http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/thespin/2008/03/19/on-drinking-and-traffic-cones/ The opinion blog of The Daily Pennsylvanian Fri, 16 May 2008 15:11:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/thespin/2008/03/19/on-drinking-and-traffic-cones/#comment-3336 In contrast... Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:07:50 +0000 http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/thespin/2008/03/19/on-drinking-and-traffic-cones/#comment-3336 ...I spent a year studying in a European high school. Every Saturday night, my classmates would turn a two block square area of the city's downtown into a seething mass of inebriation. The bars were packed wall to wall, and by morning the streets were uniformly coated with a thin film of piss, vomit and broken glass. They also used to smoke weed (legally) on the steps of the school when class got out. I rarely drank and never touched the dope. On the other hand, when I went to a nice restaurant, I could enjoy a glass or two of local wine with my meal without needing to skirt some ridiculous regulation. A generalized lack of the critical thinking required to come to the conclusion that excessive consumption of intoxicants is not a desirable outcome and the integrity to act according to that conclusion is no excuse for draconian, paternalistic regulation of legitimate, moderated consumption. …I spent a year studying in a European high school. Every Saturday night, my classmates would turn a two block square area of the city’s downtown into a seething mass of inebriation. The bars were packed wall to wall, and by morning the streets were uniformly coated with a thin film of piss, vomit and broken glass. They also used to smoke weed (legally) on the steps of the school when class got out. I rarely drank and never touched the dope. On the other hand, when I went to a nice restaurant, I could enjoy a glass or two of local wine with my meal without needing to skirt some ridiculous regulation. A generalized lack of the critical thinking required to come to the conclusion that excessive consumption of intoxicants is not a desirable outcome and the integrity to act according to that conclusion is no excuse for draconian, paternalistic regulation of legitimate, moderated consumption.

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