The Drunkest (and Driest) Cities in America

[big dog cowboy]

The Drunkest (and Driest) Cities in America
24/7 Wall St.
Sam Stebbins
5/14/2016



Alcohol poisoning and alcohol-related liver diseases are major contributors to the recently identified spike in mortality among middle aged, white Americans. Alcohol is the fourth leading cause of preventable death in the United States, claiming nearly 88,000 lives a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Excessive drinking can take the form of binge drinking or heavy drinking. The CDC defines binge drinking as consuming four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men during a single sitting. Heavy drinking is defined as some 15 or more drinks consumed per week for men and eight or more drinks for women.

Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to serious and often fatal health consequences. According to the CDC, negative health outcomes associated with heavy drinking include liver disease, neurological damage, and cardiovascular diseases.

To identify the U.S. cities with the highest and lowest excessive drinking rates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the percentage of adults who report binge or heavy drinking across 381 metro areas. Metro level data were aggregated from county level data provided by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute joint program. All data are as of the most recent available year. Median household income and poverty data came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The number of bars per capita came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Health outcomes, including the number of potential lives lost per 100,000 people due to premature death annually and the percentage of adults who report fair or poor health were also aggregated from county-level data obtained from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps.

These are the drunkest and driest cities in America.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/med...riest-cities-in-america/ss-BBt2zTq?li=BBnba9O

 

[BigStar]

Wisconsin was listed repeatedly; legislation similar to Colorado and Washington may help... Seemed most of the highest drinking states were in the Northern Midwest. The accepted epidemic?

 

[trickblue]

Wisconsin for the win...

 

[Longboysfan]

Wisconsin - Land of Drunks?

 

[Longboysfan]

Tennessee - Driest - Land of Jack Dainles????

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Look at what happens in Alaska, and BTW, I am very skeptical of these numbers because I believe that other sources have reported various cities in Alaska as the biggest problem cities. Anyway, it's related to the weather. Places where you are stuck inside for long periods of time, that creates depression and leads to substance abuse.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I remember being stationed in Ft Polk. Most called Leesville the town in the parish outside of base. Parish not counties in Louisiana. Vernon Parish was dry. You could by liquor and beer on post but not outside. So they made one area between post and Leesville. It was called New Llano. It was basically about a 1-2 mile strip on a four lane road between base and leesville. It was still in Vernon Parish but it was it's own "Town" and that is using the term loosely. It really was nothing but a strip of bars, a couple tatttoo joints and one or two late nite diners. It was made up for nothing more than to allow the locals and the GIs to go to the bars.

Crazy...every where else in that county was dry.

Another oddball thing that I am sure many Texans already know but seemed odd to me.

When in the military when I would be anywhere in Texas...8 out of 10 times if I tried to buy beer with my military ID or my WV driver license as a back up ID...they would not sell me beer or liquor. Now it was different when I was in a bar. But if we were at a gas station or other areas that sold beer/liquor...more times than not they said they could not sell it to me because I did not have a texas ID.

I tried to tell them that a United States Military ID should be sufficient in all states and it is pretty obvious that we were military people but nope.

Always thought that was odd. Of course that could be different now.

 

[jterrell]

I remember being stationed in Ft Polk. Most called Leesville the town in the parish outside of base. Parish not counties in Louisiana. Vernon Parish was dry. You could by liquor and beer on post but not outside. So they made one area between post and Leesville. It was called New Llano. It was basically about a 1-2 mile strip on a four lane road between base and leesville. It was still in Vernon Parish but it was it's own "Town" and that is using the term loosely. It really was nothing but a strip of bars, a couple tatttoo joints and one or two late nite diners. It was made up for nothing more than to allow the locals and the GIs to go to the bars.

Crazy...every where else in that county was dry.

Another oddball thing that I am sure many Texans already know but seemed odd to me.

When in the military when I would be anywhere in Texas...8 out of 10 times if I tried to buy beer with my military ID or my WV driver license as a back up ID...they would not sell me beer or liquor. Now it was different when I was in a bar. But if we were at a gas station or other areas that sold beer/liquor...more times than not they said they could not sell it to me because I did not have a texas ID.

I tried to tell them that a United States Military ID should be sufficient in all states and it is pretty obvious that we were military people but nope.

Always thought that was odd. Of course that could be different now.

Lubbock was the same way. They had to leave the dry county to go to 'the Strip' to buy alcohol to immediately drive it back to the campus or area housing and drink selves into a stupor nightly.
Was completely stupid and dangerous making driving a requirement.

Also made alcohol resale a very real industry.
Again, stupid.

BP: Texas considers everyone else subhuman. Tx ID or die, basically.

 

[Bill Wooten]

That is bizarre that they wouldn't honor a military ID.

I was somewhere in Mississippi (20+ years ago, maybe around Starkeville) and they only sold beer warm. I guess their reasoning was you had to plan ahead to get drunk. You could drive 15 minutes to the next county and get it cold.

 

[Shunpike]

If Packers was a miserable franchise like Browns, I would say Packers will make you drink but this isn't the case .I wonder why they drink more than rest of America. Long and cold nights and not enough hot women? Probably.....

 

[YosemiteSam]

I suppose cowboyszone.com doesn't count as a virtual city. Otherwise, this place would be #1 on this list as based on most people's opinions here. You're all drunk!

 

[Longboysfan]

I wonder why they drink more than rest of America. Long and cold nights and not enough hot women? Probably.....

Yes. Too many clothes layers to peel off.

 

[iceberg]

Look at what happens in Alaska, and BTW, I am very skeptical of these numbers because I believe that other sources have reported various cities in Alaska as the biggest problem cities. Anyway, it's related to the weather. Places where you are stuck inside for long periods of time, that creates depression and leads to substance abuse.

not always.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

not always.

That's true. A real women could make me stop drinking. But it would have to be a really Big Women.

;-)

 

[YosemiteSam]

That's true. A real women could make me stop drinking. But it would have to be a really Big Women.

;-)

You're into asphyxiation? That's disgusting!

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You're into asphyxiation? That's disgusting!

Don't be twisting my words are..... Pre-vert!

;-)

 

[Bill Wooten]

Wanna tell you story
About woman I know
When it comes to lovin'
She steals the show
She ain't exactly pretty
Ain't exactly small
Fourt'two thirt'ninefiftysix
You could say she's got it all

 

[Longboysfan]

Look at what happens in Alaska, and BTW, I am very skeptical of these numbers because I believe that other sources have reported various cities in Alaska as the biggest problem cities. Anyway, it's related to the weather. Places where you are stuck inside for long periods of time, that creates depression and leads to substance abuse.

Their may be a population limitation on this.

it did say Cities - not villages.

 

[PBCCowboy]

If Packers was a miserable franchise like Browns, I would say Packers will make you drink but this isn't the case .I wonder why they drink more than rest of America. Long and cold nights and not enough hot women? Probably.....

I have been to Green Bay.It is depressing.