Maryland bans high-proof grain alcohol in part to reduce sexual assaults

[Atomic Playboy]

Trying Everclear once is a great way to prevent repeat consumption. I figured that stuff was exclusively bought by apothecaries making comfrey tinctures and whatnot.

 

[smackababy]

Fun fact: ethanol counteracts the poison in antifreeze. I know EMTs that carry a bottle of Everclear just for that purpose.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Looks like I'm stuck drinking rain water.

 

[IronWing]

Looks like I'm stuck drinking rain water.

:biggrin:

 

[Matt1970]

But it takes a lot less effort to get there with 190 proof.

Oh ya because it takes so long to get drunk on 80 proof.

 

[smackababy]

Oh ya because it takes so long to get drunk on 80 proof.

If I were to drink 10 shots of Everclear or 10 shots of Vodka, I'd have a much lower chance of dying from the latter, getting only about half as much alcohol. The problem with super high alcohol content beverages is they are consumed just like lower content beverages, and since you only become intoxicated at a fixed rate (your body has a limit to how fast it can process the drinks), you are likely to continue to get more and more drunk without realizing it.

 

[Texashiker]

Looks like I'm stuck drinking rain water.

In some states is it against the law to capture rainwater.

 

[IronWing]

The problem with super high alcohol content beverages is they are consumed just like lower content beverages,...

Not in my exerpience. Tell someone that the glass is filled with 190 and they generally pause to work themselves up to drinking it. The stuff hurts.

 

[DrPizza]

If I were to drink 10 shots of Everclear or 10 shots of Vodka, I'd have a much lower chance of dying from the latter, getting only about half as much alcohol. The problem with super high alcohol content beverages is they are consumed just like lower content beverages, and since you only become intoxicated at a fixed rate (your body has a limit to how fast it can process the drinks), you are likely to continue to get more and more drunk without realizing it.

But I don't know people who drink shots of everclear. They use it for things like jungle juice, etc. - Simply a cheap way to add alcohol to sugary drinks.

 

[smackababy]

But I don't know people who drink shots of everclear. They use it for things like jungle juice, etc. - Simply a cheap way to add alcohol to sugary drinks.

Doesn't even have to be shots. Jungle juice with the same amount of vodka is going to have around half the alcohol content of that with Everclear. And, the danger is that is much easier to drink, very quickly, more alcohol with Everclear than with other spirits, which is what college kids generally do.

Don't get me wrong, I am not for them banning 190 proof grain alcohol, and especially for those stupid reasons (had they made arguments about binge drinking and the safety or some shit, I might have attempted to believe this was a good law).

 

[Matt1970]

Not in my exerpience. Tell someone that the glass is filled with 190 and they generally pause to work themselves up to drinking it. The stuff hurts.

Ya it does.

 

[TheVrolok]

But I don't know people who drink shots of everclear. They use it for things like jungle juice, etc. - Simply a cheap way to add alcohol to sugary drinks.

This. I used to keep Everclear in my flash when I was out in college. Could just add it to whatever mixer was on hand and have an easy drink. Admittedly I did sip from the flask from time to time, and I swear it made my tongue numb.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Doesn't even have to be shots. Jungle juice with the same amount of vodka is going to have around half the alcohol content of that with Everclear. And, the danger is that is much easier to drink, very quickly, more alcohol with Everclear than with other spirits, which is what college kids generally do.

Except they claim they're doing this to reduce sexual assaults, which means they're concerned about young women getting hammered and sexually assaulted at parties or what have you... If you hand a college-age girl a glass of jungle juice made with everclear, they're not going to drink a ton of it, because it still burns like wildfire. If you make the exact same thing with vodka and rum, they won't even know it has alcohol and they'll drink way more of it. I had a friend in college who was an aspiring bartender and made what he jokingly referred to as "date rape daiquiris;" they were sickly sweet, but they went down easy and after a couple your legs would stop working (he wasn't actually trying to date rape anyone, of course, and made sure that no one was going way overboard on the potent concoction, presumably as much for his safety as theirs). And those were just plain old nasty Bacardi rum drinks. The point is you don't need overproof grain alcohol to get someone wasted, and the sheer unpleasantness of it makes it a poor choice in comparison to more quaffable libations. If you really want to stop young women getting hammered at parties, you don't ban everclear, you ban Bartles & Jaymes.

 

[Thebobo]

In some states is it against the law to capture rainwater.

That's an urban myth and is not true.

There are three western states where you have to get a permit to "harvest" water but having a rain barrel is not going to get your arrested.

 

[Kadarin]

From TFA:

The grain alcohol ban, backed by a group of university presidents as a safety measure

Once again, school administrators are proving that they are the dumbest people on the planet.