The Atlantic
Just How Bad Is America’s Drinking Problem?
A little alcohol can boost creativity and strengthen social ties. But there’s nothing moderate, or convivial, about the way many Americans drink today.
This article was published online on June 1, 2021.
Few things are more American than drinking heavily. But worrying about how heavily other Americans are drinking is one of them.
The Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock because, the crew feared, the Pilgrims were going through the beer too quickly. The ship had been headed for the mouth of the Hudson River, until its sailors (who, like most Europeans of that time, preferred beer to water) panicked at the possibility of running out before they got home, and threatened mutiny. And so the Pilgrims were kicked ashore, short of their intended destination and beerless. William Bradford complained bitterly about the latter in his diary that winter, which is really saying something when you consider what trouble the group was in.
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Given the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t surprising that drinking alcohol has risen dramatically over the past year. You or someone you know has probably ordered liquor online, become very fond of ready-to-drink cocktails or thrown a Zoom quarantini party.
A spike in alcohol use, however, has also raised health concerns about a rise in heavy drinking among those particularly women who are struggling to cope as the pandemic wears on.
Total alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants surged roughly 24 percent after the pandemic restrictions began in mid-March 2020, according to a Nielsen marketing report that NPR cited in September; sales of liquor with higher alcohol content grew by 27 percent. Drizly, an online alcohol delivery service, had a 350 percent jump in sales during the pandemic, a spokeswoman told NPR.
IWSR Reports Consumers Prefer No-Alcohol To Low-Alcohol forbes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from forbes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.