America’s Drunkest & Driest Counties: check out Bills country as an outlier in NY

[Augie]

6 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

I was honestly just thinking more like being able to find anywhere open on Sunday. That’s was tough to find a few decades ago. Park City would have never been a tourist draw in 70’s Utah the way it is today. 😆 

 

We flew into Salt Lake City with the young boys and needed a meal asap. Downtown was empty and what might have been former restaurants were boarded up. We finally found a Hilton or something and figured they must have a restaurant. A town without much of a pulse, from what we saw.

 

But they are the home of the JAZZ! 😂 

 

Was nobody paying attention? 

[BarleyNY]

Interesting that WV is all green, but leads the nation in drug overdose deaths. There doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between drinking alcohol (or not drinking alcohol) and hard drug abuse, but a few of those green states have some of the worst drug problems.

Edited March 31 by BarleyNY

[QCity]

I think those graphics greatly overexaggerate what should be minor differences.

 

Almost the entire state of Mississippi is green with 15.67% of it's pop tagged as excessive drinkers.

 

There's no green at all in Illinois with 17.54% excessively drinking. That's a 1.87% difference - which is probably not even within their sampling error, however the color-coding makes them look worlds apart. 

[BuffaloBill]

22 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

Interesting that WV is all green, but leads the nation in drug overdose deaths. There doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between drinking alcohol (or not drinking alcohol) and hard drug abuse, but a few of those green states have some of the worst drug problems.

 

True - also seems to be the case that younger people are more prone to use weed vs drinking. 

[BarleyNY]

4 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

True - also seems to be the case that younger people are more prone to use weed vs drinking. 

for sure. and it’s probably a good thing. just ask any cop if he’d rather deal with someone drunk on booze or someone high on weed. no contest. also the OD stats I referenced don’t include weed, just hard drugs

[ExiledInIllinois]

Probably get crucified by the pro-weed people but here goes.

 

The human brain isn't full developed till ~27 years...

 

How can anybody say a psychoactive is safer than alcohol... I am NOT advocating alcohol either...

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45732911

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by ExiledInIllinois

[ExiledInIllinois]

15 hours ago, QCity said:

I think those graphics greatly overexaggerate what should be minor differences.

 

Almost the entire state of Mississippi is green with 15.67% of it's pop tagged as excessive drinkers.

 

There's no green at all in Illinois with 17.54% excessively drinking. That's a 1.87% difference - which is probably not even within their sampling error, however the color-coding makes them look worlds apart. 

They are world's apart.  Ever been to Wisconsin?

 

Oklahoma has laxer minor drinking like Wisconsin but NOT as lax... But there's a huge difference between 10% & 24%...

 

That's cultural.  Engrained in brain w/dependency at an EARLY age.

 

The color coding is right.  They rest of the nation is coded same way.

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by ExiledInIllinois

[Buffalo716]

8 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Probably get crucified by the pro-weed people but here goes.

 

The human brain isn't full developed till ~27 years...

 

How can anybody say a psychoactive is safer than alcohol... I am NOT advocating alcohol either...

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45732911

 

 

 

No teenage kid should be doing anything... BUT

 

In small doses Marijuana has less adverse long-term side effects than alcohol... 

 

Sure, can long-term hardcore cannabis abuse lead to psychosis, yes in about .5%

 

nearly 85 to 90% of alcohol users develop fatty liver disease 

 

You can also drink yourself to death.. you're not smoking yourself to death with marijuana in one sitting... But you can drink yourself to death

 

And in that study how much weed were they smoking and how much were they drinking? If they were smoking like chimneys but drink once a week of course the weed is going to have more of an effect...

 

If they were smoking daily.. and drinking alcohol daily like an alcoholic there's no way the alcohol was less damaging than the weed.. because a 14-year-old drinking alcohol everyday would  have serious short-term and long-term effects

 

It sounds like they tested kids who smoke weed and kids who said they occasionally drink.. 

