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Comment by munchhausen | Hacker News Reader

I agree that the easy availability of alcohol to teenagers in most European countries seems to achieve the effect that you describe.

There is another angle to this though - is it better to engage in binge drinking right in the middle of adolescence, when the body and mind is at a rapid pace of development, or in your twenties, when you are physically better equipped to deal with the effects of excessive alcohol consumption?

I am not a medical professional, but instinctively, the second option seems to me to be the safer one.

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> your twenties, when you are physically better equipped to deal with the effects of excessive alcohol consumption?

Why would you believe that? I don't have any specific knowledge, but I also see no reason to believe that you're better equipped (physiologically) at 25 to handle alcohol than you are at 15.

You aren't still growing, so the binge drinking can't mess up your development processes. You have more body mass, so a given amount of alcohol will cause less of an increase in your BAC.

Another variable between European teenage drinking vs USA teenage drinking is driving.

European teens do drive - but it's not fashionable.

USA teens _have_ to drive. The party is spread out (multiple locations in suburbia) and the vehicle is the symbol of empowerment.

Obviously, mixing heavy or inexperienced drinking with driving is a recipe for death.

Drunk walking is just as dangerous. Freakonomics Radio recently did a piece of drunk walking and the numbers are surprisingly high.

I would imagine that drunk walking has less of a chance of killing others though. This doesn't even have to be by-standers. For example, with 4 drunk teenagers in a car, it just takes 1 drunk teen to kill 4. On the other hand, if you have 4 drunk walking teens, that kind of outcome is far less likely.

The chance that they all die is lower, but they chance that at least one of them dies is far far higher.

Are we comparing same levels of drunken-ness here? What about the difference between 4 drunk teens each walking alone vs. 4 drunk teens walking in a group (where it's possible to look out for one another)?

The mentioned article provides some figures:

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/12/28/the-perils-of-drunk-w...

The difference between drunk walking and drunk driving is that, while a drunk walker is a danger only to himself, a drunk driver is a threat to others.

A drunk walker careening into traffic poses no threat? Must note the "level" of drunkenness; motor skills at acceptable level but "above" limit per-law? You can still get public intoxication fines / jail, as well as a DUI if you hop on a bike (also highly dangerous).

In Germany it's illegal to walk outside if you're to drunk.

It's also illegal to make lots of noise on Sundays.

How do you get home?

This is of course bullshit. There is however, an interesting paragraph (StGB § 323a) that says you can go to jail for up to 5 years for being intoxicated if you get drunk deliberately and then commit a crime but are deemed criminally incapable.

Maybe not what the gp meant, but 20-80 lbs might make you better equipped. 10 years of "wisdom" hopefully helps too.

There is a study on adolescent binge drinking and its effect on the brain; if anyone wants to read it http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2827693/?tool=pm...

In short, it affects spatial working memory, verbal encoding and ability to inhibit ourselves. These effects don't seem that nefarious, and not so prominent in affecting our lives in a significant way; but don't take my word because I'm no neuro scientist.

On the other hand, on personal experience I've seen greater social issues with people that are heavy drinkers in their post adolescence period.

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