April is Alcohol Awareness month all over the USA But not Boulder
April 12, 2012 7:11 pm by Boulder Channel 1, under News.
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Alcohol abuse is the elephant sitting on the Pearl Street Mall that no one wants to address.
We have serious problems with Youth Drinking, Women alcoholics are on the rise with the popularity of wine tastings among well to do educated women. The Start up community sees its share of alcohol abuse in the office. Alcohol promotions are way up with
Community groups such as Downtown Boulder. It has promoted the Mixology festival at BMOCA. It also promote a weekly bar hopping tour. Next week it promotes a Pearl Street long wine tasting event. It turned every Band on the Bricks into a beer festival. It used to be a family event. The city also promotes a craft beer festiva.l The Pearl street drinking scene is hotter than ever.
Community groups such as Downtown Boulder. It has promoted the Mixology festival at BMOCA. It also promote a weekly bar hopping tour. Next week it promotes a Pearl Street long wine tasting event. It turned every Band on the Bricks into a beer festival. It used to be a family event. The city also promotes a craft beer festiva.l The Pearl street drinking scene is hotter than ever.
The city has been concerned about alcohol abuse on University Hill and has started turning down liquor licensees there. Yet two super liquor stores will open this year near 29th street.
Techstars and Boulder Start up routinely promote drinking events everyday they operate. Caution of this addictive drug has been cast to the wind.
The down side is the addiction, behavior, and pressure on public services : from police, to human resources, hospital,<
This is an issue that needs to be addressed.
80% of Boulder arrests are alcohol abuse related. They include the majority of domestic violence calls, 100% of drunk driving calls. 50% of all motor vehicle accidents. Home accidents, drownings , boating accidents. The number nationally are staggering. In Boulder they run higher than the national average.
Boulder has also won the dubious distinction of being the drinking-est community by over a dozen organizations. Boulder Community hospital which does not list alcohol as a cause of death lists a large number of admittance’s for alcohol related diseases including heart disease, kidney failure, heart disease, diabetes, chronic arthritis, and too many to list .
The county Addiction Recovery Center which employs a staff of over 30 24 hours a day admits over 3000 sufferers from alcoholism a year. County mental health say that 50 % of their patients have alcohol abuse. Over 70% of Boulder 3000 homeless suffer from alcoholism. Alcoholics anonymous estimates over 5000 members. Half are under 35 years old.< On the job drinking is promoted daily in social media with office parties always in play.
Wine meet-ups have become a new phenom as have women’s wine lunches.
But is Boulder addressing Alcohol Awareness month ?? No. Why not?. The reason is that a symptom of community wide alcohol abuse is Denial. 18 years ago Boulder banned inflatable liquor displays and alcohol signage such as beer banners hanging from buildings. It also brought to an end alcohol sponsored events at Boulder Rez.
But alcohol promoted events have begun to sneak back into the community.
In 1993 through 1995 alcohol abuse was so severe the city and county held yearly alcohol summits. But not anymore. Has the problem one away. No, it has gotten worse every year.
Here some links on what you can do to raise awareness about alcohol abuse in Boulder http://healthfinder.gov/nho/PDFs/AprilNHOtoolkit.pdf
So, let’s have a police state crackdown on pot smokers?