Drinking/getting drunk

[Mutty]

For years I have always said I have never been drunk or that I don't drink. By 'don't drink,' I mean, I rarely drink and if I do, it is often a 2 drink limit and than drink is small and heavily diluted with some non-alcoholic beverage.

Well, today I was out with a few friends for a late lunch and they were guzzling down a few beers between them. They each had about 6. I've seen them drink before and I've seen them often drink about that much and they are never in a state I would call "drunk." They are never stumbling all over the place, staggering or slurring just from drinking beers. So as I was watching them drinking, it occurred to me to ask them a question. I wanted to know about how many beers (in New York City) brought an average sized person over the drinking limit? I was shocked when they said "one" showing my total ignorance to laws about drinking because I've never considered myself drunk or desired to be drunk to need to know.

With this information in mind, I now realize I HAVE been drunk before according to state's standards. The two or three times a year I have TWO rum and cokes or drink three small cups of Ponche Kuba or even two Stone Ginger Wines, I've probably been drunk even though I feel NO different after I had the drinks to before I had them. I certain don't stagger, slur or even feel "buzzed."

How much beers can you drink in your state or country before you are considered "drunk?" I do realize some beers are stronger then some, but let's use popular beers (Heineken, Corona, Budweiser, Coors) as an example. If you say "one," isn't that a little ridiculous and just another money making scam for cities and states and isn't it the same with weed?

[Stormmey]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

It also depends on your body weight, one beer can get someone drunk while a bigger (weight) person would not blow over the legal limit. Cannot remember the name of the thingy the cops have you blow into

[Sinco01]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Stormmey1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It also depends on your body weight, one beer can get someone drunk while a bigger (weight) person would not blow over the legal limit. Cannot remember the name of the thingy the cops have you blow into </div></div>

breathalyzer

[Mutty]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Stormmey1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It also depends on your body weight, one beer can get someone drunk while a bigger (weight) person would not blow over the legal limit. Cannot remember the name of the thingy the cops have you blow into </div></div>

Hmmm...so it is NOT the amount of alcohol in your system, regardless of size, it is the size of the person? I thought it was what was ON your breath and not what has been absorbed into the body.

[Nylah]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk


but also people metabolize liquor differently.

I can drink ALOT before I *feel* drunk which isnt always the same as being legally over the limit.

[Mutty]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nylah</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
but also people metabolize liquor differently.

I can drink ALOT before I *feel* drunk which isnt always the same as being legally over the limit. </div></div>

I know Nylah, but I'm not really talking about &quot;feeling.&quot;

Ok, forgive me for being ignorant of these things. When they take that breath test, is your breath giving the true reading of what is actually in your blood or does your tongue represent what is actually in your system?

[Nylah]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

My response was more geared towards stormmey than answering your question.


only a blood test can determine how much alcohol is in your system. The analyzers are taking reading os ethyl alcohol your breath/lungs are emitting.

well, shouldnt say only a blood test can determine it only - my understanding is that a blood test is the most accurate.
They do consider the alcohol emitted thru your lungs and in your breath to be of similar concentration to what is found in your blood. Hence why analyzers will hold up in a court of law.

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

Alcohol intoxication is legally defined by the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level. However, taking a blood sample in the field for later analysis in the laboratory is not practical or efficient for detaining drivers suspected of driving while impaired (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI). Urine tests for alcohol proved to be just as impractical in the field as blood sampling. What was needed was a way to measure something related to BAC without invading a suspect's body.

In the 1940s, breath alcohol testing devices were first developed for use by police. In 1954, Dr. Robert Borkenstein of the Indiana State Police invented the Breathalyzer, one type of breath alcohol testing device used by law enforcement agencies today.

Alcohol is not digested upon absorption, nor chemically changed in the bloodstream. As the blood goes through the lungs, some of the alcohol moves across the membranes of the lung's air sacs (alveoli) into the air, because alcohol will evaporate from a solution -- that is, it is volatile. The concentration of the alcohol in the alveolar air is related to the concentration of the alcohol in the blood. As the alcohol in the alveolar air is exhaled, it can be detected by the breath alcohol testing device. Instead of having to draw a driver's blood to test his alcohol level, an officer can test the driver's breath on the spot and instantly know if there is a reason to arrest the driver.

