So many days of our year have become traditional celebrations, including New Year’s Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, the Fourth of July, Saint Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, and the day before Thanksgiving.
These celebration dates have also become the heaviest drinking days of the year—even if you don’t even know what the original celebration is for.
Take Cinco de Mayo. The date commemorates the victory of the Mexican army over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, but many unfamiliar with the history still raise a glass (or several) in pseudo-solidarity whenever the anniversary rolls around.
In a world of meth labs and prescription opioid addiction, it can be easy to overlook the impact of a substance as socially accepted as alcohol. Yet according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), alcohol imposes many heavy burdens on both the individual and society.
