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Health & Fitness

Border War! NH versus MA!

Border war! New Hampshire versus Massachusetts!

Does New Hampshire consume more alcohol per capita than any other state in the nation? Massachusetts fired the first shot when Austin Tedesco claimed in Boston.com  (05/28/2014) that "There isn't a drunker state in the country than New Hampshire, according to a report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The Granite State averaged a per capita consumption of ethanol from alcoholic beverages of 4.65 gallons in 2012, nearly twice the national average of 2.33 gallons and the largest mark for any state."

And that statement aroused the ire of the arch-conservative Manchester Union-Leader (05/30/14) which saw an opportunity not only to refute the argument, but also to take a few potshots at the liberal Boston Globe.

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"And maybe there isn't a more gullible newspaper in the country than The Globe, which should have editors who know that New Hampshire's alcohol sales numbers are inflated by Bay Staters who buy our tax-free booze so they can drink more cheaply back home . . .roughly half of the alcohol bought in New Hampshire is bought by out-of-staters, according to the state Liquor Commission. Lo and behold, the fine print of the study states that 'these estimates in some States may be inflated by such factors as cross-border sales to buyers from neighboring states (e.g., in New Hampshire).'"

Of course, if New Hampshire's per capita consumption is cut in half to take account of cross-border sales, the resulting figure 2.325 gallons is virtually identical to  the national average of 2.33 gallons. So there, Globe, take that.  As advertised, Granite Staters are practical, canny, and very definitely sober. End of argument? Not quite. Along comes an honest broker to bring other information to light. Don't you just hate honest brokers?  They take all the fun out of nasty fights.

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Eileen Shim  in policymic.com (05/29/30) reports, "According to New Hampshire's state health department, 'A statistically significantly higher proportion of New Hampshire residents in all groups (64%) reported using alcohol in the past month compared with the national average (52%),' and 'among 18-25 year olds in 2008-2009, New Hampshire had the highest rate of past month alcohol use of any state (75%).' "

I guess this generous  consumption of alcohol in the Granite State might in part be attributed to the libertarian spirit of our state motto: "Live Free or Die." However, take warning: "Live too freely with alcohol and you surely will die."

A sign of liberal infiltration into the state: Granite Staters  are giving up their manly beer-drinking habits and are becoming wine sippers.  Nationally, beer accounts for half of alcohol consumption, but only 41 percent in New Hampshire. Also, New Hampshire ranks among the top seven states for proportionate consumption of wine and spirits compared to beer. Let's hope this disquieting news doesn't set the Union-Leader off on another tirade.

Healthy People 2020 sets wellness goals for Americans. It has set a goal of no more than 2.1 gallons of alcohol per person per year (Esquire, 05/29/14). Just how stringent is that standard? A person would still be able to drink about 25 bottles of whiskey, 88 bottles of wine, or 320 bottles of beer. (Hopefully, not all at one time.)

Would you like to learn more about the eccentric ways of Granite Staters? Pour yourself a cool one and read my book Outtastatahs: Newcomers' Adventures in New Hampshire. Outtastatahs (as in out-of-staters)  features the trials and tribulations of newcomers to this state. (Two out of three New Hampshire residents weren't born here.) Outtastatahs can be purchased at River Run Bookstore in Portsmouth; the Galley Hatch Restaurant gift shop in Hampton; The Water Street Bookstore in Exeter; Gibson's Bookstore in Concord and on-line at barnesandnoble.com. Both paper and Kindle versions can be obtained at amazon.com.

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