I always found the rules about public drinking in the US to be more strange than the drinking age.
Ah, yes, Germany! The land where there are no alcohol issues because everybody is by default drunk.
I think we're pretty average and it's even on the decline.
I was just making a stupid joke. Playing with an old stereotype. It's germans and beer and us and our mustaches.
That is good to know. My own country had a serious issue with alcohol and we managed to curb it in less than 10 years.
The recent surge revolves around binge drinking and hard liquor, when it was originally around wine. And supposedly women are drinking more than men, nowadays.
By the time Germans turn 18 (legal age for stronger alcoholic beverages) most of them already know their limit and party with more responsibility in my opinion.
Unfortunately alcoholism problems are worse here in Germany than the US. Many point to the early drinking ages for this, personally I see it is more a general cultural issue.
I have no data to back this up, but I seem to find that regions at Northern latitudes tend to have higher rates of alcoholism. I think it has something to do with long winter nights and people being able to find a sense of community in a pub/bar/Ratskeller after the sun goes down at 16:00 for half the year.
The US is much further south than most of Europe AND there are large regions that are very anti-alcohol due to religious reasons.
You stop drinking alcohol mostly at 21 I feel like.
At least most of me and my friends did. We still drink, but way way way way less. I feel like 21 or around there we the time we hit that responsibility.
Unfortunately data does not back that up. German people in fact drink more often and heavier, also into adulthood.
Its much better to find your limits at 18...
Grew up in South America and underage drinking, though illegal in theory, is pretty much the norm.
I grew up in the US, and the only person I know who didn't drink as a 15 year old is a 33 year old who still doesn't drink. Lol.
Interesting. I'm in Australia now and people here actually do respect the law when it comes to drinking. If you are under 18, it's unlikely you will be able to buy alcohol or get into a nightclub etc. It would be shocking to hear someone got pissed drunk at 15, whereas where I come from that isn't the case.
From OPs post I presumed US would be more like Australia in that regard, but, I take your word
The day after I moved to Germany I went to the hospital emergency room with what was later diagnosed as a kidney stone and stomach infection.
I was given over the counter painkillers and some cramp medication and told to drink lots of beer to treat the stomach infection by the doctor.
I am serious. I asked about the complications drinking on the pain meds and he just said it was OK.
mixing those meds with alcohol fucks your liver
Was "fuck your liver" as in "once is enough to fuck your liver" or as in "do this every day over a month to see any significant damage" kind of thing.
depends on the painkiller. Tylenol? Yeah goodbye liver. Ibuprofen? Better eat something alongside so your stomach lining doesnt get fucked.
Some doctors are wild. Mine will give me anything. I had a sore neck, he gave me tramadol. I was having trouble sleeping after quitting drinking, he gave me quietapine antipsychotics because their side effects are drowsiness. He gave me phentermine, a weight loss drug and powerful stimulant, because I was depressed. I was still depressed, but was much faster.
Does your doctor's name tag have the word "Dr." in quotes, by any chance?
You misunderstood, the beer is for your kidneys. Alcohol inhibits the adiuretic hormone, so you have to piss more often, especially if you drink beer which is around 95% water. Drinking a lot reduces the formation of kidney stones since they get flushed out before growing too big.
I wouldn't take painkillers tho, maybe Ibuprofen if it's unbearable, but stay away from Aspirin in conjunction with alcohol.
Meanwhile in Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare changed their guidelines in regards to drinking:
"Risky drinking now means drinking any of the following:
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10 standard glasses or more per week.
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4 standard glasses or more per drinking occasion (so-called intensive consumption) once a month or more often."
True story!
Google translate:
Also in Sweden: if your 5 year old and her friends wants to do vodka shots for their tea party, you can just go ahead and pour some for them.
Same in Denmark. It was 15 until recently. We also held the record for teenage drinking for a long time, and still hold "most average alcohol per session" or something.
Yet we are statistically one of the "happiest" countries in the world. And take the most antidepressants!
It's actually quite hard to buy alcohol in Sweden. You can't buy it in a regular supermarket you have to go to a special shop, that is open at different times, etc. And it's expensive.
Expensive is relative. Systembolaget is so huge that they have incredible deals with certain vendors and makers. I know fo a fact that most single malt whisky from scotland are cheaper to buy from systembolaget as compared to a Tax Free shop abroad. Beer and (usually)cheap wine however is pretty expensive due to the added alcohol tax.
Same in Iceland. Was wandering around the supermarket looking for some, and the wife eventually said "no, it's from a special shop". Which was closed. Because why would anybody want to buy alcohol after 5pm?
Went there the next day, the four-pack seemed about the right price so went to buy that, and the wife again went, "no, that's per can". The special shop just splits multipacks.
I can only assume all the alcoholics get their booze via dodgy sources, because there's no way they'd be able to afford to be perma-twatted at those prices.
The result of this is that all drinking Swedes just have a huge storage of alcohol at home though.
They also frequently drive all the way to Germany (through Denmark) to shop duty-free drinks in bulk.
Scandinavian countries have "pant" on bottles and cans, meaning you pay extra for the container, but get the money back when you return it empty.
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Drinking alcohol or buying it? Because in Britain it's 18 to buy it yourself but 5 to have it at home.
With 16 only Beer, stronger alcoholic drinks only when 18 Years old.
Beer and wine with 16. Spirits with 18.
Clever meme. The drink in hand works so well that you wonder whether the caption came before the image or vice versa.
Had this pic had people ass covering the right side of it this whole time?
Had the pic not had had people ass covering a whole ass side, how had you'd feel?
Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look More Like?
Btw, this meme is 14 years old. Get off my lawn
ass covering
Does that mean covering it with a picture of your own bum or is that just how I make my memes?
Funny story about that.
When I was a kid, 15+ years ago, my parents told me about somebody that did that here in Texas with their son.
The father took his underage son to a restaurant and was able to get him a beer. During the meal, the father went to the bathroom and the son took a drink of his beer. A cop was sitting nearby and arrested the kid for underage drinking because the father wasn't in the presence of the son so it was no longer "supervised".
Wisconsin has the same law and includes spouse of drinking age.
8 year olds in Slovakia:
I remember being 14 and having friends of the same age order beer here in Italy, get drunk, nobody cared.
Well, if your sneakey about it...
Waiting for 21 was well worth is tbh. I'm more responsible and don't have to get sloshed to show people that's I'm a grown up.
Right. That was I - batshit drunk from half a bottle of wine on my 12th birthday.
Also 7 year old russian kids
Imagine thinking American teens don't drink.
Because it's done underground I fully believe we drink more per capita.
Than Europe? That's cute.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/alcohol-consumption-by-country
Yeah, you guys are clearly drinkers. The US only makes the top 40 countries. Barely.
Edit: that's per capita, somehow we rank 25th in the world for consumption overall
As an American, I can assure you no 16 year old has much trouble procuring alcohol. I certainly didn't. By the time I was 21 the novelty had worn off
