Survey: Americans are boozing it up

Put down your beer for just a moment, you’ll need to concentrate on this one. It turns out America is more drunk than it’s been in 25 years.

That’s right, alcohol usage is up – at its highest since the 1970s. According to USA Today, consumption of alcohol is at a 25-year high, as of 2010. Sixty-seven percent of Americans reported drinking alcoholic beverages.

That’s a mighty fine mojito you’re holding, we should go get our drink on, American-way style. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Several theories have been tossed around about why drinking is up so much, where it’s up, and more importantly, whether this data is even correct.

The survey results say that the most drinking happens in the northeast, the plain states, and “the far west.” For the sake of assuming that USA Today and Gallup were sick of the phrase “the west coast” we’re going to guess that “the far west,” includes the fine folks of Washington state.

Thirty-three percent of people say they abstain from alcohol, but those polled only had two choices: Drinking or not drinking.

“For all practical purposes, I would be an abstainer,” says 97.3 KIRO FM’s Dave Ross, “but I do hit the Manischewitz, like, once a week. So I would probably have to answer, yes, I drink.”

The lack of options could be why the data seems slightly flawed. It’s not an uncommon conclusion. For 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ron & Don, who have lived in various cities across the United States, some of the results didn’t match up with life experiences.

“They say Dallas is actually one of the driest places in the country,” says Don. “I think it’s the way that people report though, because I have lived in Dallas and there is a lot of heavy drinking that goes on there.”

Don says that people also go to church on Sunday in the Bible Belt city of Dallas, which affect their answers. In Don’s experience, “People throughout the Bible Belt, they do a lot more drinking than people do in the plain states or in ‘the very far west.'”

Can we blame these people for a little white lie about a drop of sin juice? Sure, we probably like to admit the enjoyment of our vices less than we actually enjoy them. Maybe this survey, instead of informing us how much Americans drink, really serves better as a self-reflective tool to see if we are spending too much energy hitting the hooch.

We haven’t reached the outrageous number drunks in the 1970’s yet (71 percent) so in the meantime, let’s appreciate that alcohol is a thread in the woven tapestry of American history: Sometimes we drink, sometimes we don’t drink, and sometimes drinking helps us tell the story.