What would you say about people who self harm in other ways? What about anorexia? Alcoholism? Suicide? It's all a bit more complex than just idiocy.

I get that the EIA tag is a bit of a joke and all, but lets not get too social darwinist eh? (Reducto ad Hitlerum not withstanding)

Your video, American Alcohol Has To Be Radioactive, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

...Ummm... Yes?

In the same way that "every scone produced in England *HAS* to be radioactive" (because scones are made from flour, eggs, and other ingredients that contain C14). Or, I could say "Queen Elizabeth discovered to be radioactive", because she is organic (in the Chemistry sense, meaning "containing carbon"). Or, you know ... EVERYTHING organic is "radioactive"; humans, animals, food, trees, etc. etc.

It seems very click-baity to draw attention to a US law that all alcohol must come from plants / organic (again, Chemistry rather than Hipster definition) sources by claiming that all US-made alcohol "must be radioactive".

It makes sense that we would process plants somewhat better than meat, as meat in a survival situation is hard to come by compared to vegetation. However, it cannot be denied that we evolved as omnivores and still are such barring a personal choice.

A plant based diet may be more healthy for you, I don't care to argue the science of it. I would note that science, at least in regards to our diets, continually changes. I went through multiple phases of science saying that a certain substance (alcohol, chocolate, eggs, butter, etc) was bad, only to reverse the decision as time went on and further studies were done. I don't say that as an excuse or to deny which diet is best, simply that we have a long way to go in determining what is best for one of us versus another.

My complaint about vegans is that they usually slam anyone who doesn't choose to be vegan over their choices. I've had many vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian friends tell me that the food I choose to eat is sentient. Where do we draw the line on sentience, I usually ask them? For a vegan that seems to mean on any non-plant product, even honey. A vegetarian might choose to drink milk or eat cheese, since nothing is being killed. A pescatarian obviously thinks fish are the cutoff for sentience. But if we are going to cut to the nitty gritty, insects that most any scientist would agree have no idea of what is going on other than an instinct to perform a set series of actions are consumed in mass quantities for their protein. Worms, insects, crabs and lobsters don't even have the pain transmitting chemicals that allow a creature to feel pain. Of course, they do react to stimuli, but so do plants.

Basically we all individually make a determination as to what we consider to be truly sentient and able to understand the far reaching concepts of death and pain. Some people draw the line at plants, others at lower level life forms, but in the end it all comes down to what you believe.

What about good ol' isopropyl alcohol? Love that burn!

Apart from the asian flush, moderate alcohol consumption can cause blood vessel dilation and I wouldn't be surprised if that's a factor for those of us with very fair skin.

Hmm, interesting. My Mom doesn't drink very often, but when she does she gets pretty close to beet red -- more intense than any of the people in the video. I don't think that hers is tied to any particular sort of alcohol; I've seen it happen with beer, wines, and cocktails.

Mine is sporadic, and less intense than any of the people in the video. Sporadic enough and I don't drink often enough to have a feeling for whether or not it might be associated with any particular sort of alcohol. So if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that my Mom's reaction is more likely to be asian flush than mine; but on the other hand since both of our reactions are probably genetically related (due to our shared genes), maybe neither of them is asian flush. I dunno.

Some quick googling definitely suggests that caucasians can have "asian flush" also, just at proportionally lower rates. I don't lose any sleep over it (don't drink often enough), but it is still interesting.

Can we also just stop with the fucking bullshit moralising?

Getting drunk is fun. Getting stoned is fun. I haven't done much else, but I'm pretty sure people do them because they enjoy them.

Is it a problem for some people? Unquestionably.

But if you look a little deeper, it's almost never the drugs or the alcohol, it's the debt, or the pressure or the broken family life or anyone of a million things that can fuck up your life. The substance abuse is just a symptom of that. And if you take that away, people will find other ways to be self-destructive.

This looked right up your alley. Formula 1 car racing a skier down a ski slope...yes...both of them on the ski slope! WTF?!? Is Red Bull alcoholic now? That's the only reasonable explanation for this. ;-)

http://videosift.com/video/Verstappens-Kitzb-hel-F1-Race-On-Snow-Covered-Ski-Slope

yeah, but unless you're going to go to the level of attempting to ban alcohol and cigarettes and all the other things that are demonstrably harmful when overdone, there's nothing wrong with what Bill is doing here.

The problem is, Maher is pretty much one of the more vocal spokespeople for legalized marijuana. He's only reinforcing the people who were already supportive. Obviously by the reaction of the Jeb supporter lady, she wasn't convinced or swayed.

One of the things that helped legalization gain strides was the recession. Even conservatives were considering legalizing and taxing it if only to help the budget. Now that the recession is effectively over. That steals some of the urgency away and now they can go back to being against it for ideological reasons, where pragmatism isn't needed as much.

So we need to start publicizing the financial benefits of legalization. It's my understanding that Colorado has been getting tons of new revenue because of legalization, but for some reason, that's not advertised more. Or showing things that dispel the usual myths about marijuana that people have been clinging to for decades.

@00Scud00

I don't disagree that alcohol and tobacco policy is hypocritical and yes alcohol is worse, but that still doesn't change the fact that pot can be abused and if you have a megaphone, making it sound cool doesn't help.

Also, I would say promoting using it alongside legalization actually worsens arguments for decriminalization in general because rather than focusing on it how it ruins lives and job prospects, detractors can just paint you as someone who wants to get high. I think those who don't use pot are better advocates.

I doubt many people who abuse pot are doing or continue to do it just because Bill Maher said it was cool. For me, much of this is about consistency, alcohol is demonstrably worse than pot in almost every way and yet we not only allow it, but embrace it. The logical inconsistency of it all damn near makes my head explode.

@00Scud00

Well I mean that's kind of like the torture "they did it to us" argument. Point is you don't have to promote it like alcohol while pointing out the harm its legal treatment does. I mean do you really doubt there are people who abuse pot and are encouraged by Maher's segments? You don't have to give up your own sense of right and wrong just to promote a cause and win the battle of ideas against the 'other'.

I think Maher's cheer leading goes a bit overboard. Yes, criminalizing it or even banning it is ridiculous. But fact is, for some people it becomes a bad habit. Any mind altering drug, think alcohol, can be abused to escapism and avoiding problems. We don't know the long term effects of it either so you kind of have to accept you're a test dummy if you use it.

hmmm..i don't know.
this seems awfully tame.
where is the guy getting in the bouncers face chest thumping and questioning his sexual orientation?
or pleading his case after you caught him throwing up over the railing onto a toyota celica?
or being busted for passing out on the concrete,curled up into a cute little ball and begging "i just need a few minutes".
or the guy that loses his shit for being asked to leave,runs out into the middle of the parking lot,tears off his shirt and declares "i am from new york you fuck,i will bench you!"

for new years eve this is pretty damn tame.
where is the river of vomit?
the never ending male posturing and attempted fights with alcohol levels that would drop a horse?
where are the threats?
name calling?
constant bargaining?
tears?
and where the hell is the paddywagon parked just to the side for easy transportation to the drunk tank?

i think they edited the real juicy stuff out of this video.i feel cheated!