 

What they didn't account for is the rate it happens.. they said 28% of the people said they smoked pot.. while 75% said they drink alcohol occasionally... That doesn't tell the whole story 

 

 notice it says 75% drinks occasionally.. it's very open to interpretation... Drinking occasionally can mean once every 2 weeks.. once every 3 weeks.. once every 10 days... Now if the pot smokers were smoking pot 5 6 7 days a week but the people drinking we're only drinking once every 15 days of course the marijuana is going to have more effect 

 

If a 14 year old was drinking hardcore alcohol everyday and smoking weed everyday alcohol would have a lot of negative effects

Edited April 1 by Buffalo716

[Augie]

On 3/31/2025 at 5:24 PM, QCity said:

I think those graphics greatly overexaggerate what should be minor differences.

 

Almost the entire state of Mississippi is green with 15.67% of it's pop tagged as excessive drinkers.

 

There's no green at all in Illinois with 17.54% excessively drinking. That's a 1.87% difference - which is probably not even within their sampling error, however the color-coding makes them look worlds apart. 

 

Why does Norm from Cheers come to mind when I think of how the numbers could be skewed???  🍺 🍻 🍺 

 

We loved that show. It was part of Thursday Taco Night when we were first married. 

 

 

.

Edited April 1 by Augie

[QCity]

9 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

But there's a huge difference between 10% & 24%...

 

Sure. I was talking about the difference between 15.7% and 17.5%. Is that a huge difference?

[ExiledInIllinois]

37 minutes ago, QCity said:

 

Sure. I was talking about the difference between 15.7% and 17.5%. Is that a huge difference?

Fair... Could have had a color gradient going from Bible Belt to Wisconsin...

 

BUT... There's actually a dry community here in Cook County... Chicago's county.  South Holland, Illinois... History going back to Dutch Reformed Church IIRC...  That's pretty far north and out of the Bible Belt!

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by ExiledInIllinois

[djp14150]

On 3/28/2025 at 8:49 AM, boater said:

Erie County is an island of boozers in an otherwise moderate NY... also the Adirondacks. Theory: alcohol consumption correlates with annual snowfall.

 

An what is it about Wisconsin? The place is going to explode with all the alcohol vapor.

 

source: https://brilliantmaps.com/americas-drunkest-driest-counties/

 

interactive version: https://intoxistates.com/

 

some thoughts….I have not read the thread.

 

the data source isn’t clear.  Is it from alcohol sales locally? Liquor licenses?

 

utah is home or anti-alcohol Mormons and they have one of the strictest in alcohol sales.

 

Wisconsin has been the hq of a bunch of beer companies over the years

On 3/30/2025 at 6:23 PM, Augie said:

 

We flew into Salt Lake City with the young boys and needed a meal asap. Downtown was empty and what might have been former restaurants were boarded up. We finally found a Hilton or something and figured they must have a restaurant. A town without much of a pulse, from what we saw.

 

But they are the home of the JAZZ! 😂 

 

Was nobody paying attention? 

Jazz name comes from the teams time in New Orleans.

 

utah is high Mormon population which is ani alcohol.

[Augie]

4 minutes ago, djp14150 said:

utah is home or anti-alcohol Mormons and they have one of the strictest in alcohol sales.

 

Wisconsin has been the hq of a bunch of beer companies over the years

Jazz name comes from the teams time in New Orleans.

 

utah is high Mormon population which is ani alcohol.

 

Yes, I know. It is odd in several ways, imo. 

[BillsPride12]

18 hours ago, djp14150 said:

 

some thoughts….I have not read the thread.

 

the data source isn’t clear.  Is it from alcohol sales locally? Liquor licenses?

 

utah is home or anti-alcohol Mormons and they have one of the strictest in alcohol sales.

 

Wisconsin has been the hq of a bunch of beer companies over the years

Jazz name comes from the teams time in New Orleans.

 

utah is high Mormon population which is ani alcohol.

I still remember when Dennis Rodman got in trouble for making comments about the mormons in Utah during the Bulls-Jazz NBA Finals lol

[ExiledInIllinois]

https://wsau.com/2025/04/11/plover-man-accused-of-7th-owi/