boy who was left in a car in Phoenix and died was believed to be smoking marijuana in front of the car while his infant son was still inside, according to court documents released Friday.

Daniel Gray’s son, Jamison, died after being left in the vehicle for more than an hour. Gray had parked his car at his workplace near Scottsdale and Thunderbird roads, according to Phoenix police.

He initially told police that he had gone to B.T. Sports Pub on his day off to check on some things, according to Phoenix police and Maricopa County Superior Court documents.

A witness observed Gray and an employee standing in front of the parked car outside B.T. Sports Pub and assumed they were smoking marijuana, according to court documents.

When investigators questioned the employee seen with Gray, that employee admitted that Gray asked him for marijuana and that both went to stand in front of the vehicle.

Intoxicants make you do stupid things; that's why many people use intoxicants.  The last thing we need to encourage people to do is... stupid things.  Yes, alcohol makes you do stupid things, too, and it is argument for discouraging alcohol intoxication.  The future of America: instead of being half-stupid, we can be fully stupid.

Another Article About the Marijuana/Schizophrenia Causation Issue

By Dr. Samuel T. Wilkinson, "a resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry at The Yale School of Medicine" in the July 1, 2013 Wall Street Journal.  As I have also pointed out in my writings on the subject:

If legalization is certain to decrease the power of drug lords in Mexico and other countries, then this is certainly a favorable outcome. However, if the trade-off is that more people suffer from schizophrenia—and thus more Americans are homeless and debilitated—then this must be recognized and discussed by the general public. This association between marijuana and serious and devastating psychotic disorders has been absent or under-recognized in the public debate.