We all know that kids under the legal drinking age still manage to find a way to get drunk. But do they have to rely on such gross beverages? According to recent research out of the Johns Hopkins Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and the Boston University School of Public Health, underage drinkers prefer vodka, Bud Light, Smirnoff malt beverages, and Coors Light when they binge drink.
You might think that kids are just opting for the cheapest way to drink themselves silly, but the study’s results belie that: “The inclusion of some relatively expensive brands in the top 25 binge brand list suggests that variables other than price are driving youth brand preferences with respect to binge drinking,” study author David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, said according to the Hopkins Hub.
There’s an argument here for lowering the drinking age. Maybe if American youth didn’t have to sneak around to get their buzz, they’d be more like French teens and sip wine with dinner instead of guzzling watered-down beer and tasteless vodka. Oh wait, that doesn’t work, either.
