How Do You Define Binge Drinking? 

According to a new study, Binge drinking is highest in the midwest (hattip to DailyPundit):

Utah, Oregon and states in the deep South have the lowest rates of binge drinking in the country, while states in the Midwest and Great Plains have some of the highest rates, says a government study released Monday.

The problem was most prevalent in North Dakota, where an estimated 31 percent of residents 12 and older had engaged in binge drinking, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Binge use was defined as consuming five or more drinks on the same occasion at least once in the last 30 days.

The survey builds on national data released last September which found that nearly 23 percent of all U.S. residents had gone on drinking binges.
...
"While we as a nation are making overall progress in reducing illicit drug use among youth, it is clear from the findings that illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco use vary substantially among states and regions," said Charles Curie, head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

A couple things bother me here. First of all... I'm skeptical of their definition of a "binge drinker". Maybe its the fact that I live in Wisconsin where a single glass of beer at a bar is usually big enough to be considered two drinks... but 5 drinks on one occasion in the past month is a binge? What bothers me most is the "one occasion" part. True, an "occasion" can last 1 hour, in which case 5 drinks is a lot. However, an "occasion" can also last 5 or more hours in which case you're having a drink per hour, which is perfectly safe. A drink an hour won't even get your BAL over the legal limit depending on your body type. Yet those two distinct types of drinking are being lumped together rather easily here... I believe just to bump up the percentage and make it look all the more shocking. I believe that if this were a truly credible study, they would have used a more defined period of time, and not a gray term that could mean anything.

I also went to read the actual study here, hoping to see how they define "a drink". Unfortunately I could not find that reference... so who knows how they define it. Any credible study would have that information clearly available.

Finally, the quotation at the end bugs me. The person quoted sneaks the term "illicit drug use" in when talking about alcohol. While illicit drug use could very well be a problem, alcohol is not an illicit drug. Alcohol is a legal drug. It is even legal for an underage person to drink alcohol in the presence of their parents. Personally I think its a smart idea for parents to teach their children how to drink responsibly... which would decrease the likelihood that they'd go on binges later in life. When a teenager learns to drink responsibly, it's no longer illicit and taboo. It's just a beer... or whatever.