Because the alcohol concentration in the breath is related to that in the blood, you can figure the BAC by measuring alcohol on the breath. The ratio of breath alcohol to blood alcohol is 2,100:1. This means that 2,100 milliliters (ml) of alveolar air will contain the same amount of alcohol as 1 ml of blood.

For many years, the legal standard for drunkenness across the United States was 0.10, but many states have now adopted the 0.08 standard. The federal government has pushed states to lower the legal limit. The American Medical Association says that a person can become impaired when the blood alcohol level hits 0.05. If a person's BAC measures 0.08, it means that there are 0.08 grams of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

There are several different devices used for measuring BAC.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/breathalyzer2.htm

[Boricua_papi]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

In Kentucky, where I lived for two years, that state definition of intoxication is defined by one's blood alcohol level relative to the standard for lethal intoxication established by blood alcohol readings retrieved from Boris Yeltsin on his way to the Russian Parliament circa 1995.

[diabolical_Tanya]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

and the best thing to do is refuse to take a BA and insist on a blood alcohol test.(your legal right) and enroute to the blood alcohol test east some bread and drink whole heap a water. might not be legal or possible

[Sinco01]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: B_P</div><div class="ubbcode-body">In Kentucky, where I lived for two years, that state definition of intoxication is defined by <span style="font-weight: bold">one's blood alcohol level relative to the standard for lethal intoxication established by blood alcohol readings retrieved from Boris Yeltsin on his way to the Russian Parliament</span> circa 1995. </div></div>


Bori ..
yu mad to rhatid ..

[Derek]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

How do you define 'drunk' anyway?

If I feel a little tipsy; not slurring or staggering, does that mean I'm drunk? Although I could be arrested for drink-driving after three pints and a large glass of wine.

Four pints, two large vodka tonics and two glasses of wine will have me a bit unsteady on my feet, but not so 'drunk' that I don't know what I'm doing/where I am.

[Wahalla]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

Well last time I got inerberated... Well buzzing.. It is nearly impossibel for me to get drunk I tend to throw up.. Was a session on Burns Night Scotland. A contractor of mine took me out and laid it on... .. Lets say the total estimate of alcoholic beverage I imbided was pushing about -1 gallon..... A combination of Champagne, Wine, Wiskey, Brandy... It took that much to wash down the Haggis... I threw up next morning, that was the haggis not the alcohol.. never mix the grain and the grape laddie.....

I am a regular drinker.. If I prepare a meal at home my wife and I will finish a bottle and a half of wine a... All the children must have a sip...That has how it always has been in my house hold... If its steak I will have a couple blondes...

I will watch cricket and drink a couple bottles of ale or beer in a session.. that six beers in a day...I will get up and function without any impediment. My wife has an incredible higher tolerance to alcohol. in my married life I have seen her drunk once... It was helerious.... We have a rule who ever drinks simply does not drive... As a rule I cant stand yankee beers, nor do I drink any of the stuff that Mutty mention... I tend to drink local beers. At Home botiques recently Scottish beers have improved tremendously, Black Isle beers, heather beer, Isle of Arran Ales or Blondes, white beers, If I go to pubs i tend to go where they do &quot;guest beer&quot;. If worst case I go for a guiness- though I am a murphy's man. In China I drank Tsing Tao funny that the chinese produce such a quality product. Malayia in is Tiger.... An interesting history of colonialism is associated with that beer...... I tend to veiw the big brands that Heinke, Carsberg, Yanki bud, coorsas Mcdonalds of Beers tom cat urine.....

[loops]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> never mix the grain and the grape laddie.....
</div></div>

liquor before beer...never fear
beer before liquor...never sicker

just an old wive's tale i've heard.

legal limit in this state...two beers.

my limit...many more than that...as long as i'm not driving.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Drinking/getting drunk

The weight influences it, but how about some very small person that can drink a lot more alcohol than one that is much heavier??