Washington, D.C., has earned the nation's highest honor (or lowest, depending on how you look at it): the title of America's heaviest drinkers.
It's not the most prestigious of awards, but damn it, Washington, D.C., earned it. Out of the entire country, the heaviest drinkers are in the Washington, D.C., area. The data was compiled by Detox.net by carrying out phone interviews with residents from across the United States. The study estimates that 65.9 percent of residents in the District of Columbia qualify as "adult drinkers," people who admitted to having at least one drink in the past month. Only Wisconsin registered a higher percentage of 1+ drink a month residents (67.3 percent). That's not all that impressive, though. One drink a month is hardly newsworthy. When it comes to the number of D.C. residents who drink more than one drink a day, the District takes the top spot. According to the survey, an estimated 11.1 percent of Washingtonians are "heavy drinkers." The study defines heavy drinkers as men who drink two drinks a day and women who drink one alcoholic beverage a day. Vermont came in second with an estimated 9.1 percent of residents drinking more than one drink a day.
But the survey didn't stop there. They also surveyed how many of respondents engaged in "binge drinking" at least once in the previous month. Detox.net defined binge drinkers as any woman or man who, on at least one occasion, threw back at least four or five alcoholic drinks (respectively). Here, the District of Columbia also took the top spot with an estimated 25.5 percent of the population getting drunk at least once in a given month.
One interesting takeaway from the study is that the more wealthy or educated a population is, the more likely they are to drink. For example, 79.7 percent of D.C. college graduates were drinkers, 13.4 percent were classified as heavy drinkers, and 32.3 percent engage in binge drinking. D.C .residents making over $75,ooo a year also claimed the highest rates of drinking and binge drinking.
The study is causing alarm in and around Washington, D.C., especially given recent changes to how District businesses can serve alcohol. Earlier in 2017, the D.C. City Council relaxed restrictions on alcohol sales. Previously, local breweries were only allowed to sell their beers in growlers or large jugs. Recent changes now allow these breweries to sell cans, bottles, and kegs as well. Grocery stores in the District were also previously restricted from selling wine, cider, or mead (honey wine), however similar changes now allow grocers to sell these as long as they are sold in growlers. It is hard, however, to pin Washington, D.C.'s drinking statistics on grocery stores' new ability to sell honey wine by the half-gallon.
Considering that many of these demographic statistics were pulled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2016 numbers, the 2016 Presidential Election likely played a bigger role in these drinking stats than obscure grocery regulations.
Washington, D.C., is also one of the largest college towns in the United States. While New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago have the three largest college-age populations, the District of Columbia comes in fourth with an estimated 450,000 college students. For a city with a population of just under 700,000 people, the District's college students likely skewed these drinking statistics.
Well, what do you think? Is Washington, D.C., a city full of alcoholics? Or is this just part and parcel of living in the nation's capital? Let us know in the comment section below!
